overstory

[oh-ver-stawr-ee, -stohr-ee]

noun

plural

overstories 

1. the uppermost layer of foliage in a forest, forming the canopy.

Word History and Origins

Origin of overstory¹

1480–90, for an earlier sense; 1955–60 for current sense; over- + story ²

Example Sentences

What Powers’ epic, Pulitzer-winning 2018 novel, “The Overstory,” did for forests, this novel does for oceans.

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These practices over time yielded "mosaics" of forests made up of diverse patches of trees varying in age, density, and overstory and understory composition.

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Readers who have recently been enraptured by Richard Powers’ tree-obsessed novel “The Overstory” or Suzanne Simard’s “Finding the Mother Tree” will want to add this to their collection.

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The forest is in the eastern foothills of the Coast Range, and the dominant species in the McDonald-Dunn overstory is Douglas-fir, Oregon's state tree and a versatile timber tree that's a source of boards, railroad ties, plywood veneer and wood fiber.

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"On these longer rotations, multiple entries for thinning were required to prevent buildup of understory vegetation that would have suppressed the growth of overstory Douglas-fir," Carlisle said.

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