Question

You would like to cut down a tree in your backyard, but you have no axe or chainsaw. Instead, you cut around the trunk of a tree with a pocketknife and peel off the "bark" in a three-inch thick strip. You are confident that this action will kill the tree. Are you correct?

Answer 1

Surprisingly enough, yes, you are correct.

Since that, by cutting around the trunk and peeling of the "bark", what you're actually doing is cutting off the sucrose supply that feeds the tree after photosynthesis.

That "bark" is actually the phloem, which is a living tissue that transports the soluble organic compounds (sucrose) to the parts of the plant where needed.