I keep bread bags and napkins or paper towels in my truck. If there’s a small tree specimen that I want to bring home, I can wrap the roots in moist paper towels and put them in the bag. Some make it and some don’t. The seedlings that I keep in pots until I’m ready to plant have the best chance...
I saw a tree that had been girdled by beaver. One and one half feet of bark all the way around the trunk was missing, except a strip where a big fat hairy poison ivy vine was growing. Apparently poison ivy saved the tree, at least for the time being.