Whether you want to wander past one-of-a-kind trees, embrace serenity among dizzyingly tall bamboo or take a closer look at native flora, there's no better way to connect with Mother Nature than by exploring her verdant terrain. With the help of a new book, Forests by Kieron Connolly, step into the wild and discover some of the world's most captivating forests, from thriving national parks to underwater havens. 

The leaves of the Australian fan palm, which is native to northern Queensland, grow up to six feet (2m) long to form a near-perfect circle. The palm’s fruits are eaten by the southern cassowary bird, while the tree’s leaves can be used for thatch and food wrapping.

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Unusually, the branches of the hundred beech trees in the Spanish forest of Otzarreta grow up rather than out. When they were around 50 years old, the trunks of these trees were cut to about 10 feet (3m) by woodsmen for charcoal production. The branches that grew back rose vertically. 

Part of the northern Appalachians, the White Mountain National Forest was established in 1918 under the Weeks Act, named after Massachusetts Congressman John W. Weeks. Through purchases of private land, the act had, within a century, protected 49,700 square miles (80,000sq km) of forestland. 

A mountain range in the remote republic of Buryatia in southern Siberia, the Sayan once served as a border between Russia and Mongolia. Its trees include Siberian pines, pictured here. The Russian far north contains a quarter of the world’s trees. 

The only eucalyptus species to grow in rainforests, the rainbow eucalyptus is native to Indonesia, the Philippines and New Guinea. It's also grown in plantations for pulpwood used in making paper. 

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Covering 42,800 acres, Irati is a large beech and fir forest in the western Pyrenees. Relatively isolated, Irati’s environments range from forests to wetlands, and from subalpine meadows to Atlantic heaths. 

Around the Christian world on the Sunday before Easter, churches hand out palms to their congregations. But in Colombia, this practice, along with habitat loss and disease, led to Quindío palms becoming a threatened species as too many people tore palms off young trees. In 1985, the country gave the Quindío – its national tree – protected status. It is the tallest palm in the world, usually reaching up to 148 feet (45m), and only grows in the montane forests of Colombia and Peru. 

Brush and pine-covered hillsides lead up to Four Peaks Mountain, part of the Mazatzal Mountains range in south-central Arizona. The vegetation ranges from desert shrub at lower altitudes up to grassland, with the evergreen manzanita shrub and shrub live oak at higher levels.

Discover America's most beautiful wildernesses

This tree’s unusual shape is an adaptation to the arid climate and rocky terrain. The umbrella-like covering captures moisture, provides shade and reduces evaporation, allowing seeds to grow beneath adult trees. Small quantities of the dragon’s blood tree’s berries are fed to goats, while for centuries the tree’s red resin has been used as a dye. Classified as vulnerable, the species is suffering from overgrazing by goats, the impact of severe cyclones, and the gradual drying out of the archipelago. 

Encompassing 2.1 million square miles (5.5 million sq km), the Amazon rainforest contains an estimated 390 billion trees from 16,000 species. In surface area, it accounts for half of the world’s remaining rainforest. It ranges over nine countries: Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela. More than 30 million people across 350 different ethnic groups live in the Amazon. 

In the Peruvian Amazon in the early 17th century, Franciscan missionaries adopted a local Native American fever remedy made from the bark of a tree found in the cloud forests. The bark contained quinine, and for the next 200 years it remained the only known cure around the world for malaria. 

Situated in the Min Mountains on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau in southwestern China, the Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve is known for its hundred clear-water lakes, where mineral deposits colour the water blue, green or turquoise. The jagged mountains are forested with a mix of broadleaf and coniferous trees. 

The Arashiyama Forest is part of the Japanese government’s ‘100 Soundscapes’ initiative to motivate people to leave their homes and enjoy some fresh air. When the pathways aren’t too busy, the denseness of the swaying trees and the sounds of the forest can make Arashiyama a meditative place. But Arashiyama isn’t remote at all; it’s on the outskirts of Kyoto. Also known as the Sagano Bamboo Forest, Arashiyama covers six square miles (16sq km) of largely Moso bamboo, which is native to China and Taiwan, reaching heights of up to 92 feet (28m).

Termed by some scientists ‘the sequoias of the seas’, kelp absorbs carbon dioxide – reducing the acidification of the oceans – and releases oxygen into the water. 

Read our interview with filmmaker Peter von Puttkamer on the importance of old-growth forests

In the 1970s the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve was established, although tree cover in Costa Rica declined from 75% in 1940 to 20% in the late 1980s due to deforestation for logging and cattle farming. In the early 1990s, financial incentives were given to farmers to replant forests or allow them to grow back naturally. Managed ecotourism replaced some of the income from cattle farming. By 2021, more than half the country was once again covered in forested land. In Monteverde, more than 70,000 tourists visit each year. 

The San people traditionally used the branches of the quiver tree to make quivers. This forest of around 250 quiver trees is one of the few to have grown spontaneously.

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Established in 1916, Pisgah National Forest was one of the first national forests in the eastern United States. Located in the Appalachian Mountains, Pisgah – which is the Hebrew word for ‘mountain summit’ – is a hardwood forest with some of the highest peaks east of the Mississippi River. 

Stretching across an area of 1,677 square miles (4,343sq km), Malaysia’s national park of Taman Negara includes 10,000 plant species, 150,000 insect species, 270 reptile species, 250 freshwater fish species, 200 mammal species, 675 bird species and 25,000 invertebrate species. Rare species found in the park include the critically endangered Malay tiger and the Malayan gaur, as well as the Malayan peacock- pheasant. It's estimated that there are on average more than 200 different tree species per hectare in Taman Negara.

It's not known why the 400 pine trees in this grove bend in such a curious way. The forest was planted in around 1930 and it's been suggested that the trees were manipulated, perhaps because the wood would later be used in furniture or boatbuilding. But the mystery remains...

More natural wonders that remain a mystery

All images taken from the book Forests by Kieron Connolly (ISBN 9781838861674) published by Amber Books Ltd and available from bookshops and online booksellers (RRP £19.99/$29.99/CAN$38.99).

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