Girdling, also called ring-barking, is the complete removal of the bark (consisting of cork cambium or "phellogen", phloem, cambium and sometimes going into the xylem) from around the entire circumference of either a branch or trunk of a woody plant. Girdling results in the death of the area above the girdle over time.

When a plant is girdled which part dies first?

> Option C: In a ring girdled plant, the root dies first, and not the shoot.

What does it mean when a tree is girdled?

Girdling is the traditional method of killing trees without felling them. Girdling severs the bark, cam- bium, and sometimes the sapwood in a ring extending entirely around the trunk of the tree (Figure 1). ... Any leafing branches on the trunk below the girdling ring must be cut off to completely kill the tree.