Parliament of Trees

The **Parliament of Trees** is a fictional species in comic books published by the American company DC Comics. They first appeared in *Swamp Thing* Vol. 2, #47 (April 1986), and were created by Alan Moore and Stan Woch.

## History

Plant Elementals have existed on Earth long before humans. Born when an animal died in flames and merged with the Earth, the Elementals became protectors of plant life throughout history. When they had done their time, they would join the Parliament of Trees, a group mind of former Elementals.

These elementals have given up everyday speech and mobility, communicating through one unified mind. This communal mind exists in the dimension of The Green, home of the life force of all plant life on Earth. The Parliament was founded and led by Yggdrasil, oldest of the plant elementals, and almost every plant elemental that ever lived has gone on to join the Parliament.

Over time the membership grew with beings such as Eyam (based on the form of a trilobite), Swamp Knucker (a dinosaur-like dragon [a knucker is a dragon in British lore]), Bog Venus (patterned on the mind of a medicine woman), Ghost Hiding In The Rushes (a sorcerer of 3rd century China), Swamp Thing I (an early 20th century scientist), and many others.

The final plant elemental, Swamp Thing, became aware of their existence when John Constantine gave him instructions to seek them out. Humans are forbidden to stand before the Parliament unless invited, and how Constantine discovered them is unknown. The Parliament instructed Swamp Thing on his history, and advised him to avoid power and anger.

When Swamp Thing left Earth for outer space the Parliament created his replacement, the Sprout. Since there can only be one active plant elemental roaming Earth, difficulties arose when Swamp Thing returned. Using John Constantine's body, Swamp Thing conceived a child with his human wife Abigail Holland, allowing the Sprout to inhabit the child's body. This child, Tefé, would be the first human elemental, which would one day replace plant elementals as protectors of Earth's biosphere.

The Parliament renewed their war against the Grey, a collection of renegade plant elementals led by Matango. The Parliament and the Grey's last battle was thousands of years ago, and resulted in the last ice age. In that battle Yggdrasil was wounded, and part of his body became one with the Grey. In this new war Matango sought to destroy the Parliament, Swamp Thing and Tefé. Matango kidnapped members of the Parliament, turning them to fungus and merging them with the Grey. Swamp Thing eventually defeated Matango, and appointed Otehrah to lead a more peace-loving Grey. Most of the kidnapped Parliament members returned, but some chose to stay in the Grey. Yggdrasil now serves as ambassador to the Grey, and Tuuru has succeeded him as the Parliament's leader.

Quite recently, it was revealed that the Parliament of Trees (and other Elemental Parliaments) had an agenda with Swamp Thing that included the destruction of mankind and the re-making of Earth. To prevent that from happening, the Heavenly power called the Word destroyed the Parliament, but not until they had passed on all their power to the Swamp Thing, who would do their bidding. But Swamp Thing refused in the last second, giving humanity another chance. The Parliament of Trees is now eternally burning in the realm of the Green. A few of its former members have survived since they were not present during the massacre at the hands of the Word.

## Powers and abilities

* **Immortality**
* **Invulnerability**
* **Elemental Control**
* **Resurrection**
* **Superhuman Strength**