Subgraph isomorphism with a tree
The question whether any fixed graph $H$ is an (induced) subgraph of $G$ is a first-order definable property, i.e., for every $H$ there is a formula $\varphi_H$ ($\psi_H$) such that $H$ is an (induced) subgraph of $G$ if and only if $G \models \varphi_H$ ($G\models\psi_H$). 

It was formerly known that the model-checking problem is fixed-parameter tractable on classes of graphs that (locally) exclude a minor and on classes of (locally) bounded expansion. Recently, Grohe, Kreutzer and S. anounced an even more general meta-theorem, stating that every first-order property can be decided in almost linear time on nowhere dense classes of graphs. 

For your question this implies the following. Let $H$ be a fixed rooted tree. Then it can be decided in linear time whether $H$ is an (induced) subgraph of an input (directed or undirected) graph $G$ if $G$ is planar, or more generally is from a class that excludes a minor or from a class of bounded expansion. The problem can be decided in almost linear time if $G$ is from a class that locally excludes a minor or from a class of locally bounded expansion or most generally, $G$ is from a nowhere dense class of graphs.