A phylogenetic tree or evolutionary tree is a branching diagram or "tree" showing the inferred evolutionary relationships among various biological species or other entities based upon similarities and differences in their physical and/or genetic characteristics. The taxa joined together in the tree are implied to have descended from a common ancestor.
In a rooted phylogenetic tree, each node with descendants represents the inferred most recent common ancestor of the descendants, and the edge lengths in some trees may be interpreted as time estimates. Each node is called a taxonomic unit. Internal nodes are generally called hypothetical taxonomic units (HTUs) as they cannot be directly observed. Trees are useful in fields of biology such as bioinformatics, systematics and comparative phylogenetics.
Read more about Phylogenetic Tree: History, Construction, Limitations
Famous quotes containing the word tree:
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, but violence takes lives away.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Proverbs 11:30.