Something interesting about trees. Interesting facts about trees. Latest research and technology

Trees accompany people always and everywhere. Not so long ago, human life was tightly tied to a tree. Products made of metals or ceramics were expensive and rare, so tools and basic utensils were made of wood. Dwellings and furniture were made of wood, wood was used in the fire for heating or cooking, trees provided a variety of food. The territories inhabited by people were rich in forests; they even had to be cut down in order to obtain a field or territory for construction. As the population grew, it turned out that forest resources are not bottomless at all, and they are also renewed quite slowly by the standards of human life. Trees began to be studied, protected and planted. Along the way, new possibilities for using trees opened up and their diverse world was revealed. Here are some interesting facts about trees and their uses:

1. The name of a tree is not at all an immutable dogma. At the end of the 18th century North America discovered a tree previously not seen by Europeans. Due to its external similarity, it was given the name “thyssolifolia pine.” However, the resemblance to pine was still too small. Therefore, the tree was successively renamed thyssolid fir, thyssolid spruce, Douglas fir, and then called pseudo-hemlock. Now the tree is called Pseudotsuga Menzies after the botanist who discovered it. And this is not some exotic plant - pseudo-hemlock has taken root well in the Moscow region and Yaroslavl region.

Menzies's Pseudo-tsuga

2. The most diverse tree family is the legume family, with 5,405 species.

3. Crushed willow bark has long been used as medicine. But yew bark began to be used as a cure for cancer relatively recently. In the UK, the bark is accepted by laboratories that produce components for chemotherapy.

4. There are also very dangerous trees. In America, the manchineel tree grows from Florida to Colombia. Its juice is so toxic that even fumes and smoke from combustion can damage the organs of vision and breathing, and the fruits can cause poisoning. The ancient Indians knew about these properties of manchinella.

manchineel tree

5. Everyone knows about the amazing ability of the Japanese to make delicacies from the most incredible things. These things include maple leaves. They are salted for a year in special barrels and placed as a filling in the dough, which is then fried in boiling oil.

6. One a big tree absorbs so much per year carbon dioxide, how much it produces from one modern car of average power over 40,000 kilometers. In addition to carbon dioxide, trees absorb other harmful substances, including lead.

7. One pine tree provides released oxygen three people.

8. More than 100 species of pine grow in the northern hemisphere, but only one in the southern hemisphere, and that one is at a latitude of 2° on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.

9. As you can easily guess from the name of the spice, cinnamon is made from the bark of a tree, and the tree is also called cinnamon. The tree is grown for two years, then cut down close to the ground. It gives new small shoots. They are skinned and dried, rolled into tubes, which are then ground into powder.

10. A tree called Copaifera produces sap that is identical in composition diesel fuel. No processing is required - after filtering, the juice can be poured directly into the tank. According to experimental studies, one medium-sized tree (about 60 cm in diameter) provides one liter of fuel per day. This tree grows only in tropical regions.

Copaifera

11. In the south Far East there is a large tract of mixed forests, in which on one hectare you can find 20 various types trees.

12. A quarter of the forests on Earth are taiga. The area is approximately 15 million square meters. km.

13. Tree seeds fly. The record holder can be considered a birch seed - it can fly one and a half kilometers. Maple seeds fly 100 meters from the tree, and ash - 20.

14. The fruits of the Seychelles palm - nuts weighing up to 25 kg - can float in the ocean for years. Medieval sailors were quite puzzled when they found such a coconut in the middle Indian Ocean. However, to reproduce in this way Seychelles palm it can’t - it only grows in unique soil Seychelles. Attempts to artificially plant this tree in places with a similar climate ended in vain.

15. Tree seeds move not only with the help of wind, insects, birds and mammals. Seeds 15 types tropical trees in Brazil they move with the help of fish. Some islands in the tropical West Indies have trees whose fruits attract turtles.

16. To produce one sheet of A4 paper, you need about 20 grams of wood. And in order to save one tree, you need to collect 80 kg of waste paper.

17. Wood mainly consists of dead cells. In most trees, only 1% of the cells in the wood are living.

18. During the Industrial Revolution, forests in Great Britain were cut down so intensively that now forests occupy only 6% of the country's territory. But back in the 18th century, some areas of what is now London were royal hunting grounds.

19. If there are acorns on an oak tree, then the tree is at least 20 years old - younger oak trees do not bear fruit. And one oak tree grows from an average of 10,000 acorns.

20. In 1980, Indian Jadav Payeng began planting trees on the deserted island of Aruna Chapori in the west of the country. Over the past time, he has grown a forest of more than 550 hectares. The Payenga forest is home to tigers, rhinoceroses, deer and elephants.

Jadav Payeng in his own forest

21. Every Chinese person over 11 years of age must plant at least three trees a year. At least that's what the law passed in 1981 says.

22. Karelian birch, the wood of which is very beautiful and is used to make expensive furniture, is an ugly, low-growing tree with crooked branches.

23. Tropical forests are being cut down at an alarming rate. In the Amazon alone, forests are destroyed every year on an area equal to the territory of Belgium. Lumberjacks work no less hard in tropical Africa and on the islands of the Indonesian archipelago.

Desert Amazon

24. Redwoods, the world's tallest trees, can produce a colossal amount of wood, but this wood is almost impossible to use for practical purposes - it is very fragile. At the beginning of the twentieth century in California, a storm broke a sequoia tree 130 meters high.

Our lives depend on trees, because they are the ones who process the carbon dioxide that we exhale into breathable oxygen. Forests must be protected, because their area is decreasing year by year due to consumer attitudes towards them. And everything seems to be going to the point that humanity will not bother with this issue until the problem of air purity becomes really acute.

• Currently, about 38 million square kilometers of the Earth's area is occupied by forests, but this figure is decreasing every year.
• The largest forested areas on the planet there is taiga and South American jungle.
• The most forested country in the world is Finland, with about 70% of it covered by forest. Montenegro is not far behind it.
• The most treeless country is Great Britain, where forests occupy only about 6% of the territory. In this dubious category, it is rapidly catching up with Malaysia, which is losing forest cover at an alarming rate.
• The most tall tree on Earth - a sequoia growing in the USA with a height of 112 meters.
• Redwoods are, in principle, the tallest trees in the world. And at the same time the most ancient ones.
• It takes an average of a quarter of a million trees to produce one million tons of paper. To produce one A4 sheet, an average of 15-20 grams of wood is required.
• Birch is the most common tree on Earth ().
• In order to save a single tree from being cut down, it is necessary to recycle about 80 kg of waste paper.
• The most expensive type of wood in the world is mahogany mahogany. It is used to make expensive luxury furniture and equally expensive musical instruments.
• The oldest living tree on the planet is a tree growing in a Lithuanian park, nicknamed “The Old Man,” which is more than two thousand years old.
• Crown common oak grows an average of one meter in one year.
• The forest is truly peaceful - medical studies have shown that a person walking in the forest slows down the pulse and evens out the heartbeat.
• The hardest wood in the world belongs to Schmidt birch. This tree is so strong that with the help an ordinary ax it is simply impossible to cut it down.
• Worldwide about 60 times more trees than people.
• More than 80% percent of all deforested forests are regenerated, partly independently, partly with human help. However, every year there are approximately 95-97 million fewer trees on the planet.
• Russia accounts for almost half of all coniferous trees in the world.
• Spruce grows up to five hundred years, and pine - up to three hundred and fifty, give or take.
• Trees grow throughout their long lives.
• The Amazon jungle alone processes up to 120 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually.
• Trees different breeds produce different quantities oxygen.
• On average, one tree on Earth filters up to 100 thousand cubic meters of air per year.
• Trees actually reduce the greenhouse effect, main reason which is an increase in carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere.
• The United States consumes the most paper in the world. This is partly due to the current ban on the use of plastic bags- only paper ones are in use.
• Trees receive 8-10 times more nutrients from the atmosphere than from the soil.
• Trees are very strong. A small sprout is quite capable of making its way even through thick and durable asphalt.

All conifers belong to the class of gymnosperms. It has more than six hundred species. These include not only the pine and spruce trees familiar to everyone from childhood, but also more exotic cypresses, sequoias, larches, yews, etc.

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Peculiarity coniferous plants the fact that they stand in green needles all year round, changing them gradually. The only exceptions are common and golden larches.

The biggest tree is giant sequoia or giant sequoiadendron. On average, its height is 120 m and its diameter is 23 m. These trees are among the oldest on Earth. IN prehistoric times they were distributed throughout the northern hemisphere. Now the sequoia has survived only in California and in the western part of North America. Huge size caused the death of the sequoyander. Highways were built through tree trunks, and dance floors and restaurants were built on the stumps. One entrepreneur shipped pieces of sequoia bark to England, and then built a tower from it in which concerts were held.

The majestic and austere cypress tree has been considered a symbol of sadness since ancient times. The ancient Greeks and Romans laid its branches on their graves, and in Asia Minor cypress trees are planted in cemeteries. In Christianity, cypress symbolizes eternal life. It is believed that it was from its wood that Noah built the ark.

The dark fruits of the common juniper look more like berries, although they are cones, which is why they are called cone berries. The fruits can be eaten, they are juicy and sweet, since ancient times people have known them healing properties. In cooking, cone berries are used as a spice.

Thuja is known to us as a shrub or a low tree, but in its homeland, Japan and China, it can reach a height of 30 m. Its trunk is not visible due to the lush branches.

One of the most beautiful representatives of conifers is yew. It grows very slowly and can live for more than a thousand years. Therefore, trees that have lived for seven centuries are considered young. The oldest may be 2000 years old. Nowadays yew is very rare.

Among the gymnosperms, the largest family is the pine family. Cedars, junipers, larches, pines and other representatives grow in the Northern Hemisphere. In Yuzhny you can only find Merkuza pine.

A low-growing relative grows in the Siberian and Far Eastern mountains Siberian pine- cedar dwarf. It has small but tasty and healthy nuts. In winter, the plant seems to press itself to the ground, trying to hide from frost under the snow.

The Cossacks called the Siberian pine tree growing in the taiga, famous for its tasty and healthy nuts, cedar. Real cedar looks a little different and is now very rare, such a variety as Lebanese cedar disappeared almost completely. It was from the wood of real cedar that ships, dwellings and temples were built in ancient times.

Growing in North America amazing plant- sugar pine. It has cones the size of a large melon and a sweet resin that the Indians used as food. They made flour from large nuts.

Forests grow in almost every climate type presented, but all of them different types. There are no forests only at the extreme points arctic belt. We present interesting facts about the forest.

Forests are a habitat for many animals, an area with unique vegetation, a “cradle” medicinal herbs. total area There are 38 million square kilometers of forests on the planet. You can learn many interesting facts about forests if you dig deeper. For example, Finland is considered the most “forested” European country. Only 30% of its territory is not covered by them. In turn, Great Britain is less fortunate; as much as 94% of the country's territory is free of forest cover.

The USA is not giving way European countries in the ranking of “the very best”. Growing in California evergreen sequoia 112 m long. This tree is the longest in the whole world.

Also, the miracle of hands is growing in California human activity– “Wood Circus”, created by the Swede Erlandson in 1947. In this circus, trees grow into each other.

The oldest tree grows in Lithuania. The old-timer is about 2000 years old. Almost the same “brother trees” grow in the Polish forest, but they are younger: they are only 900 years old. The old-timer from Lithuania was given the name “Old Man”, and the brothers in Poland were named Lech, Rus, Czech.

Russia can boast of the beautiful Schmidt birch. It is the hardest of all the trees in Russian forests; you cannot pierce it with a bullet or cut it down with an ax. Bizarre plants grow in the Kaliningrad region dancing trees, and the forest itself is called “dancing” or “drunk”. The phenomenon of this phenomenon is still not clear

In Oceania there grows a coconut tree, rich in its coconut juice inside the coconut, but besides it there is also a tree whose fruit is bread. In the pulp of fruits that reach up to 12 kg, starch ripens; as it ripens, it turns into dough.

To date, more than 65% of the forests of the Eurasian continent have been destroyed by humans for their own needs. High-quality and expensive furniture is made from the trunk of a rare mahogany tree, and to produce one A4 sheet, you need 20 grams of high-quality wood.

This is all despite the fact that one tree produces from 100 to 700 kilograms of oxygen per year and binds 33 kilograms of carbon.

Forests on Earth feed us and meet our most important needs. Humanity must treat them with respect and thrift.

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Other interesting facts about the forest can be found on the Internet.

God created many miracle trees on Earth. IN tropical forests rattan palms grow, the thick climbing stems of which often stretch for 300-400 m.

In the desert regions of South-West Africa, a low-growing, peculiar-looking plant, Welwitschia, is found. It has a short but very thick trunk (a meter in diameter), framed by two huge leathery leaves. They spread along the ground in waves. Velvichia lives 100 years.

The Methuselah pine is the oldest living organism on the planet.

This pine tree is 4843 years old. She grew from a seed that fell to earth in 2832 BC.

Methuselah is located on the slopes of White Mountain in California, in National Nature Reserve, the exact location of Methuselah is kept a closely guarded secret to avoid vandalism. The tree is named Methuselah after one of the biblical characters who lived 969 years.

Trees extract nutrients mainly from the atmosphere. They get only 10% of their “food” from the soil.

An average sized tree can make 170,000 pencils.

One tree produces about 120 kilograms of oxygen per year, i.e. almost 100 cubic meters. This is enough for a family of three for the same year.

Over the course of its life, a tree processes more than a ton of carbon dioxide.

Trees help reduce greenhouse effect by at least 20%.

The common birch produces a million seeds annually.

The tallest tree is in Sweden. His root system has been growing for more than 9,000 years. As for the tree itself, the oldest is believed to be in America - a 4,500-year-old pine.

The most “free-standing” tree even has its own name – Larbredu Tenere. It grows in splendid isolation, and there is not a single “relative” around at a distance of 200 kilometers. Correction – this WAS the most lonely tree. By a cruel twist of fate, it was broken by a car that ran over it.

In Greece there is the “Tree of Hippocrates”, under which it is believed that Hippocrates taught people the wisdom of medicine.

A tree absorbs as much carbon per year as a car engine emits over several thousand kilometers.

IN South Africa There are wild fig trees whose root systems reach a depth of more than 120 meters - that's more than 30 floors deep into the earth!

In the 18th century, one of the chestnut trees in Sicily became famous for its girth. It was... 60 meters, that is, the approximate diameter of the tree was almost 20 meters. Over time, the trunk split into three separate plants.

The most dangerous tree is the ManchineeI Tree, which grows on the Caribbean coast and the swamps of Florida. When the sap of this tree comes into contact with the skin, a burn appears, followed by painful blisters. If this juice gets into the eyes, a person may go blind. The apple-like fruits of this tree are also very dangerous to eat. They cause burns and other problems. This tree terrified local residents until the arrival of the Spaniards in the 16th century.

The most massive tree was the Lindsey Creek Tree, containing more than 3,000 cubic meters of wood weighing 3,600 tons. Oddly enough, it was torn out by a storm in 1905, so now the largest tree is a sequoia in national park California.

White cedar, growing in the Great Lakes of Canada, has grown by 10 centimeters over the past 155 years. This is the slowest growing tree on Earth.

The most common tree in our forests is larch; deciduous forests occupy an area of ​​274 million hectares.

Trees grow at different "speeds". The crown of an oak tree, for example, will grow by only a meter in a year. At the beginning of summer the growth rate is greater than at the end. Growth also depends on the availability of moisture, on the composition of the soil, and on whether the summer was warm.

The hardest tree in the forests of Russia is the Schmidt birch; it grows in Primorye, in the Kedrovaya Pad nature reserve. You can't cut it down with an ax, you can't pierce it with a bullet.