Billboard trees
 

I'm trying to make a trees from billboard.

I already have a billboard tree that consists of intersecting planes with tree textures on it such that the foliage is always visible.

My problem is that when I light it, the planes cast shadows on each other, making parts of the tree dark.

How do I go about making a billboard system be consistently illuminated?

select a plane and hit ctrl + A to bring up the attribute editor and then select the shape node tab, go to render stats and turn off receive shadows.Do the same for the remaining planes of the tree and then you should be able to render the tree without the planes casting shadows on each other.