Trees are all plants and carry out the life processes that all plants share. However, trees are not actually a scientific group of their own. Trees may be cone-bearing plants (gymnosperms), flowering plants (angiosperms) or ferns.
All the groups of plants that include trees are vascular plants. This means they have vascular tissues called xylem and phloem. Xylem and phloem link all parts of the plant, transporting water, minerals and manufactured food around while also forming part of the structural support for plants.
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More interesting than the actual definition of a tree to me is how much the definition of words change as our knowledge on related areas develops. Although many different definitions revised and reviewed by knowledgeable people may arise for the word “tree”, one cannot deny that such words are defined only by how an individual or group allocates different instances of life in groups for ease of communication (cf. are tomatoes fruits or vegetables?).
As the scientific knowledge of the individual/group in question expands, so will the need for more scientifically based classifications, and hence questions such as these arise. It’s interesting to watch.