A phylogenetic tree, also known as a phylogeny, is a diagram that depicts the lines of evolutionary descent of different species, organisms, or genes from a common ancestor. Phylogenies are useful ...

So, you can read a tree diagram like a picture story of evolutionary history. The trunk of the tree is the ancestral line, made up of generation after generation of the same type of organisms.

The tree diagram, in particular, has its roots in the Middle Ages. “In Medieval Europe, 800 years ago, visual communication was critical,” Lima says, drawing from his book, which examines the ...

Here, the typographic tree is one branch of a tree diagram, reaching from medieval drawings to Shneiderman’s treemaps. Lima has skilfully organised his book to reveal these developments.

Anonymous, "Tree of Consanguinity," Decretalium copiosum argumentum, ca. 1450-1510.(Detail). "A woodcut depicting the various ties between family members in the popular archetype of the tree of ...