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Explanation
The Joke
The comic opens with a woman marveling at how lovely trees are, wondering why we cannot be more like them -- they take their nourishment from the environment, support different species, and use their long lives to make one massive ecosystem. A second character appears, and the comic cuts to a panel labeled "LEGENDARILY."
In this panel, we see a "legend" or key explaining what happens beneath the surface: the trees' root systems are shown with a speech bubble that reads "STARVE, MOTHERF***ER!" directed at other plants. The comic reveals that far from being peaceful cooperators, trees are engaged in brutal underground warfare -- using their root systems to aggressively compete for water and nutrients, effectively starving out their competitors.
The Humor
The joke plays on the common romanticization of nature and trees in particular. People often project peaceful, cooperative qualities onto trees because they appear serene and still above ground. The comic subverts this by showing that the reality beneath the soil is vicious competition. The profanity-laden aggression of the tree roots creates a sharp and funny contrast with the gentle, hippie-ish reverence of the woman in the first panel. The use of the word "LEGENDARILY" as both a section header and a play on the word "legend" (as in a map legend or key) adds a layer of wordplay.
References
The comic touches on real ecological science. While some trees do form mutualistic networks through mycorrhizal fungi (sometimes called the "wood wide web"), trees also engage in intense competition for light, water, and soil nutrients. Some species, like black walnut trees, even practice allelopathy -- releasing chemicals that inhibit the growth of nearby plants.