Thick spruce paws do not let an evil chilling wind pass into the forest, which is why it is warmer in it. From that into the spruce and fly in bad weather, various to find shelter. In the thick fluffy branches, under the snowy spruce paws, as if under a roof they find themselves a shelter with whole flocks.
But why, in the fall of all the trees leaves turn yellowand fall in winter, and the Christmas tree, as it stood green, is it standing without changing colors and without losing its leaf needles? Because needle-needles are the same as leaflets for the rest of the trees. Each needle has the same green chlorophyll grains. True, there are far fewer of them in a needle than in ordinary leaves, but there are so many of them that the most spreading tree will envy the Christmas tree.
Christmas tree is not afraid
If you drop the Christmas tree in the fall your green outfit, then she, the poor and the whole spring is not enough to again grow dense needles. After all, the leaves of ordinary trees are so arranged that they prepare building material for branches and trunks much faster than needles. Therefore, the Christmas tree adapted to keep up in growth, wake up earlier than deciduous trees, and fall asleep later.
The fir-tree is also not afraid of the heaviness of snow, because its branches are flexible, strong and the snow cover will only bend them, but they will not be able to break them. But do not think that the Christmas tree never changes its green outfit. She changes it slowly, gradually and over the course of nine years completely renews her needle leaves.
And at the best for kids new Year holiday, Christmas tree is the most welcome guest in every home, school, kindergarten. She stands - a beauty, decorated with toys, and pleases the kids with her marvelous smell of fresh needles and an always green outfit.
And now, my young inquisitive friend, guess the riddle:
“Winter and summer, one color”
After all, have you already guessed who it is? Is not it? 🙂
In autumn, all the trees dump their foliage, and the forest beauty is spruce, and it stands green and elegant all winter. They say the truth: in winter and summer in one color.
In fact, green needle-needles are mutated leaves. The needles are so small and ate them so much that if the tree sheds its prickly outfit, it will not have enough spring to dress again in thick needles. And yet the tree, like all coniferous trees, changes its green outfit, but does it very slowly. In order for all the old needles to be replaced, at least 9 years must pass.
Spruce has various forms, differing in the color of the needles, the type of crown, and also the size. In addition, the spruce retains its decorative effect all year round, so the gardens in which it grows never look dull and lifeless.
Evergreen plant - in botany a plant whose foliage is preserved throughout the year and each leaf is stored on the tree for more than 12 months.
Chlorophyll has a green color, so the organs of the plant, where it is present, acquire the corresponding color.
In contrast to the evergreen, there are so-called deciduous plants, whose leaves fall at certain times of the year due to a cold or arid climate; and semi-deciduous plants, whose leaves fall due to adverse weather conditions.
Leaf preservation on evergreens varies greatly: in some plants they fall a little over a year later and are immediately replaced by new ones; others hold on for many years. The record for preserving the same leaves belongs to the spiny pine, or long-lived (Pinus longaeva) - its needles last up to 45 years. However, only in a few species the leaves do not fall for more than 5 years.
The record for preserving the same leaves belongs to the spiny pine, or long-lasting (Pinus longaeva) - its needles last up to 45 years!
Most plants in tropical rainforests are evergreen, as they lack two factors that make them deciduous — cold and drought. Plants in territories with a cooler or arid climate can be deciduous or evergreen. At cold temperatures, only a relatively small number of species, mainly conifers, remain evergreen.
At cold temperatures, only a relatively small number of species, mainly conifers, remain evergreen.
Evergreens in adverse climatic conditions have other signs of adaptation to low nutrient content. Deciduous plants reduce the need for nutrients with falling leaves, and in the winter, all the necessary nutrients are obtained from the ground, including for the reproduction of new leaves. When there is access to only a small amount of nutrients, evergreens have an advantage, even though their leaves and needles must be able to withstand cold or drought, and thus are less effective in photosynthesis.
When there is access to only a small amount of nutrients, evergreens have the advantage
In warmer regions, many types of evergreens such as some pines and cypresses grow on poor soils and disturbed soil. Some species of rhododendron - a genus of evergreen broad-leaved plants - grow in mature forests, but usually choose places on very acidic soil, where nutrients are less accessible to plants. Evergreens also have an advantage in the taiga or arctic forests, as the earth is cold enough to quickly decay organic matter.
In a temperate climate, fallen leaves or needles of evergreens have a higher carbon nitrogen content compared to deciduous trees, thus contributing to a higher soil acidity and lower soil nitrogen content. Such conditions contribute to the growth of evergreens and vice versa, prevent the development of deciduous.
Why are coniferous evergreen trees?
All trees feed on leaves. Their surface absorbs sunlight, and water flows from the roots through numerous tubules. A special green substance that is found in all leaves - chlorophyll - converts these two components into wood nutrition. Moreover, b aboutmost of the water evaporates from their wide surface. With the onset of cold weather, deciduous trees receive less sunlight and water from frozen soil. To winter, they store up the necessary amount of nutrients and moisture, drop leaves and hibernate. Their trunk and branches are reliably protected from frost by bark.
The leaves of pine and spruce - needles - are thin needles, covered with a thick shell. Due to this, they almost do not lose moisture from the surface and can remain on the tree in the cold season.
They also accumulate a small amount of water and sugars to nourish the tree in winter, as well as oils that prevent the needles from freezing in the cold. The needles of pine and spruce fall, but this happens gradually, and in their place new ones immediately grow.
A small amount of water and sugars accumulate in the needles to nourish the tree in winter, as well as oils that prevent the needles from freezing in the cold
Therefore, conifers are evergreen trees.
The famous Russian poet Fedor Ivanovich Tyutchev wrote a poem about this:
Let the pines and eat
Stick out all winter
In the snow and blizzard
Wrapped up, sleeping, -
Their skinny greens
Like the needles of a hedgehog,
Though it never turns yellow
But forever not fresh.
Do you know that in ancient times our slavic ancestors celebrated New Year with cherry blossoms?
Shortly before the holiday, the tub in which the tree grew was brought into the house. The buds developed in warmth, and the tree was densely covered with a delicate pink and white color.
Around the New Year's cherry people had fun - dances, sang songs.
A flowering tree remained in the house until spring. Then it was planted in warm spring soil.
Later an evergreen Christmas tree replaced the whitening cherry.
In our area, the feast of the New Year tree was introduced by special decree, Tsar Peter the Great in the one thousand seven hundredth year. The decree appealed to both the nobility and the common people. Since then, the beautiful tradition habitual to us has appeared before decorating the New Year to decorate the Christmas tree.
Evergreen Beauty in Landscaping
Evergreen spruce - a spectacular plant that gives a unique charm to any planting. The prickly beauty often becomes the accent of landscape composition, creating a unique artistic effect, filling it with color depth, volume, and setting a cozy and slightly mysterious mood.
There are more than 50 species of this plant, common in the Northern Hemisphere. In nature, conifers grow in mountain forests, occasionally found in flat areas.
Landscape design spruce for relatively small areas is mainly used for medium-tall (10-15 m high) or dwarf species (up to 2.5 m), since traditional beauties can reach a height of 40-50 m and above.
Representatives of decorative forms of spruce
Decorative forms of conifers have a stably slow growth rate and small size.
Aesthetic appeal and practicality - these two principles on which breeders were based, creating new subspecies of spruce, are fully embodied in representatives of popular breeds. with spherical, pillow or conical configuration of crowns.
Tufty, Cinderella, Petra, Hillside Upright, Emsland - the most attractive forms, pleasing to the eye with golden green and bluish shades of needles. Dwarf beauties have a dense compact crown, while the lower branches cover the near-trunk area of \u200b\u200bthe earth.
Picea glauca with gray needles and its varieties Conica, Cupido and Pixie are very noteworthy, which gardeners attribute to the lowest forms. The original representative of the coniferous family Rainbow’s End in the summer is unusually beautiful and elegant thanks to the milky white young shoots. Unusual outlines of the crown and juicy shades of needles make her a coveted resident of the garden.
Spruce blue or prickly - one of the most decorative and unpretentious breed in leaving. A distinctive feature of the breed Picea pungens - tetrahedral and rather prickly needles, which changes color shades from green, bluish, bright blue to almost white. The depth of the shade depends on the wax coating surrounding the young needles. The photophilous beauty grows well on light fertile loams. Mid-sized species of the breed have a conical crown shape: Snowkist, Hunnewelliana.
Landscaping and conifers
- Dwarf tree shapes with various shades of needles look interesting on the rocky slopes at the creek, alpine slides. Good neighborhood babies with ornamental shrubs, perennial flowers and ground cover plants. Fir-trees are well combined in composition with heathers, eriks.
- A variety of shapes and shades of conifers allows you to create a rocky landscape cornerwhich will delight the look all year round.
- The prickly beauty is easy to cut, which allows you to create original forms by growing decorative hedges 1.5-3 meters high.
Spruce in landscape design is good in any manifestation: whether it is a separately growing dominant, group planting of conifers along the alley, or a composition with flowering shrubs and flowers.
- A tree planted with a tapeworm most advantageously looks against the background of an emerald velvet lawn.
- Medium-sized spruce, planted near the house as a dominant plant, can serve as a visual counterweight to the volumetric structure of the building.
- The freestanding coniferous beauty is effective in the winter period as the main element of the New Year holidays.
However, it should be noted that the superficially located roots of the plant do not tolerate ramming and damage. For round dances around the dressed up beauty, the trunk area should be covered with a protective tile path.
Rarely, one of the people, easily solving a simple children's riddle “in the same winter and summer”, wondered: why does it really happen in the natural world that coniferous trees - spruce and pine - are evergreen? No, why green, I see. Everyone remembers from school biology lessons about such a natural green pigment as chlorophyll, which is one of the main participants in the process of photosynthesis, or, as they say, the "respiration" of a plant.
How photosynthesis works
The leaves absorb carbon dioxide from the air, through the root system they get water and mineral salts. Under the influence of light, chlorophyll converts the ingredients obtained from the outside into glucose, which is the main food of the plant. Only a small amount of water supplied by the root system goes to the production of nutrition for the plant, while its bulk evaporates through the same leaves.
In the cold season, when the ground freezes, the tree can no longer get enough water, and in order to avoid excessive evaporation of moisture through the surface of the leaves, it is forced to dump the latter.
Spruce and pine do not feel such a need. Indeed, in essence, the needles of these trees are leaves. They are quite thin, covered with a dense waxy shell, which minimizes the percentage of moisture evaporated by them. The shape of a leaf of a tree in the form of a needle allows you to balance the process of receipt and evaporation of moisture by a tree in the winter. The process of photosynthesis in this case becomes permanent.
Needles are an amazing variety of leaves
It would be wrong to assume that the needles on the pine or spruce do not fall. It is enough to walk through the forest or park to make sure that such assumptions are erroneous. The trick is that the needles that have outlived their life, falling off, are simultaneously replaced by new ones. As a result, the tree has a constant, steady green color of its needle-leaves. It is worth noting that the replacement of needles on a tree does not occur immediately on all branches at the same time. This process is gradual and measured.
Falling needles can occur in different species of pine or spruce with different intervals. The minimum lifespan of needles is considered to be twelve months. More frequent dropping of needles suggests that not everything is in order with the tree. The needles in most types of spruce trees do not fall for several years, and the so-called spinous pine, the needles of which are kept on a tree for up to 43-45 years, can be considered a champion.
As you know, the pine and spruce leaves do not fall in the fall. Why are coniferous evergreen trees?
All trees feed on leaves. Their surface absorbs sunlight, and water flows from the roots through numerous tubules. A special green substance that is found in all leaves - chlorophyll - converts these two components into wood nutrition. Moreover, b aboutmost of the water evaporates from their wide surface. With the onset of cold weather, deciduous trees receive less sunlight and water from frozen soil. To winter, they store up the necessary amount of nutrients and moisture, drop leaves and hibernate. Their trunk and branches are reliably protected from frost by bark.
Leaves of pine and spruce - needles - These are thin needles, covered with a thick shell. Due to this, they almost do not lose moisture from the surface and can remain on the tree in the cold season. They also accumulate a small amount of water and sugars to nourish the tree in winter, as well as oils that prevent the needles from freezing in the cold. The needles of pine and spruce fall, but this happens gradually, and in their place new ones immediately grow.
Therefore, conifers are evergreen trees.
The famous Russian poet Fedor Ivanovich Tyutchev wrote a poem about this:
Let the pines and eat
Stick out all winter
In the snow and blizzard
Wrapped up, sleeping, -
Their skinny greens
Like the needles of a hedgehog,
Though it never turns yellow
But forever not fresh.
The tradition of the appearance of evergreen spruce or pine as a New Year's guest
Did you know that in ancient times our Slav ancestors celebrated the New Year with cherry blossoms? Shortly before the holiday, the tub in which the tree grew was brought into the house. The buds developed in warmth, and the tree was densely covered with a delicate pink and white color.
Around the New Year's cherry people had fun - dances, sang songs. A flowering tree remained in the house until spring. Then it was planted in warm spring soil.
Later, an evergreen Christmas tree replaced the whitening cherry. In our area, the feast of the New Year tree was introduced by special decree, Tsar Peter the Great in the one thousand seven hundredth year. The decree appealed to both the nobility and the common people. Since then, the beautiful tradition habitual to us has appeared before decorating the New Year to decorate the Christmas tree.
