Tree names and their lifespan

In addition to evergreen trees and shrubs in the garden there are deciduous. In the fall, their foliage is painted in a variety of bright colors and then falls. In winter, they stand without leaves and seem lifeless. Their dull look reminds us that winter is still a calendar. At this time of the year deciduous trees and shrubs are clearly visible among evergreens.

So, get acquainted with those trees and shrubs that shed their leaves for the winter. What interesting things can they see in the winter? It would seem nothing. But it is not. Pay attention to the leafless branches of trees and shrubs. Each species of these plants has special branches. If you look at them closely, you can see that the stems themselves and the buds located on them differ in many ways. Some plants have long and sharp buds (like beech), others have blunt and short ones (like linden). Diverse and young branches - sometimes they are thin and shaggy (like a hazel), and sometimes thick and smooth (like an ash), etc. There are special reference guides with which you can easily find out which branches of a tree or shrub in hand.

Some trees have such peculiar branches that the name of a plant is easy to recognize without the help of botanical reference books. For example, white acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia) is a widespread tree in the south, which in spring is covered with a mass of white fragrant flowers. Homeland of this plant - North America. In the area of ​​Batumi, the white acacia was once planted, but now no one deliberately planted it and no care was taken for it. It grows great and gives abundant self-seeding. The tree is so adapted to local conditions that it is being introduced into natural forests in some places and grows successfully there.

In winter, white acacia branches can be recognized immediately. They are covered with thin, rather long spikes, sitting in pairs. These "twin spikes" are woody stipules. (In summer, you can see that the stalk of a long pinnate leaf is attached between them.) When you accidentally touch the branches of the white acacia, its strong thorns cling to clothes and can injure your hands.

The white locust is an ornamental tree. It is widely distributed in cities and villages of the steppe and forest-steppe strip of the country often found in street plantings in the cities of the Azov and Black Sea regions. It is also widely used for afforestation of ravines, creating forest belts, etc. The tree is very, unpretentious, drought-resistant. It does not tolerate only soil and soil.

White acacia wood has a dark greenish-brown color, heavy, hard, resists rotting well. It finds various uses. White acacia parquet is more durable and durable than oak.

White acacia flowers emit a lot of nectar, giving bees, especially in the south of Ukraine, abundant bribes of high-quality honey. The essential oil used in perfumery is extracted from the flowers. Leaves have good fodder qualities.

It is not difficult to find out in winter another tree, the common glacier (Gleditschia triacanthos). She also has thorny branches on the branches, but they always sit alone. They look much more formidable. These are miniature sharp daggers of finger length or more. In addition to the main "blade" in such a dagger there are several side processes, they are also very sharp and strong. Powerful branching spines are a good distinguishing feature of glaciation.

Gledichiya belongs to the legume family and has characteristic feather-like leaves. In the fall, her beans ripen — very large, flat and curved. However, the flowers of the glaciation are completely different in structure to the flowers of the familiar northern legumes, such as peas. They do not have a large upper petal "sail", nor two side "oars", nor the outstanding bottom of the flower "boat". All the petals are of the same shape, and the flowers themselves are small. Their color is yellow-green.

Why is it so unusual for legumes flowers? The fact is that the legume family is very large, and the common feature of the family is the fruit - bean. In this family, there are several subfamilies that differ in some details of the structure of flowers. Gledichiya refers to one of them (the subfamily of the cesalpinia), and our northern legumes to the other (moth). So glades and our legumes are not very close relatives. Interestingly, the representatives of the subfamily to which the glaciation belongs, almost exclusively tropical and subtropical plants.

Recently, the subfamilies that are part of legumes (moth, tsesalpiniyevye, mimozovye), botanists are more often considered as independent families.

Homeland Gledichi - East North America. In culture, it is common in many countries. It grows very quickly, tolerates some soil salinity, drought-resistant. It refers to the number of honey plants. Very durable glaciation wood has great resistance against fungi and insects. In the homeland of the plant, it goes to sleepers, pillars, etc. Gledichiya is used for thorny hedges, protective strips, strengthening of ravines, as an ornamental tree in parks, on the streets. Beans are a good feed for livestock. Seeds are edible, suitable as a coffee substitute.

The name Gledichi is given in honor of the famous German scientist Gledich (1714-1786), professor of botany in Berlin.

But let us return again to the Batumi Botanical Garden. In winter you can get acquainted not only with the distinctive features of the branches of different trees, but also with their leaves. They are also special for each species. But how to see the leaves in winter when the trees are bare? There is nothing easier. If in the summer the leaves should be looked for on the branches, in the winter they have to be searched on the ground. One has only to carefully examine the surface of the soil under the tree, and be sure to find the leaves.

We first get acquainted with the original leaves of the liriodendron, or tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), whose birthplace is North America. Tulip tree is named because its large flowers resemble tulip flowers in shape and size (although they are not similar in color - their petals are greenish with a large orange spot at the base). The leaves of this tree are large and wide, with four large teeth. Unlike the leaves of many plants, they have a notch on top. The shape of the leaf blade is so distinctive that once you see these leaves, you remember them for a long time.

In addition to the leaves on the ground you can find a lot of some kind of narrow scales resembling the scales of cones of coniferous trees. It is nothing more than the individual fruits of the tulip tree. They never open, and they have small seeds in the thickened bottom. The complex fruit of this plant, which is formed from the “tulip” after it blossoms, resembles a cone in appearance and consists of many such fruit scales. On ripening, it crumbles (like a lump of a cedar).

The tulip tree is a relative of the Magnolia grandiflora, which has already been discussed (both plants belong to the family of Magnoliaceae).

At home, in the eastern states of North America, the tulip tree is very powerful - up to 70 m in height and up to 3.5 m in diameter. Under the conditions of Batumi, it grows well. Relatively young specimens, which are no more than 80 years old, look like giants: their trunk is thicker than a meter.

Tulip tree - a supplier of valuable wood. In North America it is of great forest industry importance. Beautiful wood, easily processed and polished, is used to make musical instruments, cases - radios, televisions, etc. The wood color is yellow, which is why wood is sometimes called yellow poplar.

Branches, leaves and fruits of deciduous deciduous trees

a - part of the branch of white acacia, b - part of the branch of the common hernia, c and d - leaf and part of the fruit of the tulip tree, d-leaf of the “living fossil” - ginkgo

We continue to get acquainted with the leaves of the trees. In some places of the garden on the ground there are very peculiar bright yellow leaves that look like a small half-open fan with a long thin handle. Sometimes the “fan” has a kind of deep longitudinal groove in the middle, dividing it into two halves. If we found these leaves, it means that a wonderful tree grows nearby - the ginkgo biloba (Ginkgo biloba). It is justly called living fossil. The fact is that the genus Ginkgo, where our tree belongs, is one of the oldest among seed plants. He exists on Earth for about 100 million years. This is irrefutably testified by the imprints of the leaves, found in the strata of ancient rocks. Ginkgo is a remnant (or, as botanists say, "relict") of very remote geological eras - the Mesozoic era. It is a contemporary of fossil ancient animals - flying lizards and giant brontosaurs. All close and even more distant relatives of the ginkgo have long disappeared from the face of the Earth. And therefore, among the plants that inhabit our planet now, there is not one that looks like ginkgo.

Nowadays, an ancient plant lives its age. In the wild state, it no longer occurs, but only in culture. If it were not for the man, the ginkgo might not have survived to our time.

Ginkgo is a very decorative tree due to its elegant foliage, light green in summer and bright yellow in autumn. It is undemanding to the soil, well tolerates smoke and air smoke.

As an ornamental plant, ginkgo is widely cultivated in Asia, Europe, and North America. In the USSR, this tree can be found not only along the shores of the Black Sea. It is successfully grown in the southern and south-western regions of the European part of the country, there are some places even in the Baltic States.

Ginkgo refers to gymnosperms. However, he never has cones. Large seeds develop right at the ends of special thin twigs. In terms of their size and structure, the seeds are very similar to the plum - the outside has a yellowish foul-smelling pulp, in the middle is a large white bone. Inside the “seed” is the seed itself, everything else is just a seed coat. In Japan and China, ginkgo seeds are eaten roasted.

In the Batumi Botanical Garden, some specimens of ginkgo produce seeds. In winter, they are easy to find under large numbers of trees. These seeds have good germination. If you want to grow a “living fossil” in your home, take two or three seeds and sow in a flower pot with regular soil. Ginkgo grows well in our room in the north. Do not be alarmed if the leaves turn yellow in late autumn. The plant did not die. It is simply preparing to shed the foliage, as it does in the south in open ground. Do not forget to water the leafless tree in the winter, and then in the spring it will delight you again with its beautiful fan leaves.

And now we will pay attention to the unusual leaves of another tree lying on the ground. They hit with their size - 5-10 times more than a palm. These leaves have an obovoid magnolia (Magnolia obovata) - one of the deciduous tree species of the Batumi Botanical Garden. In winter, under the magnolia tree lies a lot of leaves. All of them are oval, whitish below.

Try to find the largest of them. Such a “leaf” is longer than the portfolio. The leaves of our northern trees are just pygmies compared to these giants.

In autumn, before the fall of the leaves, obese-eared magnolia trees are very decorative - their foliage becomes purple-gray. Trees are beautiful in spring, when rather large white flowers bloom on the branches among the huge leaves. Homeland plants - Japan and the Kuril Islands.

But other, seemingly unremarkable leaves are lying on the ground. They look inconspicuous, brownish, slightly wrinkled, similar to the leaves of an apple tree. But these leaves are quite unusual, they have one amazing property. Take a dry leaf under a tree, place it on your palm and slap it with another palm. The fragile sheet, of course, will break into several pieces. Now take the leaf stalk and lift it up. What a miracle? For the petiole stretched all the wreckage of the sheet. The leaf did not crumble, its parts were somehow connected to each other. If you look carefully, you can see that the finest threads, like spiderwebs, hold the binding role.

A tree with such amazing, unbreakable leaves is called eucommia grapevine, or gutta-percha tree (Eucommia ulmoides). His homeland is China. In the fallen leaves of this plant, or rather, in the veins of the leaf, contains a very elastic substance - gutta percha. The threads of this particular substance fasten the leaf fragments. Gutta percha is widely used in industry, medicine and household goods. The raw materials for its production are mainly leaves of eucommia, which are harvested during leaf fall. Gutta-percha is also found in the bark of roots and stems and even in fruits.

But perhaps enough about the leaves. Let us now get acquainted with the fruits of some deciduous trees and shrubs. Winter is the best time for this. In some plants, the fruits still hang on the branches, while others are already lying on the ground.

Let's stop at a thick tree with an unusual trunk. This trunk is large-spotted from the surface, resembling a dirty steppe, from which grayish-green plaster exfoliates. The tree is called Oriental plane tree (Platanus orientalis). It seems that some brownish balls the size of a walnut are hung on its branches on its long ropes. These "pendants" give the plant a very peculiar look. The balls are made up of many small fluffy fruitlets and easily crumble when the fruits are ripe. The leaves of the plane tree are very similar to the leaves of our northern tree - the maple, only larger than them. Plane is a valuable ornamental tree, common in the south. It is often planted along the streets in cities.

Some similarity with the plane tree has a liquidambar resinous, or amber tree (Liquidambar styraciflua), originally from North America. It has almost the same palmate leaves and almost the same “balls”, as if hanging from the branches on strings. True, the “balls” are very strong and not only do not crumble themselves, but it is difficult to break them even on purpose. The bark of liquidambar is not at all the same as that of the plane tree. The trunk of the tree is dark gray monotonous, covered with a network of cracks. He looks like the trunk of our oak. In North America, amber, an aromatic resin that is used in medicine and perfumery, is extracted from the juice of the stem of liquidambar. Leaves when rubbed emit a pleasant smell. In the North American department of the Batumi Botanical Garden there is a whole grove of large liquidambouli. In winter, it is very similar to our oak forest.

We have already said that amazing oaks grow in Japan - evergreen trees with “nedubovymi” leaves. But in the Land of the Rising Sun there are also deciduous oaks, which in winter stand without leaves. Here is one of them, oak serrata (Quercus serrata). Its acorns are unusual - they have the correct spherical shape and look like our hazelnuts. Even more interesting is the cup-shaped cup, clothing the acorn from below. It is thickly covered with fringed scales on the outside and appears shaggy. It is like a miniature fur hat that asks for some funny toy man on his head. It is not difficult to find such “hats” and acorn balls in the winter: they roll around in abundance under the tree. Immediately we will find the leaves of the plant, completely different from the leaves of our Central Russian oak - elongated-oval, without any grooves and projections. Again we have to be surprised!

Fruits and branches of deciduous deciduous trees and shrubs from East Asia

a - an acorn and plyus of an oak serrate, b - fruits of an aylanta, в - a branch of poncirus with a leaf and prickles

Many different fruits can be found in the winter on earth. Here, for example, peculiar membranous fruits. Imagine a small, whitish membrane of a highly elongated oval shape, in the center of which there is a rounded dark swelling (seed). In appearance, these fruits are somewhat reminiscent of ash ash. Even more, they look like caps for a children's pistol, but not in a round shape, but in the form of a strongly elongated ellipse. Before us are the fruits of Ailanthus, or Chinese ash (Ailanthus altissima). The tree forms many such winged fruits that the wind carries over a considerable distance. In winter, the fruits hang on the branches in bunches, part of them lies on the ground. In the summer at Ailantha, it is possible to see its peculiar very long pinnister leaves, formed by many pairs of large leaves. Each leaf is so large and long that it can be taken for a leaf branch. When rubbed, the leaves emit an unpleasant "mouse" smell.

Alant is cultivated here in the Caucasus, in the Crimea, in the south of Central Asia, in the southern and south-western regions of Ukraine. It is valued mainly as an ornamental tree. It is also used to strengthen the slopes of ravines, scree, sandy and stony places. Islean is not picky about the soil, heat-resistant, but light-requiring. It grows rapidly, although it does not live long (40-50 years). From the roots of the tree can grow above-ground shoots (the so-called root shoots), with a large growth force. In our southern cities such shoots pierce even asphalt pavements.

Island is interesting for its geographical distribution: in the wild state, it grows only in China. I must say that this country has a very rich flora. There are quite a few plants that are not found anywhere else except China. Ailant belongs to their number. The same plant is eucommia, which was mentioned above.

Let's get acquainted with some other deciduous trees, the birthplace of which is China.

In the middle zone of the European part of the Union, an unremarkable herbaceous plant is found - the gnarly gnarly. Its flowers are not more than a pea, the same size and fruit-boxes. This plant belongs to the family of nornichnikovyh, which in our north is represented only by herbs. In Batumi, a relative of a wimpler belonging to the same family grows. But what an amazing relative - a huge tree! On its branches in the winter you can see large oval fruit-boxes the size of a plum. According to their structure, they are exactly the same as that of the birdhouse. This tree is called paulownia felt (Paulownia tomentosa).

The tree in the family nornichnikovyh! For nerd northerners, this is a real discovery. And there are many such amazing things in the Batumi Botanical Garden. Take, for example, an evergreen shrub that belongs to the umbrella family - the shrub bupleurum (Bupleurum fruticosum). Northern, familiar to us representatives of this family - only herbs (carrots, dill, cumin, etc.). And then - a shrub, and even evergreen. It can be seen in the Mediterranean department of the Batumi Botanical Garden.

What can not be found in this amazing, unique garden! Here there are, for example, trees that are relatives of the forget-me-not (belong to the borage family), and trees that are akin to the ornamental herb Verbene (from the verbena family). There is even a tree, akin to our plakun-grass (it is from the Derbenik family). For us, all this is unexpected: after all, only herbs are known in the north in these families.

But back again to paulownia. In winter, in addition to the fruit-boxes, there are also many small reddish balls on its trees. They are collected in clusters on sticking up the branches. Each ball is covered from the outside as if with thin felt. If you break it or. cut along, you can see inside the large anthers of stamens and pistil. It turns out this is a bud. And its outer shell covered with felt is nothing but a cup of the future flower. This kind of shell protects the corolla and the rest of the flower well in winter. In spring, large bell-shaped pale purple flowers develop from ball-buds. They are very beautiful and have a nice strong smell. It is interesting that a prudent tree has already made buds in autumn with all parts of the flower. Spring will come - and paulownia will not bloom in time.

Some of our northern plants, which bloom in early spring, for example, wild ginger, show the same forethought. Buds they formed from the fall. You can easily verify this during a walk out of town on one of the sunny October days.

Paulownia wood is very special - very light (almost five times lighter than water) and, moreover, durable. In Japan, drawers, cabinets, etc. are made of it. Pavlovnia is an ornamental tree. It is very good for parks and alleys. In our country it is grown in the Caucasus, in the Crimea, in Central Asia.

Another native of China is worth mentioning - the multiple fruit idesia, or lily of the valley tree (Idesia polycarpa). This is a representative of the family of the Flekurtievs, which is unfamiliar to us, which is not in the flora of the USSR Lily tree is named because its flowers smell like lily of the valley. However, in appearance the flowers are completely different than those of the lily of the valley - small, greenish, inconspicuous. The tree is very beautiful in winter: there are large hanging clusters of bright red fruit balls on it. Particularly spectacularly fruiting tree with its red beads of fruits on sunny January days against the background of bright blue sky. Such trees can be seen in the garden along the main road between the East Asian and North American departments.

In addition to the Flekurtijev family, we meet in the garden with representatives of various other exotic families that are absent from us in the north and in the USSR in general. Such are the families of Lardizabal, Simarubian, Protean, Loganian, Monimic, Styracic. When a visiting botanist-northerner tours the garden and sees these botanical wonders, his surprise simply has no limits.

And now - again about the fruits. In winter, on earth, interesting fruit is found here and there — black balls the size of a small apple, similar to the nuclei of an old small cannon. They can be found under the trees of a peculiar appearance, which stand in the winter without leaves. Thin straight branches of these trees are arranged in bunches that resemble the spokes of an open umbrella. This is the Ford tung, or the oil tree (Aleurites fordii), also a “gift of the East” (its birthplace is China). Having picked up the fruit from the ground, it is easy to remove from it a thin skin. Under it are a few very large seeds. These seeds are rich in valuable, quickly drying oil, which is used to make highly resistant varnishes and paints. It is interesting that if the underwater part of the ship is covered with paint prepared in tung oil, shells and algae do not settle on it at all. Because of the oil contained in the seeds, the tung is widely cultivated. In the areas of Batumi and in the botanical garden there are whole plantations of this plant.

Tung seeds resemble a little chestnuts or nuts - they are very large and fleshy. But eating them is by no means impossible. Seeds are very poisonous.

Interestingly, the tung belongs to the family of euphorbia, that is, it is a relative of the well-known northerners of the northerners - herbaceous plants with abundant milky juice. Again a familiar phenomenon: the northern grasses have tree relatives in the south! This has already happened to us in the family of norichnikovy, complex flowers, etc.

Deciduous trees include hovenia or candy tree (Hovenia dulcis). It begs the thought that "candy" - is the fruit of the plant. Oddly enough, it is not so. The fruits of hovenia are small, dry balls that are completely inedible. But on the other hand, thick, juicy sprig-stalks, at the ends of which these balls sit, are quite edible. They are sweet and taste very much like raisins, slightly flavored with rum. This is the "candy". The stems are rather long, oddly sinuous, brownish in color (and here is a resemblance to raisins), a little thinner than a pencil. Whole clusters of such candies fall from the tree, and in winter they are easy to find on the ground. In the botanical garden there are not only individual fruit-bearing trees. There is a whole grove of them. In winter, there is always a treat for lovers of sweets. Come and collect! Part of the crop, however, still hangs on the trees, giving them a somewhat unusual look.

A branch of candy tree with fruits and juicy stalks - “candies” (the part of the branch is shown more coarsely below)

Summer hovenia looks completely different - she is dressed with beautiful, slightly brilliant foliage. It is because of the foliage that this tree is valued in many countries with a fairly warm climate (havenia is sensitive to frost). However, in Southeast Asia, especially in Japan and China, the candy tree is grown to produce sweet stalks (they contain up to 40% fruit sugar). Fruits are eaten fresh, used in the confectionery industry, they produce alcohol, etc. Dried stalks serve as a delicacy, they are sold in small boxes in pressed form. In the homeland of the plant, in China, the stalks serve as a medicine against alcoholism.

Wood of a candy tree is appreciated also - firm, beautiful, reddish color. She goes to furniture, musical instruments (in China she is called “Japanese mahogany”).

The name of the "hovenia" is given to the plant in the XVIII century. botanist Thunberg in honor of David Khoven - senator from Amsterdam.

It is interesting to note that hovenia belongs to the family of the buckthorn and, therefore, is akin to the “Martian plant” of the collection and our northern buckthorn. What are these relatives in appearance!

Anyone who wants to see how khovenia grows can bring home its seeds and sow them in a pot with soil. Seeds germinate well in room conditions. Of these, small candy trees will soon be born. Of course, the "candy" from these kids will not succeed.

If a candy tree is almost unfamiliar to northerners, then this cannot be said about figs (Ficus carica). His sweet seedlings ate many of us, if not fresh, then at least in dried form. This is a well-known figs, or wine berries. Figs also deciduous tree. It is widely cultivated in the Mediterranean countries, and in the USSR - in the Crimea, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Dried figs of Algerian, Greek and Turkish production are often sold in our northern cities and are considered a delicacy. They are very tasty and aromatic.

Figs grow well on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, including in the Batumi region. In winter, its trees stand without leaves and attract attention with their unusual thick young branches. Compare figs at least with birch. Her young twigs are very thin, like matches, and with figs they are much thicker than a pencil. This happens only in a few tree species. Young branches of a fig twisting, slightly knotty and come to an end with a curved sharp kidney. Even in winter, fig trees are easy to distinguish from other trees - the branches are so characteristic.

Figs - one of the representatives of ficuses. He is a relative of room ficus. But unlike many of their tropical evergreen relatives, figs are deciduous and subtropical trees. In the spring, large palmatofolopastny leaves appear, somewhat resembling enlarged leaves of grapes or hops. Interestingly, the plant contains the milky juice. Tear off the sheet - and whitish watery liquid oozes from the stem. The same happens if you tear a sheet of room ficus. His milky juice is also white, but more dense.

Fig seeds are spread by birds - those that peck out the sweet pulp of figs hanging on the trees. Passing through the digestive tract of birds, the seeds do not lose their germination. Birds bring these seeds everywhere, and therefore young trees are sometimes seen in the most unexpected places.

Figs - surprisingly unpretentious plant. It can grow on rocks, stone walls and fences. Just like our lowly birch, which you sometimes see on the eaves of old brick houses and in other places that would seem completely unsuitable for trees. Figs is not at all afraid of the close proximity of the sea. It grows well on steep coastal slopes, where salty spray of waves falls in abundance. The plant is propagated by cuttings that are rooted very easily.

The homeland of figs is Central and Small Asia. This is a heat-loving plant of dry subtropics. It requires a large amount of heat in the summer, but at the same time it is not very afraid of frost in the winter (it can withstand temperatures up to -18 °).

We will now get acquainted with the East Asian soap tree (Sapindus mukorossi). Its botanical name is “sapindus”, which means “Indian soap” in Latin. On the ground under the trees in winter it is not difficult to find the peculiar fruits of this plant. In size and structure, they somewhat resemble the fruit of the cherry. Outside is a yellowish-white, translucent shell, under it is a black, spherical, very hard bone, similar to a large smooth bead. Since ancient times these fruits were used as soap by the population of some Asian countries, because of which the tree got its name. By boiling the fruit in water, an emulsion is obtained in which silk and woolen fabrics are perfectly washed. However, they do not lose their color and get a beautiful shine. Black stones, enclosed within the fruit, are also used - beads and rosaries are made of them.

On the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus and in the Batumi Botanical Garden another tree is cultivated with similar fruits in appearance. This is the so-called Melia Iranian (Melia azedarach). In winter, neem trees are without leaves, but nonetheless attract attention. On the branches hang a lot of small whitish fruit balls, similar to small white cherries. The clusters of these fruits give the trees a very peculiar look. Fruits can be found not only on the tree, but also on the ground (some of them fall down). They have almost the same structure as the fruits of the soap tree: outside - the flesh, inside - a very hard stone. The flesh is friable and smells foul, and the bone is original. It is completely different than in the fruit of the soap tree - white and longitudinally ribbed.

The fruits of neem have almost the same use as the fruit of the soap tree. In East Asia, their flesh is used in soap making and candle production, beads and buttons are made from seed. The fruits of the neem are poisonous. All other parts of the plant have poisonous properties. An extract is prepared from the leaves, used as a poison in the fight against locusts, aphids and other crop pests.

Under the conditions of Batumi, Melia is one of the most decaying deciduous trees in spring. It is very long without leaves at the time, as many other trees have completely or partially dressed foliage. Adelia leaves are large, biconopous. The crown of the tree is very decorative - it is like a lace one. Beautiful bright green openwork foliage of a tree does not fall until late autumn.

Flowers appear in early summer, shortly after the leaves bloom. They are small but beautiful. Their petals are pale lilac, splayed like asterisks; in the center of the flower is a dark-violet tube (these are threads of stamens fused together). The flowers have a strong honey smell and contain a lot of nectar. Melia is a good honey plant. The flowers contain essential oil, which is valued in perfumery. Melia is also a medicinal and dyeing plant, has valuable wood. In some countries, neem trees are used to shade coffee and tea plantations. The homeland of Melia is the Himalayas, where it grows at an altitude of 1 to 2 km.

Iron tree ... Very impressive is the name of the plant. So called some tree species with extremely strong, really "iron" wood. There are several such trees in the world. We will tell only about one of them. It is available in the Batumi Botanical Garden and grows here in the Mediterranean section.

The scientific name of this plant is Parrotia persian (Parrotia persica). Why "Persian"? Yes, because in the wild the tree grows in Iran. There it lives in the mountain forests in the north of the country. And within the USSR, the iron tree is found only in the southernmost corner of the western coast of the Caspian Sea, on the border with Iran - in Talysh.

A parrot is a large deciduous tree, in winter it stands without leaves. At this time, it is clearly visible its somewhat unusual trunk with a spotty, flaky bark. At the end of winter, an attentive eye will notice bright crimson bunches of stamens on young, swamp sprigs of a tree. It began flowering. In the summer, the tree dresses with unremarkable leaves, a bit like leaves of gray alder or hazel (Fig. 17).

Parrot has one very interesting feature. The branches of the tree, in contact with each other, can grow together. Sometimes even the branches of neighboring trees grow together. Such a phenomenon occurs in the plant world is not common. Our central Russian tree species - birch, oak, linden, etc. - for example, do not have this ability. In the forest where the iron tree grows, you can find intricate patterns formed by accrete trunks and branches - figures of fantastic animals, fancy arches, arbors, etc.

Now about the wood of parrot. Iron tree, it is called, of course, not by chance. Its wood is really very strong, much stronger than our oak. Weaver shuttles and even parts of some machines were once made of it. Parrot wood is one of the hardest and heaviest. It has a specific gravity greater than one and sinks in water.

Why is the wood of this plant so strong? And what is generally determined by the strength of wood? Why, for example, is the wood of linden so soft and so hard is oak? The explanation here is to look for in the features of the microscopic structure of wood. The general rule is: the thicker the walls of the cells that make up the wood, the stronger it is. In hardwood trees, wood is given a special fabric - the so-called libriform. This fabric consists of long fiber cells, which have very thick and durable walls. The more of these cells in the tree trunk and the thicker their walls, the stronger the wood. In the trunk of a linden, for example, there is almost no libform, but oak has quite a lot of it.

But back again to the parrot. It is interesting in another respect. The tree is "shooting". Who had to be in the fall in the forests of Talysh, he heard a kind of chatter. It is with the force that the seeds of the iron tree fly and strike against the leaves and trunks. From the opening fruit-box seeds are scattered far around.

Parrot is a rather ancient plant, preserved from the Tertiary period. It exists on Earth as a botanical species for more than one million years. The name "parrot" (or "parrot") is given to the plant in honor of the German doctor and botanist Parrot (1792-1841).

Among deciduous trees in the Batumi Botanical Garden are representatives of the genus Catalpa (Catalpa bignonioides, Catalpa speciosa). These are rather large trees that are often cultivated in the south. In winter, they are very noticeable due to their long pod-like fruits that hang on the tree like thin straight sticks. If we open such a fruit, separating one of its leaves from the other, we will see inside numerous densely packed seeds. They are completely flat, pterygoid and have a narrow-oval shape. In summer, the catalps bloom with very beautiful large white flowers, a little resembling gloxinia flowers in their shape. Catalps are valued as decorative trees. Some species of them are successfully cultivated here in the middle zone of the European part of the country.

The genus Catalpa, like the Magnolia genus and many others (there are more than 150 in total!), Has a so-called disjunctive range - some species are found in North America, others in East Asia.

Among the deciduous trees of the Batumi Botanical Garden there are also representatives of the genus Caria, which are distributed like the species of the catalp family already familiar to us: some in North America, others in East Asia. What looks like curry? These are relatively large trees, in many respects resembling walnut trees: they have similar leaves, flowers and fruits. Caria and walnuts are not just similar, they are relatives (from the same nut family).

In winter it is convenient to get acquainted with the fruits of hazel - they lie on the ground under the trees. In different types of fruits vary greatly in size. The largest of them - the size of a large peach, they are black. Outside, the fruit is covered with a thick (up to 1 cm) dense shell. It usually cracks, and something bright is seen in the cracks. If you remove this dark shell, in our hands will be the real walnut whitish color. After breaking a hard shell, you can remove its contents. It is edible and tastes like a walnut kernel. It has a lot of fat. These are the fruits of Caria oval (Carya ovata).

But there are brownies with small fruits the size of a little more than a cherry. Outside they also have a dense dark shell, under it a small “walnut” of whitish color. Its core has a strongly astringent taste and is inedible. These are the fruits we meet, for example, in water hazel (Carya aquatica).

In the Batumi Botanical Garden there is a whole alley of various hazel - both with large and with small fruits.

All types of hazel give high quality wood, known in the world market as hickory. The wood has a light or dark brown color, heavy, elastic, flexible. It is used in car building and in agricultural engineering.

Deciduous trees include Japanese persimmon (Diospyros kaki). Its soft orange-red fruit the size of an apple resembles large tomatoes. Under the thin skin of juicy mucous pulp without any smell. In it are several flat rather large oval-shaped seeds. The ripe fruit is very sweet and has no astringent taste. Persimmon fruits are nutritionally rich, they contain quite a lot of iron compounds. This is a valuable dietary product that is well absorbed by the human body. One does not like a persimmon, others, on the contrary, are delighted with it. The Japanese, for example, value it very highly and consider it "the fruit of the fruit." Persimmon is eaten not only fresh, but also dried. Jam, jam, jellies, candied fruits, wine are made from it.

Persimmon has been cultivated for about 3 thousand years. Up to 1500 varieties of this plant are known. The tree is cold-resistant enough, it can tolerate short-term lowering of the temperature to -18 °. In this regard, persimmon surpasses all other subtropical fruit crops of the Black Sea coast.

The homeland of persimmon is China's mountain forests. It was in China that this plant was originally introduced into culture. From here the persimmon came to Japan, and then to other countries of Asia, to Europe and America. The persimmon was brought to us in the Caucasus in the last century, but it became widespread only in the last 30-40 years. Now it is one of the most common fruit trees of the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. Persimmon fruits in large quantities are sold in the fall in the Batumi market.

In the Batumi region, the persimmon perfectly settled down and found, as it were, a second homeland. Almost every year it is abundantly fruiting. Especially good fruiting occurs in years with a cool rainy summer (as in 1967). In the autumn, after dropping the leaves, persimmon trees stand for a long time with bright red fruits (they do not immediately fall off after ripening). These beautiful fruits give the trees a very elegant look.

There are quite a lot of persimmon trees in the botanical garden and there is even a whole plantation.

Interestingly, Japanese persimmon has a wild relative in the Caucasus. This Caucasian persimmon (Diospyros lotus), also deciduous tree. It grows in local forests. Its fruits are small, not more than cherries, and in a mature form have a blue-black color. However, their structure is exactly the same as that of a cultural persimmon: the same rounded, slightly pointed fruit, flat oval seeds and a four-leaf stiff calyx. These fruits are also edible and even quite pleasant to the taste. They are sold on the market along with other fruits. Blue berries of wild persimmon in winter can be easily found on the ground under the trees.

The persimmon belongs to the ebony family and is a close relative of the famous tropical ebony (belongs to the same genus).

Let us now get acquainted with another interesting plant - the only deciduous representative of citrus (all other citrus fruits are evergreen). It is called Poncirus, or wild Lemon (Poncirus trifoliata). This is a thorny shrub or small tree. Homeland plants - China. Poncirus differs from other citrus fruits not only in the fact that it sheds leaves for the winter. He himself leaves a different form - trifoliate, like clover. Other and branches - they are seated with numerous strong and long prickles. Thanks to this weaponry, poncirus is used to create magnificent hedges. Such a living fence is so prickly that not only animals, but also poultry cannot penetrate it. In our humid subtropics, hedges from poncirus are very common — their total length is probably many kilometers. There are also in the Batumi Botanical Garden.

In winter, poncirus does not make an impression of a deciduous shrub - the branches and its prickles are green. Therefore, the hedge has a green color and from a distance it seems like thickets of some evergreen plant. Just coming closer, you notice that the shrub stands without leaves. Savage Pontsirus - the most cold-resistant representative of citrus. Therefore, less frost-resistant oranges and tangerines are grafted onto it.

In the spring, before the leaves bloom, white fragrant flowers appear on the branches of the Poncirus. By the autumn yellow fruits the size of a walnut ripen. Outwardly, they look like small spherical lemons. True, the surface they have is not the same as that of a lemon - fine-starchy, matte. The internal structure is similar to lemon, only the flesh is small, and a lot of seeds. However, the fruits of poncirus are completely inedible. Their flesh is both sour and bitter, and the peel has a specific "resinous" taste. Bite off a piece of this "lemon" - a very unpleasant sensation remains in the mouth for a long time.

We continue acquaintance with deciduous trees. We all know well that plants are harmless in our northern latitudes. If they are not prickly, we touch them without fear of any trouble. The worst thing that can happen to us is a nettle burn. But the plants of southern countries are not so harmless. There is, for example, a tropical laportea plant that burns many times stronger than our nettle (incidentally, from the same nettle family). If you accidentally touch it, you get such a severe burn that you can lose consciousness from the pain. There is no this dangerous tropical plant in the Batumi Botanical Garden. But on the other hand there is one tree that cannot be touched in any way in order to avoid big troubles. It is called laconic sumac, or lacquered wood (Rhus verniciflua).

The name of the plant is not accidental. From it in China and Japan produced a magnificent varnish, extremely durable and durable. For centuries, objects covered with this varnish retain their mirror shine. Their surface does not tarnish from water, sun and high temperatures. To get a varnish, you must first obtain a resinous resin. For this purpose, cuts are made on the trunk of the tree and then a viscous liquid resulting from them is collected. In this way, we produce a pine hitch - extraction of resin (sap).

Lacquer tree - a valuable plant. In China and Japan, it is specially bred on industrial plantations. But this plant is very insidious. Juice of the leaves and especially of the bark, on the skin, causes painful, non-healing ulcers (the so-called “lacquer disease”). Therefore, tearing a leaf or a twig of this tree, you can accumulate a lot of trouble. Even a simple touch to the leaves, stem, flowers, etc. is dangerous. Small bubbles with liquid appear on the skin, causing unbearable itching.

Lacquer tree - deciduous tree species. In winter you can see only bare branches of the tree. Yes, and those have to be considered at a respectful distance, since the copies of this “evil” plant in the botanical garden are surrounded by a fence so that tourists do not approach them. In the spring, the tree is covered with large leaves resembling the leaves of our ash or walnut (Fig. 18).

In addition to deciduous trees and shrubs, deciduous lianas can be seen in the garden. The most powerful of them is Wisteria, or Chinese Wisteria (Wisteria sinensis). Her homeland - East China. The woody smooth stem of this creeper looks like a giant snake - it is sometimes as thick as a human foot (Fig. 19). Such a “boa” often embraces the trunk of a tree with its iron arms and slowly suffocates it (the tree dies). But sometimes this creeper leads and quite peaceful way of life, climbing on the steppes of buildings, climbing on various supports.

In the spring, before the appearance of the leaves, wisteria blooms luxuriantly, delighting everyone with large, beautiful clusters of whitish-purple lilac flowers. At this time, the whole plant is almost completely covered with flowers. They are not only pleasing to the eye, but also bring pleasure to their delicate aroma. You always feel it when you pass in the spring near the blossoming wisteria.

The flowers of this plant are very similar in size and structure to the flowers of peas (wisteria belongs to the legume family). Of these, large, long, velvety beans with very strong ligneous sashes develop by autumn (there are no such valves in northern legumes). Inside the bean are placed flat disc-shaped seeds, similar to somewhat swollen penny coins. In winter, on the ground under the wisteria, it is not difficult to find these brownish "pennies". They can be collected and sown at home - they germinate well.

Another deciduous vine is interesting - Actinidia Chinese (Actinidia chinensis). Its long thin stems easily climb trees. Young stems have a brownish color and characteristic large swellings on the surface, located one by one at some distance from each other. Each of them develops in the place of the stem where the leaf was attached in the previous year. From these bulges on the stems, actinidia is easily recognized even when it is devoid of leaves.

In winter, this vine grows juicy fruits, resembling in size and shape of a plum, but unlike it, completely covered with red, tough hairs. Inside them is a greenish translucent flesh, sweet and fragrant. It is edible and very tasty. Many small black seeds are enclosed in the pulp. When you eat a fruit, they slightly crunch on the teeth, like grains in a strawberry. This type of actinidia produces the most delicious fruits. In spring, the liana is covered with large, rough oval-shaped leaves, and then blooms with large white flowers that somewhat resemble rosehip flowers.

Chinese actinidia is successfully cultivated in New Zealand, where it grows even better than at home, and gives very large fruits. New Zealanders and Australians are very fond of these fruits and for some reason call them kiwi-fruit (the name is given in honor of the wingless bird of New Zealand - kiwi).

As is known, creepers have thin, weak stems that cannot grow upwards without any support. In nature, trunks and branches of trees most often serve as such support for them. Climb up vines in various ways. Some of them, like wisteria, wrap around a tree trunk, like a spiral. Others cling to surrounding objects with antennae. Still others, like ivy, crawl straight up the trunk, attaching to it by means of special roots. But there are other ways to go up. One of these methods can be observed in deciduous lianas, which is called Caesalpinia japonica. It climbs on the branches of trees with the help of special hook-shaped thorns, densely covering the stems and leaf stalks. The plant can be compared with an electrician who rises on a wooden telegraph pole, wearing sickle-shaped metal "cats" with sharp teeth. Cesalphine spikes, like fish hooks, stick into tree branches and firmly anchor the liana.

In winter, the vine looks very peculiar. Her thin, leafless, densely stranded stalks resemble a snare. Arcuately curved thin “twigs”, seated with thorns, depart from the stem in different directions. You will not immediately realize that each of them represents the remainder of a complex sheet, its main core. In other deciduous trees and shrubs, all parts of a complex leaf fall in the fall, and in the cesalpinium, the situation is different. The main leaf core not only does not fall off, but woody and becomes very strong. Tearing it from the stem is difficult.

Acquaintance with the spines of cobalt for a careless person may be unpleasant. Once in the net of this creeper, it is difficult to free oneself from the "fish hooks" stuck in the clothes and body.

In winter, brazilwood does not particularly attract attention. But in the spring, in May, it is covered with beautiful openwork foliage and large tassels of light yellow flowers, which give it an elegant look.

Homeland plants - Japan. The name "cesalpinia" is given in honor of the Italian botanist Tsesalpino (1519-1603).

Like every living organism on Earth, have their own age. In the bustle of the city, we do not often think about the longevity of certain trees, and certainly not everyone knows which tree has lived for 1000 years or more. Our article will help answer these questions: who knows, maybe a long-lived tree lives in your yard.

What does tree life depend on?

The maximum age is largely determined by their appearance: the most short-lived are fruit trees, deciduous and are the basis of "evergreen forests." How much a plant will live also depends on the conditions in which it grows.

  The mild climate contributes to the long-term existence of plants, and the harsh cold and wind quickly deplete even the most powerful plantations. For high life expectancy, conscientious care plays an important role.

Cleaning from dry branches, processing from pests and feeding significantly increase the chances of a long life of ornamental trees.

Popular cultures

It is difficult to imagine the familiar streets without greenery. In our lane, almost all deciduous (summer green) types of oxygen “producers” are common. Walking through the city, you can count about 20 species of fruit, deciduous, and in some places, and conifers. Consider the features of the growth of some of them.

Hardwood

  •   in its own way brings together about 600 species of plants. The height of an oak tree reaches 50 meters, and any plant of the planet can envy how long an oak tree lives. It is easy to learn an oak thanks to a wide leaf and fruits - acorns which are widely used in medicine, cosmetology and cooking. Oak wood is highly valued in the manufacture of furniture, and red oak products are considered a sign of luxury.


  • Hornbeam grows throughout Europe, is found in Asia Minor and Transcaucasia. The broad hornbeam crown prefers to hide in shady deciduous forests and grows slowly, gaining a width of up to 8 meters. Hornbeam - a representative of the family of birch, and just like her, it blooms with earrings. The young leaves of the hornbeam are used in animal feed, and oil is extracted from the fruit.


  •   It has a branchy and sprawling crown about 30 meters high, which speaks of the wealth with which it can bestow a person. After all, linden has many useful properties. Yellowish white lime blossom is very much in demand in health and beauty treatments. Linden wood is easy to work, its soft fibers are well carved.
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Did you know?Lipa is recognized as the national symbol of the Czech Republic since June 1848.
  • Beech is widely represented in the forests of Europe. The smooth trunk of a beech in width reaches two, and in height - 30 meters. Buki grow slowly but live long. Acorn-like fruits appear on the tree after 40-60 years of life. "Beech nuts" are edible and have properties that regulate metabolic processes and are responsible for the normal functioning of the heart.


  •   gained its name due to its crown: sprawling branches with sparse deciduous cover let in a lot of sunlight, therefore it is always light under the tree. In spring, ash acquires a purple hue and forms lionfish - fruits that will fall off only in winter. The wood of the 30-meter-long trunks is particularly durable, which is especially valuable in construction and facing works. In medicine, they use bark, leaves, fruits of ash, and also extract tree sap. Despite its medicinal properties, ash is considered a poisonous plant, therefore, not knowing the exact dose calculation, it is better not to abuse decoction. Ash is able to live up to 300 years, while the width of the trunk is rarely more than 1 meter.


  •   usually reaches 40 meters, although some species grow in the form. The tree of a young elm is distinguished by a particularly smooth bark of the trunk, with age it coarsens and exfoliates. The leaves of the elm are large and oblong, the lion-shaped fruits are visible on the tree at the age of 7-8. Elm - an unpretentious plant, it can be found both in shady areas, and in the middle of the plain or at the top of the hill. Elm grows to 300 years.
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  • Poplar - a plant with a columnar trunk up to 35 meters in height, has small rounded leaves. The fruit looks like a box. From the blossoming poplar buds collect glue, which is recycled in. Poplar has the property to absorb radiation and harmful substances, so poplar plantings can often be found in areas of factories and various industries. Also poplar fluff is an allergen. Unlike many other trees, the poplar plant is dioecious: the female has no seeds in the flower, while the male has them.


Important!When choosing a poplar for planting, consider the peculiarities: after flowering, only a female can carry the “poplar fluff”.
  • The maple is especially noticeable in the fall: leaves on different branches of the crown may acquire a different color. Maple plantations are low and reach an average of 15-20 meters. The leaves have serrated blades that distinguish maple from many deciduous trees. Fruits of maple are able to carry the seeds to a far distance, since the fruit of the two-winged dragon rotates when it falls and is picked up by the wind.


  • Birch reaches 45 meters in height, and the trunk can reach 1.5 meters in girth. Birch also has dwarf subspecies. The birch color that we are used to acquires in the 8th year of life, before that, its trunk is light brown and smooth. The leaves have the shape of a rounded triangle with jagged edges. It’s impossible to say for sure how many years a birch is, since there are many species of it: some grow to 150 years, others are able to exist 300 years.


  •   - The tree, reaching 35 meters in height, has a lush crown. Age can reach 300 years. The leaves have the form of 7 petals, located on the cuttings opposite each other. In May, chestnut blossoms, its cone-shaped inflorescences have a pale pink or white color. The fruits of chestnut ripen in autumn and are round boxes with spikes, inside of which is a nut. In it the seeds ripen. Chestnut-based medical preparations have analgesic properties.
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Among the popular deciduous crops can not be overlooked and fruit trees.

  •   of its kind has both wild and edible varieties. The tree grows to a maximum of 15 meters in height, and some species form low-growing shrubs. Any of the varieties needs care and certain conditions that need to be created for the great fertility of the apple tree. There are heat-loving varieties and frost-resistant, moisture-loving and drought tolerant. Choose an apple tree is not difficult if you know the features of your site. This will ensure the longest life expectancy of your tree and a rich harvest.
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  •   today there are about 60 species and more than 3,000 varieties. Growing up to 20 meters, this tree can bear fruit for up to 50 years. A pear, like an apple tree, does not grow well at the site of high groundwater occurrence. Therefore, if you want the pear to serve as long as possible, choose a place on the hill for its planting. To extend the life of your favorite plant, you need to feed it and process it from pests.


Did you know?The leaves on the pears grow in a strictly defined order, being apart from each other at an angle of 135° . This allows you to get maximum moisture and sunlight.
  • differs by its precocity - already in the 3rd year of life, it is capable of producing a harvest. Unlike pears and apple trees, plum loves soil with high humidity, but at the same time the place should not be purged. Plum care is little different from the care of other fruit plantations. If you want a long-lived woman on a plum site, loosen the ground around the trunk, destroy it, treat it from pests, and apply feed that is suitable for the season.


  • Cherry does not grow above 10 meters, so if you want a compact fruit tree on your site, choose it. In the prime of its age, one tree can produce about 20 kilograms of cherries from one tree. In the right conditions of growth, cherry can rejoice with its berries for 25 years.
You will be interested to know about.

  •   or bird cherry is the undeniable taste of summer. Unlike cherry, it has a larger and fleshy berry. Also more whimsical, as it has special requirements in relation to heat.


  •   it is also distinguished by its average height and crown circumference. In warm climates, apricot grows at an average of 100 years and starts to bear fruit early, from 3-5 years old. Most apricot varieties are cold-resistant, drought-resistant and can germinate in places with minimal rainfall.


Important!The difference between dried apricot fruits is that apricot-   apricot, dried straight from the stone, and dried apricots- dried apricot, from which the bone was removed.

Conifer

  •   - a symbol of the New Year, reaching a height of 50 meters. The conical shape of the crown has been formed over the years, since in the early years the spruce tree directs all its forces into growth. Depending on the species, the splendor of the branches and the length of the needles differ. Cones spread the seeds on the 20th year of spruce. Green beauty can be found in different parts of the world, although there are species that are found in certain areas.


  • Pine as a plant exists in three forms:
  1. Tree.
  2. Bush.
  3. Stlanik.
  Plantings of pines are very light-requiring and moisture-loving. The rest of the pine - an unpretentious tree and is a long-liver. The active growth phase of pine is observed at the age of 5-20 years, further growth slows down.

  •   - light-loving tree, resistant to drought, rapid temperature changes, to. Longevity juniper can envy any coniferous plant. The oils that juniper emits heals the air and saturates it with phytoncides. Among the decorative conifer plantations on the site juniper is chosen most often because of its unpretentiousness to moisture and soil, which ensures it longevity.
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Important!The bactericidal properties of juniper needles are unmatched.
  •   can be easily recognized by vertically growing buds. The needles of the fir do not fall off even when the branches dry, which makes it evergreen. The average age of the fir - 150-200 years, but its height may vary depending on the species.


  •   - evergreen trees and shrubs that rarely grow above 11 meters. Thuys are distinguished by soft, needle-like needles, which become darker and intertwined with age. Thuja is not capricious in care, it is cold-resistant, and certain species tolerate even frosty winters well.


Longevity table

So how many trees live, what is the maximum age of the maple, how long does the apricot last and how many years does the pine live, this table will answer.

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What tree lives 1000 years?

For some trees, the age of 1000 years is far from the limit. There are breeds living over 1500 and 2000 years. If juniper can live to 1000 years, then cedar pines, berries, oak, baobabs and redwoods exist for more than 3000 years. Did you know?   Methuselah-   The oldest person whose age is listed in the Bible, famous for his longevity. He lived 969 years.    An example of a long-lived tree is pine, whose age already exceeds 4850 years! This pine grows in the White Mountains of California, in the National Reserve, but the exact location of Methuselah is not revealed to protect it from the public. Methuselah is recognized as the most ancient tree on the planet Earth.

  No matter how much a tree is allotted on the earth, it is worth remembering that from the moment of germination to the very felling or wilting the plants perform the most important function - they enrich the planet with oxygen. Life expectancy of green plantings is a lot in what depends on the people themselves: it is necessary to remember that breaking a tree is a second, and growing it is years.

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    Since childhood, we all know that trees are coniferous in appearance of leaves, and deciduous trees (it is more correct to call them broad-leaved).

Deciduous trees have wide and flat leaves, the thickness of which is much inferior to the length and width. Leaf blades can be primitive-simple, lobed or jagged along the edge, sometimes complex. Leaf fall in such trees can be observed only once a year - in the autumn, before the arrival of cold weather, so as not to lose moisture in the winter. In spring, fresh leaves appear on the trees from the buds. Many deciduous trees tend to bloom and bear fruit.

The most famous hardwoods are birch, alder, hawthorn, willow, walnut, ash, maple, plum, eucalyptus, poplar, etc. But this is only a small part of the existing number of species.

  This group of plants includes more than 165 orders, about 540 families, 13 thousand genera and as many as 250 thousand species! Deciduous trees appeared on Earth more than 130 million years ago - later than all plants, but this did not prevent them to achieve dominance among the same plants, due to good adaptation to the environment. Now on our planet is very difficult to find a place in which there would be no representatives of broad-leaved. They are everywhere where, in principle, plant life is possible.

From time immemorial, deciduous trees were worshiped by people, since they served as a shelter from the sun and wind, were a sign of longevity, and deserved special respect. Some trees grow several centuries and reach gigantic sizes.
  In Russia, they grow and are considered the most valuable species: oak, beech, pear, cherry, walnut, maple, rosewood. In addition, the fruits of some trees, people learned to eat and use for medicinal purposes.


In addition to practical, deciduous trees and shrubs carry aesthetic value. Such plants are widely used in landscape design. They are not as difficult to please with the soil as coniferous, they are less sensitive to transplantation and have a huge number of varieties, which allows the designer's imagination to combine thousands of colors and silhouettes. No wonder deciduous forests often served as a source of inspiration for painters and writers.