diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a5f75241d9..1ddf7e91e5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -215,7 +215,6 @@ following keys are supported. The title, description, and keywords are required.
 | notoc                  | no        | Either `true` or `false`. If `true`, no in-page TOC is generated for the HTML output of this page. Defaults to `false`. Appropriate for some landing pages that have no in-page headings.|
 | toc_min                | no        | Ignored if `notoc` is set to `true`. The minimum heading level included in the in-page TOC. Defaults to `2`, to show `<h2>` headings as the minimum. |
 | toc_max                | no        | Ignored if `notoc` is set to `false`. The maximum heading level included in the in-page TOC. Defaults to `3`, to show `<h3>` headings. Set to the same as `toc_min` to only show `toc_min` level of headings. |
-| tree                   | no        | Either `true` or `false`. Set to `false` to disable the left-hand site-wide navigation for this page. Appropriate for some pages like the search page or the 404 page. |
 | no_ratings             | no        | Either `true` or `false`. Set to `true` to disable the page-ratings applet for this page. Defaults to `false`. |
 | skip_read_time         | no        | Set to `true` to disable the 'Estimated reading time' banner for this page. |
 | sitemap                | no        | Exclude the page from indexing by search engines. When set to `false`, the page is excluded from `sitemap.xml`, and a `<meta name="robots" content="noindex"/>` header is added to the page. |
diff --git a/_config.yml b/_config.yml
index 4a606c2dcf..19f818c4db 100644
--- a/_config.yml
+++ b/_config.yml
@@ -41,7 +41,6 @@ defaults:
       layout: docs
       toc_min: 2
       toc_max: 3
-      tree: true
 
   # Set the correct edit-URL for upstream resources. We usually don't create a direct
   # edit link for these, and instead point to the directory that contains the file.
diff --git a/_includes/body.html b/_includes/body.html
index 432ac449eb..db8f03ec6e 100644
--- a/_includes/body.html
+++ b/_includes/body.html
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
                             {%- if page.advisory -%}
                             <blockquote>{{ site.data.advisories.texts[page.advisory] | markdownify }}</blockquote>
                             {%- endif -%}
-                            {%- unless page.tree == false or page.skip_read_time == true -%}{% include read_time.html %}{%- endunless -%}
+                            {%- unless page.skip_read_time == true -%}{% include read_time.html %}{%- endunless -%}
                             {{ content }}
                             {%- unless page.notags == true -%}
                             {%- assign keywords = page.keywords | split:"," -%}