Photos of trees with names. How to determine the trees of central Russia? Deciduous trees of central Russia

Deciduous trees in Moscow

During the design of the backyard territory, mature trees are especially pleasing to the eye. But it is not always possible to save the existing plants, and sometimes the desired trees are simply not on the site. Then you can choose suitable adult seedlings that will immediately look attractive and complement the design of the site. There are different types and varieties deciduous trees in Moscowwhich ways to create a cozy shadow site.

Popular species of hardwood

Large trees are mature trees with a developed crown, root system. Their height varies, depending on the variety of the plant itself. Larger individuals are selected for large areas, creating the necessary comfort and shade.

For small areas preferred small instances. There are also flowering, fruitful individuals. Choosing beautiful hardwoodYou should pay attention to such instances:

1. Birch is a tree that prefers bright, sunny areas, but copes well with exposure to low temperatures. They are very unpretentious, there are many varieties, where the most sought-after are Karelian, hanging, small-leaved trees.
2. Elm - is distinguished by an unusual crown, thin branches, dark leaves, acquiring a brownish-golden hue by autumn. Well cope with frost, grow on almost any type of soil. A great option for single landings.
3. Oak - represented by different varieties used in gardening. Special care is not required, the tree is unpretentious. There is a red, pyramidal, pedunculate variety.
4. Rowan - different small, openwork leaves. Trees are especially beautiful in the autumn period, when they acquire yellow-red shades. These are small individuals with thin trunks, compact crown. The fruits are medicinal.
5. Maple - beautiful and most common seedlings of deciduous trees in Moscow. They are pleased with the lush foliage from the beginning of spring to the end of autumn, when the leaves become yellow, red, and brown. Grows in almost any areas, although fertile, well-lit soils are preferable.
6. Linden - a tree, often found in gardens and in areas where mostly large-leaved and small-leaved species are planted. It grows in shaded areas, withstands cold.

Breeds of deciduous trees

In groups deciduous trees names  incoming specimens can often differ depending on the breed. For example, a linden tree can be represented by a small-leaf, large-leaved breed, and birch is found warty, paper, bush, drooping, fluffy, with different names.

Such specimens may differ in the size of the foliage, the shape of the crown, certain requirements when selecting a place for planting, other indicators. All this must be considered if you want buy deciduous treesthat will decorate the area.

In terms of species composition, temperate forests are much less tropical. Trees in central Russia are few and seemingly should be known to everyone. But it is not. Of course, everyone can easily recognize birch, pine or spruce, but not everyone can tell elm from maple or be able to describe what a linden looks like. It should also be noted that some trees prevail in the forests, and others in the cities. This article focuses primarily on forest species.

Trees of Central Russia: Names

The most common conifer of the East European Plain is pine. Spruce ordinary is slightly less popular. Sometimes there are white fir and deciduous larch. But the dominant position belongs deciduous. They grow faster than conifers, and they are easier to adapt to environmental changes, so that they take root even in big cities. According to studies conducted on the territory of the Central Russian Upland, the cardiovascular linden and common ash are the prevailing indigenous species. Naturally, birch and aspen are ubiquitous. Along the banks of the forest rivers, various species of willows and black alder grow. In shady places comes across a rough elm (aka mountain elm). The characteristic trees of central Russia are various maples, and ordinary mountain ash, and forest apple. In the cities, decorative forms of apple trees, black and white poplars, horse chestnut are widespread.

Ash Ash

One of the most impressive in our forests: it reaches a forty-meter height. Ash has a straight trunk; bark gray-greenish. The tree prefers moist but not swampy soils, therefore it often grows along streams and rivers. Young ash trees, in contrast to adults, are not demanding. In winter, a tree is easily identified by large black buds. Ash crown - high set, openwork, beautiful shape. He has very recognizable leaves - long (up to 35 cm), pinnate.

In general, central Russia is the most accessible material for identification. Analyzing their shape, it is relatively easy to determine the appearance.

Heart Lime (small-leaved)

It is a fairly high (up to 35 meters) tree. It grows on the plains and in the foothills, often on cliffs, slopes. It survives well in cities and therefore is often used as a walkway plant. Linden has a straight trunk with wrinkled, grayish bark. Trees that grow in glades have powerful egg-shaped crowns. Lipa is a honey tree. It blooms late in the middle of summer. Small white-yellow flowers have a pronounced sweetish aroma and attract bees. In addition, they are a drug.

The flowers are collected in a bunch, at the base of which is a long leaf - a lionfish. Linden fruits are round nuts. The leaves are rounded-heart-shaped, slightly resembling poplar leaves. Deciduous trees of central Russia, as a rule, do not differ in particular durability, but the heart-leaved linden can live up to 800 years.

Black alder

This tree has nothing against increased humidity. It is found in river valleys and even in swamps. Alder grows to 30 meters. Its trunk is dark with deep wrinkles, the wood is reddish-yellow. The leaves are rounded, with a notch opposite the cutting. Alder blooms in mid-spring, just during the flood. In male trees, flowers are collected in long yellow-purple earrings. Female inflorescences have the form of solid cones.

The black alder loves the light and it is a useful plant. Its wood is suitable for use in high humidity environments.

Pedunculate oak

The trees of central Russia are medicinal, some of their parts are often used in medicine. The oak with its dark and very coarse, but healing bark is no exception. This tall tree grows on hills and valleys. It has knobby branches and easily recognizable leaves, which are called peristolopastny, as they consist of several pairs of accrete blades.

Oaks blossom in late spring. Fruits are light brown-yellow acorns (2-3 pieces on a long petiole). Oaks live long, their wood is hard and not rotting. For this reason, make it expensive furniture "for centuries".

Elm rough (mountain elm)

Due to the abundance of longitudinal cracks in its cortex. The height of the elm is 30 meters, while the plant is very slender, with a long, strong trunk and a relatively wide crown. Trees in central Russia are distinguished by unpretentiousness: for example, rough elm produces abundant growth in both damp lowlands and in the mountains, climbing to a height of 1000 meters above sea level and rooting on stony steeps. Elm is demanding not so much to the temperature of the environment as to the fertility of the soil. It has large, rough and not very symmetrical oblong leaves with a bicontelate margin.

Rough elm values ​​penumbra, so in open spaces it can not be found. It blooms very early; purple-red flowers are collected in dense small bunches. By summer, elm fruits ripen and fall. They are oblate nuts, surrounded by two coalescent broad blades.

Poplar and aspen

Almost everybody can identify these plants, the determinant of trees in central Russia is unlikely to be needed here. But still, speaking of the most common plants in our country, it is impossible to ignore these species. By the way, not everyone knows that the second name of aspen is poplar trembling. This tree is very soilless, but loves the sun. Aspen is rapidly capturing fresh cuttings and clearings, but its age does not exceed 90-100 years. The trunk is long and smooth, with gray-green bark. The crown is small, sparse and high. The leaves are almost round, with a rough edge. The slightest breath of wind makes them shiver, due to the special structure of the stem. Top dark green, bottom - gray. In the fall, they acquire a rich burgundy color.

Better known as a "cultural" tree. It is more often found in cities along the highway or on village streets than in the woods. Poplar appreciates the sun and moisture. Under favorable conditions, the tree grows to 40 meters. The bark is gray, rough, with longitudinal cracks. The crown is extensive. Leaves are heart-shaped.

Conclusion

So, the article briefly described the trees of central Russia, whose names are well known to all. Look at the photos, practice a little - and it will not be difficult to distinguish one plant from another. Fortunately, as already noted, the forest flora of a temperate climate is not so numerous.

Wide areas of natural vegetation and soils of Russia are closely related to the country's climate zones. In the far north, where there is a cold summer, and the soil is poor in nutrients, mosses, lichens and low-growing shrubs prevail. The soil freezes to a great depth and only the surface layer thaws in the summer allowing the plants to grow. Forests cover about 45 percent of the territory of Russia, mostly in Siberia. The total area of ​​all forests is about 25 percent. The forest zone of Russia can be divided into a large northern part - coniferous, or Taiga, and a much smaller southern region - coniferous-deciduous forests.

Boreal forest

Taiga is located south of the tundra and occupies 40 percent of the European part of the country, and also covers large areas of Siberia and the Russian Far East. Most of this region reigns supreme. Despite the fact that the taiga zone mainly consists of conifers, in some areas small-leaved trees such as birch, poplar, aspen and willow add diversity. In the extreme north-west of the European part of Russia, pine dominates in the taiga, although fir, birch and other trees are often found.

To the east to the western slope of the Urals, pine still grows, but fir is already dominant, and in some areas there are almost pure birch forests. The West Siberian Plain consists mainly of various species of pine, and birch dominates along the southern edge of the forest. For the most part of the Central Siberian Plateau and the mountains of the Far Eastern region, larch is the main tree-forming species. The trees of the taiga zone are usually small and rather widely scattered. In some areas, where soils are scarce for nutrients, there are no trees at all, but only marsh grasses and bushes form vegetative cover.

Mixed forests

The zone of mixed forests in the central part of the East European Plain from St. Petersburg in the north to the border with Ukraine in the south is characterized by the presence of both coniferous and broad-leaved trees. Evergreen conifers prevail in the north, while deciduous trees are common in the south. The main broadleaf species include oak, beech, maple and hornbeam.

A similar forest cover prevails in the southern part of the Far East of Russia, along the valley of the river, the middle Amur, and to the south along the valley of the Ussuri River. The basis of the soil cover of the mixed forest zone is gray-brown forest soils. They are not as barren as Taiga soils, and with proper agricultural processing, they can be very productive. In the south, a narrow zone of forest-steppe separates the mixed forest from the steppes.

Forest-steppe and steppe

Although currently a significant area of ​​forest-steppe is plowed, it has natural meadow vegetation with scattered groves of trees. On average, about 150 km wide, this zone extends eastward through the valleys of the middle Volga and the Southern Urals in the southern parts of the West Siberian Plain. Separate areas of forest-steppe are also found in the southern intermountain basins of Eastern Siberia. A mixture of grasses with small patches of trees in sheltered valleys is the natural vegetation of the Russian steppe — a large area that includes the western half of the North Caucasus Plain and the land belt stretching east through the southern Volga valley, the southern Urals and the western regions of Siberia. As in the case of the forest-steppe zone, almost all steppes of the country are cultivated.

List of plants of Russia

Below is a list of some trees, shrubs, herbs with descriptions and photos that characterize the flora of Russia.

Downy birch

Downy birch is a species of deciduous trees, found throughout northern Europe and northern Asia, growing to the north than any other broad-leaved trees on the planet. It is often confused with a related species - wild birch, but fluffy birch prefers more humid areas, grows well on heavy and poorly drained soils; young trees are also easily confused with dwarf birch.

Common Hornbeam

Common Hornbeam, also known as the European or Caucasian hornbeam, native to Western and Central Asia, as well as Eastern and Southern Europe is a species of deciduous trees. It prefers a warm climate, and is found only at an altitude of 600 meters above sea level. It grows in mixed forests with oak, and in some areas with beech.

Pedunculate oak

A tree from the beech family, widespread in the European part of Russia. It is the dominant tree species in the southern areas of the forest and forest-steppe zones. This is a large deciduous tree, reaching 40 meters in height and 4-12 meters in circumference of the trunk.

Siberian spruce

Siberian spruce is a coniferous tree, a native Siberian species of spruce, growing from the Ural Mountains east to Magadan Oblast, as well as from the arctic forest line to the Altai Mountains in northwestern Mongolia.

White willow

White willow is a species of willow found in Europe, West and Central Asia. The name comes from the white shade of the underside of the leaves. These are medium or large deciduous trees, growing up to 10-30 meters in height, with a trunk diameter of about 1 meter. The bark is gray-brown, deeply fissured in old trees.

Field maple

Native to much of Europe, the British Isles, South-West Asia (from Turkey to the Caucasus) and North Africa (in the Atlas Mountains), a species of trees from the sapindo family. They are also successfully cultivated outside their natural range in the United States and Western Australia in areas with a suitable climate. In Russia, the most common in the middle zone of the European part of the country.

It is a deciduous tree, reaching 15-25 meters in height, with a trunk up to 1 meter in diameter and finely fissured, thin bark.

Siberian larch

Siberian larch is a frost-resistant conifer growing in the western part of Russia, from the Finnish border to the east to the Yenisei valley in central Siberia, where it hybridizes with Gmelin larch; the hybrid is known as Chekanovsky Larch.

Siberian larch reaches 20-50 meters in height, with a trunk diameter of up to 1 meter. The crown is conical in young trees, and acquires an oval-rounded shape as it grows.

Juniper ordinary

Common juniper is a species of coniferous trees with the largest geographic range among woody plants with a circumpolar distribution throughout the subarctic belt, from the arctic to the south to 30 ° north latitude in North America, Europe and Asia. Relic populations can be found in the Atlas Mountains of Africa. On the territory of Russia, to meet in the forests and forest-steppe of the European part of the country, as well as in the western and less often eastern regions of Siberia.

Common juniper is a small evergreen tree or shrub of very variable shape and height up to 16 meters.

Alder is gray

Gray alder is one of the species of the alder genus with a wide range in cold regions of the northern hemisphere.

The size of the trees varies from small to medium, with a maximum height of about 15-20 meters, smooth gray bark (even in older specimens), and a life expectancy of no more than 60-100 years.

Aspen

Aspen is a species of deciduous trees, common in temperate and cool regions of Europe and Asia, from Iceland and the British Isles east to Kamchatka, in the north within the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia and Russia, southern and central Spain, Turkey, Tien Shan, North Korea and Northern Japan.

This is a tall deciduous tree, growing up to 40 meters in height, with a trunk diameter of more than 1 meter. The bark is pale greenish-gray, smooth on young trees with dark gray rhomboid lentils, becomes dark gray and fissured on old ones.

Pine Siberian cedar

Siberian cedar pine is a variety of pine growing in Siberia from 58 ° east longitude in the Urals to 126 ° east longitude in the south of the Sakha Republic, and also from 68 ° north latitude in the lower Yenisei valley to south south 45 ° north latitude in central Mongolia.

In the north of its range, it grows at low altitudes, usually 100-200 meters, while closer to the south, it occurs at an altitude of 1000-2400 meters above sea level. Siberian pine pine is a slow-growing tree, with a maximum height of 30-40 meters, and a trunk diameter of about 1.5 meters. Life expectancy is 800-850 years.

Siberian fir

Siberian fir is a coniferous evergreen tree growing in the taiga east of the Volga River and south of 67 ° 40 "northern latitude in Siberia, through Turkestan, northeast Xinjiang, Mongolia and Heilongjiang.

It prefers a cold climate, moist soil in the mountains or river basins at altitudes of 1900-2400 meters above sea level. Siberian fir is a very shade-tolerant frost-resistant tree that grows at temperatures up to -50 ° C. It rarely lives for more than 200 years because of its susceptibility to tree fungus.

Mountain ash

Rowan ordinary - a woody or shrub plant from the family of pink. The range extends from Madeira and Iceland to Russia and North China.

Rowan tree is found in the form of a tree or shrub that reaches 5 to 15 meters in height. The crown has a rounded or irregular shape, and the trunk is thin and cylindrical up to 40 cm in diameter.

Barberry ordinary

This deciduous shrub can reach up to 4 meters in height. The leaves are small oval, 2-5 cm long and 1-2 cm wide, with a serrated edge; they grow in bunches from 2 to 5 sheets. The flowers are yellow, 4-6 mm in diameter, bloom on the length of the brush in late spring. Oblong red berries 7-10 mm long and 3-5 mm wide ripen in late summer or autumn; they are edible, but very sour and rich in vitamin C.

Ledum rosemary

Low shrub about 50 cm (rarely up to 120 cm) with evergreen leaves 12-50 mm long and 2-12 mm wide. The flowers are small, with a five-lobed white corolla, and emit a strong odor to attract bees and other pollinating insects. It has a wide geographical range in Russia, which covers the tundra, forest zone, Siberia and the Far East.

Common lilac

Common lilac is a flowering shrub plant from the Olive family, originally from the Balkan Peninsula, where it grows in the wild on rocky hills. The species is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant and has been naturalized in other regions of Europe (including Russia, Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy), as well as in most of North America.

This is a large deciduous shrub or a small multi-stemmed tree that grows up to 6-7 meters, producing secondary shoots from the base or root system, which can grow into a small colonial thicket over the course of decades. The bark is gray or gray-brown in color, smooth on young stems, and longitudinally furrowed on old stems. The leaves are simple, 4-12 cm long and 3-8 cm wide, from light green to bluish color, from oval to heart-shaped, with feathery venation and a pointed top. Flowers usually range from lilac to mauve, sometimes white. The fruit is a dry, smooth, brown capsule, 1-2 cm long, split into two parts to release the seeds.

Kalina ordinary

Viburnum ordinary - deciduous shrub plant, reaching 4-5 meters in height. The leaves are opposite, three-bladed, 5-10 cm long and wide, with a rounded base and coarsely serrated edges; looks similar to the leaves of some species of maple, but differs slightly wrinkled surface. It blooms in early summer and is pollinated by insects. Spherical bright red fruits (7-10 mm in diameter) contain one seed. Seeds are spread by birds and other animals.

Mac Polar

One of the most northerly plants in the world. The stem is hard, hardy and covered with black hairs, flowers with delicate yellow or white petals. Flowers constantly turn toward the sun, repeating its movement across the sky, and attracting insects. Arctic poppy grows in meadows, mountains and dry riverbeds. They thrive among stones that absorb the heat of the sun and provide shelter for the root system.

Stinging nettle

Nettle is easily recognizable, unfortunately, often easily perceived plant, the stems and leaves of which are covered with stinging hairs. It is an effective way to avoid the fate of being eaten, and also makes nettles an important haven for caterpillars and many other insects. In addition to nettle, nettle is widespread in Russia.

Violet tricolor

Violet tricolor, also known as pansies - an annual, sometimes perennial plant, growing in Europe and temperate regions of Asia. It has also been introduced in North America where it has spread widely. It is the progenitor of the cultivated violet, and therefore it is sometimes called wild violet.

Chess grouse

Chess grouse is a perennial herb that has a rather unusual look as for wild flowers. It prefers raw, lowland meadows and pastures of Europe and Western Asia. It flourishes on soils that have never been subjected to intensive agriculture, and is now becoming increasingly rare.

Sedge

Sedge - a genus of perennial herbaceous plants, numbering about 2 thousand species. In Russia, there are between 300 and 400 species that grow in different climatic conditions, landscapes and habitats throughout the country.

Tree species are not considered, and all this diversity performs the main function on our planet - it takes care of the purification of air from carbon dioxide. Photos of tree species, as well as the names of tree species are widely represented in both special and educational literature. Here you can not only get acquainted with such information, but also learn a lot of interesting facts about green spaces.

Trees of different species are not so difficult to distinguish from each other, if you know what their crowns and leaves. But if the crowns of trees are sometimes formed by people, the shape of the leaves in representatives of one species is unchanged. However, in different types of trees the leaves are so different that scientists have come up with special names for them.

Leaves that have a single leaf blade that falls entirely in the fall are called simple. They are whole, like birch and apple, and lobed, like maple. Complicated leaves are trifoliate, like clover and strawberry, or palchatologic, like a. Difficult and unpaired leaves, in which several leaves are fixed on the petiole, ending in one leaf, like in acacia, as well as coeroperisosomal, in which the petiole ends in two leaves.

In the photo of tree species shown below, you can see the leaves of both species:

What kind of birch? Brief description and features of birch

Speaking about what kinds of trees are, it is worth starting with birch - the symbol of Russia. Birch is considered one of the most common trees in the Northern Hemisphere. In total, there are about 60 species of birch.

The photo of this type of tree (whose name comes from the ancient Indo-European word “bergos”, meaning “glow, turn white”) clearly shows that the birch bark is indeed white. A lot of songs, poems and legends are dedicated to this beauty, because it is part of the culture of the Slavs, Scandinavians, Finno-Ugric peoples and North American Indians.

Brief description of birch:  height up to 30-45 m with girth of 120-150 cm, but there are shrubs and dwarf trees. The peculiarity of birch is the white color of the bark, to which it owes the white resinous substance betulin, which fills the cavities of the cells. The outer part of the bark - bark - easily exfoliates. But old trees have bark on the lower part of the trunk dark and covered with cracks. Birch lives 100-120 years, but some trees live to 400!

Flowers at a birch are collected in inflorescences - ear rings, which are known to everyone as “earrings”. The birch fruit is a small, almost imperceptible nutlet, and its seeds are very light - in 1 g. there are about 5,000.

Speaking about what kind of birch, one description is not enough. It is important to talk about her valuable qualities. Birch has long served people. It gives wood, bark, birch sap, healing buds and leaves. Birch bark has a special strength due to resinous substances that it contains. In Russia 1000 years ago they wrote and painted on birch bark. In Novgorod and other cities, archaeologists have found hundreds of ancient Russian manuscripts. And today on the bark create beautiful pictures.

Birch light-requiring and growing rapidly. It overtakes other trees, prevents them from developing, and even knocks pine cones with its long and thin branches. However, young spruces get along well with birch trees - they are not afraid of shade, and the branches of the spruce trees are directed downwards, therefore, the birch branches “do not frighten them”. Birches simply multiply - their extremely light seeds are spread to a distance of about 100 m from the mother tree.

Chestnut tree: what are the fruits of a chestnut, interesting facts

Chestnuts adorn the streets of many cities. In the spring, they sparkle with white and pink buds that look like candles, and closer to autumn they give glossy brown fruits, beautiful, but inedible. However, there is one chestnut with edible fruits that grows to the south. Both trees, although they are called the same, are far from relatives - they belong to different families. And even the leaves have a different shape.

Chestnut belongs to the beech family. Some species, especially chestnut, have long been cultivated as fruit trees, their wood is also used. This beautiful tree with a spherical crown is planted in parks. Chestnuts are sensitive to drought, so they are sometimes bred over beer and wine cellars, so that they get enough moisture.

What is the fruit of a chestnut - clearly visible in the photo. Fruits of a chestnut seed and related species are nuts in a prickly skin. They are very difficult to hold. But the nuts themselves are very useful. In the southern countries, chestnut fruits are eaten raw, baked and fried, and also powder is made from them, which is added to the flour.

Why chestnut called horse?  The chestnut we are used to, known in Europe since the 16th century, is not a chestnut at all. It belongs to the family of Sapinda, not beech. There are several versions of why it was called horse. According to one of them, flour from its fruits, inedible for humans, were fed and treated horses. According to another version, the color of its fruit resembles the color of a bay horse.

The fruits of the horse chestnut tree are a tricuspid box enclosed in a thorny peel. It opens on the doors. These large shiny fruits are inedible. But the flour obtained from them, is used for the production of not only individual medications, but also the glue that was used in old times for bookbinding.

An interesting fact about the chestnut is listed in the Guinness Book of Records. An amazing specimen of the tree, which is more than 3000 years old, grows on the island of Sicily, on the slope of the volcano Etna. It was called the “chestnut of hundreds of horses” thanks to an ancient legend, according to which, more than 600 years ago, a hundred knights, without leaving their horses, were able to hide from it from the rain. In 1780 the girth of its trunk was 57.9 m. This chestnut is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the thickest tree. True, over time, he split, and today has not one trunk, but several, but they all grow from one common root.

Dracon's tree dracaena and his photo

An ancient Indian legend tells that a dragon once lived on Socotra Island in the Arabian Sea, which hunted elephants and drank their blood. One day the dragon was unlucky: an elephant crushed it, and where their blood mixed, a tree grew, which was named “dracaena”, that is, “dragon”. Now the dragon tree is also called the “dragon tree”. And the origins of the legend can be found in the plant itself. If you incise its trunk, there comes a resin, which quickly hardens and becomes red. This pitch is called "dragon blood".

The Sinnobar dracaena or dragon tree growing on Socotra looks like a giant fancy umbrella. The crown of a young tree is a hat of linear-sword-shaped, pointed leaves.

As seen in the photo dracaena (dragon tree), additional branches are located on the trunk, each of which ends in a dense bundle of such leaves.

A relative of the Synobar dracaena  - Dracaena dragon - grows in the Canary Islands. Like all its relatives, it begins to bear fruit only in 30-40 years, and it can grow for centuries. But a dragon tree does not have growth rings, and therefore it is not easy to determine its true age. The Guanches, the indigenous inhabitants of the Canary Islands, considered the dragon tree sacred, and its resin was used for embalming. Nowadays, sharp leathery leaves dracaenes are used as material for brushes.

What tree bark drops? Eucalyptus and its birthplace

Australia, New Guinea and Indonesia are considered the birthplace of eucalyptus trees, where they number more than a hundred species. This and shrubs, and high. This is one of the few trees that drops bark, not leaves. In the fall, their surface thin coral-red bark falls, revealing the lower green layer, which gradually becomes red. In some eucalyptus trees, the bark is smooth and comes off with long ribbons, while in others it is covered with scales and remains on the trunk and thick branches. Unusual and wood of these trees: depending on their type, it can be white, yellow or red.

Relic Eucalyptus forests of Australia

Australia's relic eucalyptus forests are a common sight on the Green Continent. These trees are light-requiring and grow in both dry and wet places. They are famous for their wood, bark and gum - a sugary substance that is released from the trunk and is used to prepare various drugs.

The Australian tea tree, from which the healing oil is extracted, is actually a relative of eucalyptus and has nothing to do with Chinese camellia, from the leaves of which tea is made.

As home eucalyptus chose koalas, or marsupials. These animals are not related to real bears. Koals spend all their lives on eucalyptus trees, feed on leaves, crush them, chew and keep in cheek pouches. When they eat, do not disturb their peace of mind, otherwise these "bears" can get angry and use their sharp claws and teeth.

Rainbow eucalyptus grows wild in many tropical islands. It is interesting for its bark, which with age does not just change color, and in adult trees it casts with all the colors of the rainbow.

Mighty baobabs grow in the African savannah. This variety of trees has received its scientific name - fingernail adhesion - in honor of the French scientist Michel Adanson and thanks to five or seven-fingered leaves. The tree is famous for its size - the height of the baobab can reach 40 m, and a thick trunk in diameter - about 10 m. And it is believed that this giant is able to exist for 5,000 years. Baobabs grow not only in Africa, but also in Madagascar, and in Australia.

The barrel of a baobab is capable, like a sponge, of storing water in itself. Its long roots absorb moisture deep underground - this allows the tree to survive in drought seasons.

Baobab flowers reach 20 cm in diameter. And they bloom only one night, and pollinate their bats. And in the morning the flowers wither, acquiring a putrid smell, and fall off.

Baobab fruits are somewhat similar to pumpkin - they have a lot of seeds, flesh inside and hard skin outside. They are useful and calories. Monkeys love them, so baobab has another name - monkey breadfruit.

During the drought, the baobabs shed their leaves, but in the rainy season they again show off their green crowns. An interesting fact about baobab - the people of Africa not only eat their fruits, but also use the leaves for ferment and for the treatment of malaria. In addition, fiber is obtained from the bast layer, which is under the bark, and strong ropes and threads are made. In Senegal, there is even a proverb: "Helpless, like an elephant, tied with baobab rope." Baobab is considered to be a sacred tree in Africa.

Huge hollows are often formed in the baobab trunk. In Africa, they are used as reservoirs for water. And in one Australian town in the hollow of a baobab, having a trunk with a diameter of 6 m, they made a prison.

Elephants, unlike monkeys, eat not only the fruits of baobab. They gather at a tree, break its branches, strip off bark, leaves and eat it all up. Therefore, it is rare to find a tree with an intact crown - most often it is partially united. No wonder the baobab is also called the elephant diner.

What are the types of trees: Thule

What are the types of trees that make up the legends? In many countries, there is a story about a tree that unites the entire universe. Its branches are a symbol of heaven, the trunk is of the earthly world, and its roots are of the underworld. One biblical legend speaks of the tree of life that grew in the middle of the Garden of Eden. And today there are trees on Earth, about which legends are composed and which sometimes give the old name - “the tree of life”.

The Thule tree is the name of the Mexican cypress tree from the family of cypress trees, which grows in the city of Santa Maria del Tula. Its trunk is considered to be the thickest in the world and has a girth of 36.2 m and a diameter of 11.62 m. A legend of local Zapotec Indians says that this tree was planted by the priest of the wind god Ehekatl about 1,400 years ago.

On a giant tree trunk, some people notice images of different animals, for which they call it the Dayev life.

For 300 years in the Tenere desert, on the border with the Sahara, an acacia, nicknamed "Tenere tree", grew, and there was nothing around it within a radius of 400 km. She was rightly considered the lonely tree on Earth. It fed deep underground waters. All travelers took care of this tree. But in 1973 a lonely Acacia hit a truck with a drunk driver. The remains of acacia were transferred to the National Museum of Niger, and in its place was set a tree made of metal.

Long-lived tree: pine Methusela

The oldest single tree on our planet grows in the US state of California. This pine is a spiny intermountain, which is about 4900 years old. She even has a name - Methuselah, given in honor of the legendary biblical character, who has lived for 969 years.

Now to the long-lived pine tree Methuselah, tourists are not allowed to dismantle the tree for souvenirs.

In the desert of Bahrain, an island nation in the Persian Gulf, there is a lonely acacia, which the locals also call the "tree of life." They believe that in this place was the Garden of Eden. Today it remains a mystery how this acacia survives in the sands - there is no water nearby. The most plausible version says that the root system of the tree is spread very widely and eats from far away sources. The tree of life reaches a height of 9.6 m.

Sequoia tree: photos and interesting facts

The evergreen sequoia tree is considered the national symbol of California. This plant belongs to the cypress family and is sometimes called the "mahogany". But the sequoiadendron - a representative of another kind - was named the "giant sequoia." In the wild, these trees grow on the Pacific coast of North America. Individual copies of redwoods reach a height of more than 100 m. An interesting fact about redwoods - these trees are among the highest on Earth, their age is 3,500 years.

Fifteen of the evergreen sequoias that have survived to our day have a height of more than 110 m, and the record was set by the sequoia, called “Hyperion”. Its height, measured in 2006, was 115 m. Scientists believe that any tree, in principle, cannot reach 122-123 m, because the force of gravity will not allow tree sap to rise to such a height.

Giant Sequoia "General Sherman"  named after the participant in the US civil war. This tree is not the tallest (only 83.8 m), but in terms of volume of wood it is the world record holder - 1,487 m3. And the age of this giant is 2300-2700 years.

See other photos of the Sequoia tree in the photo gallery below:

Sequoia National Park, founded in 1890, is famous for its Dendrodendron, which is also called the “Mammoth tree” for the size and similarity of the giant branches to the tusks of the mammoth. Millions of years of sequoia grow up throughout the northern hemisphere, but today there are only 30 groves left, including in the National Park. In addition, there is a museum dedicated to the history of Giant Sequoia. In the trunk of the Giant Sequoia, an arch was cut through which a person can pass.

Giant trees have always sought to give names in honor of outstanding people. The scientific name of the sequoiadendron - "Wellingtonia" comes from the name of the British commander in chief, the winner at Waterloo. And the genus of these trees is named after Sequoia (George Hess) (c. 1770 - c. 1843) - an Indian chief of the Cherokee tribe who invented the Cherokee alphabet and founded the first newspaper in this language.