Coniferous trees with needles that fall off in the winter. What tree sheds its needles for the winter except larch, deciduous conifers What plant does not shed its needles for the winter

Coniferous trees with needles falling off in winter

With the word “coniferous” we associate the idea of ​​trees that always remain green, like spruce or pine. Indeed, almost all conifers are evergreen. However, there are exceptions to this rule. What conifers shed their needles for the winter? Ask this question to a person who is not very experienced in botany, and you will get the answer: “larch.” This is correct, but only partly. Indeed, larch turns yellow in the fall, and then completely sheds its soft needles, i.e., it behaves like our northern deciduous trees (hence its name).

But is this the only tree that sheds its needles for the winter? Are there other conifers that behave in a similar way? A person unfamiliar with botany will not answer these questions. Meanwhile, among conifers there are deciduous trees besides larch. Some of them can be seen in the Batumi Botanical Garden.

Here is the first one. In winter, it is very similar in appearance to larch. However, an attentive eye will notice that there is not a single cone on the tree. There are a lot of rhombic, slightly thickened woody plates lying under the tree. Here you can also find winged seeds, reminiscent of pine and spruce seeds, only slightly larger. It is easy to guess that the rhombic plates are nothing more than scales of cones that have fallen from the tree. Consequently, the cones crumble when ripe, just like real cedar. And if so, then it is not larch (its cones never fall apart and hang “intact” on the branches for a long time). Before us is a completely different plant - Kaempfer's false larch (Pseudolarix kaempferi). The area of ​​its natural distribution is the mountains of Eastern China. There it grows in coniferous forests at an altitude of 900-1200 m above sea level. In culture, false larch is valued as an ornamental tree because of its beautiful needles.

The second deciduous coniferous tree is Taxodium distichum. Its homeland is North America. The tree is named swamp cypress because it often grows in swamps. It is also not called cypress by chance: its spherical cones resemble the cones of a real cypress. But if the cones of an ordinary cypress are very strong and difficult to break with your hand, then those of a swamp cypress are completely different. As soon as you pick up a mature cone from the ground and squeeze it a little in your hand, it crumbles into pieces.

Swamp cypress has the rare ability to develop special respiratory roots, the so-called pneumatophores. Unlike ordinary roots, they grow upward, rising above the ground. Their appearance is very peculiar - thick, woody shoots of a bizarre shape, resembling either skittles or some kind of knotty bottles. Breathing roots consist of very light, porous wood, although quite strong; there is a channel inside. They are vital for the plant. Through these shoots, air penetrates to the root system of the tree, hidden in the swamp soil. And the soil of swamps is very unfavorable for plant life due to excess water and lack of oxygen. Without special pneumatophores, the tree could have died. Breathing roots grow from thick horizontal roots spreading from the trunk in different directions.

Thanks to its breathing roots, swamp cypress can grow in areas that are covered with water for weeks or even months. Under these conditions, vertical roots grow to such a height that they are above the surface of the water. Their maximum height reaches 3 m.

In the Batumi Botanical Garden, well-defined respiratory roots can be seen in one of the large swamp cypress trees growing in a very damp place (Fig. 20). Other specimens located in drier areas do not form such roots.

The swamp cypress exhibits the phenomenon of branch fall, which is already familiar to us - in the fall, entire branches fall off along with the needles. True, this does not happen with all branches. Some of them remain on the tree, only needles fall off.

The geographical distribution of swamp cypress is interesting. It currently grows wild only in southeastern North America. But before it was widespread across the globe, including in Europe, where fossil remains of this plant are often found. Swamp cypress is one of North America's most valuable timber trees and is heavily harvested. Its wood is an excellent building and ornamental material; it remains in the soil for a long time.

The foliage of the swamp cypress is beautiful, light green, lacy. This tree is often cultivated for decorative purposes on highly moist soils, along the banks of reservoirs, where other tree species cannot grow.

The third deciduous conifer is the famous metasequoia (Metasequoia glyptostroboides). This tree is in the true sense of the word “living fossil”: it is as if “resurrected from the dead.” It was found only in fossil form and was considered completely extinct. And suddenly on the 8th of 1941-1942. In one of the regions of China, scientists accidentally discovered a living, rather old metasequoia tree. And a little later, in 1944, a whole grove was found. It turned out that the plant was not extinct at all. This discovery created a real sensation in the botanical world. Zoologists also have similar cases when they find animals that were considered to have long disappeared from the face of the Earth (for example, the coelacanth fish).

It is clear that in the Batumi Botanical Garden, as in other gardens, you can only see young specimens of metasequoia, they are no more than 20-30 years old.

What is metasequoia? This is a slender tree with a straight trunk and a cone-shaped crown, which starts almost from the ground. In summer the tree is very decorative - the crown has a beautiful soft green color. The needles are soft, and individual needles are almost the same as those of a swamp cypress.

In winter, metasequoia does not attract attention to itself - only bare branches. If you look at it from a distance, you won’t even think that it’s a coniferous tree. And even up close you won’t recognize it right away. True, if you look at the ground, you can see that under the tree there are not leaves, but reddish dry needles. More precisely, whole branches with pine needles. Metasequoia, like swamp cypress, is a “branching” tree. In winter, when there are no needles on the trees, the branches of both plants are quite similar. However, in metasequoia, thin young branches are located differently than in swamp cypress: they extend from thicker branches in pairs, one against the other.

Despite their fellow conifers larch sheds its needles every autumn. A beautiful tree, the needles are not soft, fluffy, not prickly at all, and the wood is considered one of the strongest. It should be noted that all conifers renew their needles anyway - old ones fall, new ones grow, but this happens throughout the year and they remain green all year.

This tree is called larch. Like deciduous trees, it sheds its needles in the fall, just like trees shed their leaves. First, the needles on the larch turn yellow. and then it starts to fall off. This is how the tree renews itself and begins to grow stronger in the spring.

It is believed that larch is the only coniferous tree that gets rid of the thorns that have grown over the summer during the winter. Larch developed this unique mechanism for conifers as an adaptation to the sharply cold climate. Larch is a very beautiful tree with valuable wood. There are several species, the easternmost of which, Kaempfer's larch, lives in Japan.



However, there are also coniferous trees that can shed their needles for the winter - these are metasequoia and swamp cypress, both trees of the cypress family. Both plants live in America and the appearance of their needles bears little resemblance to the coniferous trees we are used to.



Many coniferous trees remain green and lush all year round.

But not all conifers are evergreen. Among them there are those that shed their needles for the winter.

These include:




• This is exactly larch. It’s nickname is that in the fall it sheds its needles like leaves. In the spring, it again dresses in its leaves (needles). An amazing tree. Young needles are not light, but during the summer they acquire a darker shade.

  Recently I was on an excursion, and they were talking about larch, which turns yellow in the fall and sheds its needles. And in the spring, new, green ones appear. So a coniferous tree that sheds its needles in the fall is larch.

  In my opinion, the larch stands bare in the winter) and in the spring new green needles begin to emerge. And besides, they are delicious)))) so sour.

  The pine family includes not only our beloved pine. The pine family includes larch, a tree with needles instead of leaves. They gave larch this name because a tree with needles sheds its needles, like a birch tree, like aspen, poplar, maple and any other deciduous tree. So we answer that the larch remains without needles in the fall. But the larch remains without needles in the second year of its life; in the first year, the larch overwinters with needles. Scientists believe that this is how adaptation to harsh climate occurs.

  Different types of larches shed their needles at different times. Observations show that Siberian larch remains without needles by the end of October, American larch remains without needles in November.

  Indeed, not all trees that are commonly called conifers are evergreen. The most well-known coniferous tree that sheds its leaves (in this case, needles) in the fall is larch. Pseudolarches, Taxodium, Metasevoi and Glyptostrobus also shed needles.

  Mostly coniferous plants are evergreen, that is, leaves, needles, and needles remain on the plant for several years (from 2 to 40). but there are 5 genera of coniferous plants that, having shed their leaves - needles, overwinter naked, these are larch, pseudo-larch, glyptostrobus, metasequoia and taxodium.

  Only larch of the coniferous trees sheds its needles for the winter, since the other trees: fir, spruce, cedar and pine overwinter with needles and are therefore called evergreen.

  Larch forests are very common in Russia and this tree is the main one in the construction of wooden houses, since larch wood is heavily impregnated with resin and is therefore difficult to rot.

All coniferous trees, without exception, shed their needles as they die, especially in the spring. Only cedar can truly be called evergreen; it grows where there is never winter or frost. And in winter the larch sheds its needles to the ground. Its needles are thick, but soft compared to spruce or pine. By autumn, the needles on the larch turn a soft golden color and by the beginning of winter they fall off like ordinary leaves on all of our familiar deciduous trees. It is for this property that the tree got its name.

About larch.

Larch is not demanding on the soil, it is not afraid of snowstorms and severe frosts, and its branches and strong winds do not break. Larch has very strong wood and is so heavy that it sinks in water. Meanwhile, exactly larch was previously used to build ships. Its wood contains a lot of resin and therefore does not rot for a long time. And in the old days, larch wood was used to build houses standing on wet soils, and to this day, floors made from larch are considered the best, second only to oak and beech in quality.

With the beginning of autumn, most trees and shrubs shed their leaves in preparation for wintering. Before this process, a change in leaf color is observed. But sometimes it happens that the leaves remain on the branches even when cold weather sets in. Let's find out together why this happens, what it can lead to and how to help the trees.

The role of leaves in the life of a tree

The most important role of foliage is the formation of organic products. The flattened leaf plate perfectly absorbs sunlight. The cells of its tissue contain a large number of chloroplasts, in which photosynthesis takes place, resulting in the formation of organic substances.

Did you know? Throughout their life, plants evaporate large amounts of moisture. For example, an adult birch tree loses up to 40 liters of water per day, and the Australian eucalyptus (the tallest tree in the world) evaporates more than 500 liters.

Plants also remove water through their leaves. Moisture enters them through a system of vessels that extend from the rhizome. Inside the leaf blade, water moves between the cells to the depressions, through which it subsequently evaporates. In this way, the flow of mineral elements occurs through the entire plant. Plants can adjust the intensity of moisture removal on their own by closing and opening their stomata. If moisture needs to be conserved, the stomata close. This mainly happens when the air is dry and has a high temperature. Also, through leaves, gas exchange occurs between plants and the atmosphere. Through their stomata they receive carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide) needed to produce organic matter and release oxygen produced through photosynthesis. By saturating the air with oxygen, plants support the life of other living creatures on Earth.

Which trees shed their leaves for the winter?

Falling leaves is a natural stage in the development of most plants. This is how nature intended it, because in a naked state, the surface area for moisture evaporation is reduced, the risk of branches breaking, etc. is reduced.

Important! Leaf fall is a vital process, without which the plant may simply die.

Different types of trees shed leaves differently. But the following crops shed their leaves every year:

• poplar (begins to shed leaves at the end of September);
• Linden;
• bird cherry;
• birch;
• oak (leaf fall begins in early September);
• rowan (loses leaves in October);
• apple tree (one of the last fruit crops to shed its leaves - in early October);
• nut;
• maple (can stand with leaves until frost);

Only coniferous plants remain green throughout the winter. With a short summer, living conditions for the regeneration of leaves every year are extremely unfavorable. That is why there are more evergreen species in the northern regions.

Did you know? In fact, coniferous plants also shed needles. Only they do this not annually, but once every 2-4 years, gradually.

Reasons why leaves don't fall

Foliage that has not fallen in autumn indicates that the tree’s growth stage is incomplete. This is typical for most cultures of southern or Western European origin. They are not adapted to short-term summers and require a long and warm growing season. However, even winter-hardy crops can remain with green foliage over the winter.

This situation may arise in the following cases:

1. There has been a glut of nitrogen-containing fertilizers. They stimulate the growth process.
2. The dry summer gave way abruptly to a rainy, cold autumn. Moreover, frequent watering only aggravates the situation.
3. The climate is not suitable for this variety. Perhaps the plant did not have time to completely complete the development phase.
4. Incorrect trimming. If this work is done incorrectly and at the wrong time, it can provoke the rapid development of new shoots and leaves.

As a rule, all these factors lead to the fact that the plant enters wintering exhausted, with underdeveloped shoots and with delayed leaf fall. In addition, pathogens of various diseases remain in the leaves, which leads to consequences such as frostbite or burns of fragile branches.

Important! Diseased foliage negatively affects the condition of the entire plant, weakens yield and reduces resistance to pests.

How to help and what to do

Specialists and experienced gardeners know that even trees unprepared for winter can be helped. First of all, it is necessary to develop resistance to frost. To do this you need:

1. Scrape (remove) foliage. This process is carried out by running the palm of the hand along the branches from bottom to top, separating dry and frail leaves. You cannot cut them off by force.
2. Whiten the central branches and trunk of the tree. This procedure must be completed before frost.
3. Create a thermal cushion for the rhizome. To do this, the first snow is trampled down, and a mixture of peat and sawdust is poured on top. The next snow that falls is also trampled down.
4. Limited feeding. In autumn and late summer, you can apply only potassium-phosphorus fertilizers and do not overfeed the tree excessively.

In early spring, plants that have stood with leaves on the branches all winter will need to be fed with potassium sulfate, and in the summer, their crowns will need to be sprayed with a pink solution of potassium permanganate. Thus, the process of preparing trees should begin in advance so that they do not stray from the circuit established by nature. Only in this case will the tree meet the frosts strong and give a good harvest the next season.