Which coniferous tree sheds its needles in the fall. Which coniferous tree sheds its needles in the fall? Does fir shed 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 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). Its natural distribution area is the mountains of Eastern China. There she grows coniferous forests at an altitude of 900-1200 m above sea level. In culture, false larch is valued as decorative tree because of its beautiful needles.

Second deciduous conifer tree- two-row taxodium, or swamp cypress (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. Appearance They are very peculiar - thick, woody shoots of a bizarre shape, looking either like 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 big trees swamp cypress 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 the southeast North America. But before it was widespread globe and 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 drill and ornamental material, it persists 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 time 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.

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 picky about the soil; it is not afraid of snowstorms and very coldy, do not break its branches and strong winds. 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.

Almost all conifers are evergreens, but there are exceptions: some species shed their needles for the winter. These include swamp cypress and larch.
Taxodium and swamp cypress are large coniferous trees that grow in damp areas and forested swamps in the southeastern United States. For us it is still an exotic plant and you can find it in the parks of the southern coast of Crimea. Although swamp cypress seedlings are appearing in our garden center. But larch is well known to us.

European larch

European larch is distributed throughout Europe. Not demanding on soils. Frost-resistant, resistant to urban conditions. This larch is durable, living up to 500 years or more. The peculiarity of larch is that it deciduous tree, that is, the leaves fall off in the winter, and in the spring new green needles appear.
European larch is a very large plant. Individual specimens reach a height of more than 50 m and a width of up to 15 meters; the crown shape is regular, cone-shaped. For such a tree you will need a lot of space on your site. European larch is planted in massifs, groups, alleys, and rows.
Despite the fact that European larch is a fast-growing tree, many people want to plant a ready-made one right away. tall tree. This is not a problem; in the garden center, large larches are dug up with a lump of earth and packed in burlap and netting (if necessary). Special equipment is used to transplant and deliver such a plant. If the size of the plot is small, then the growth of the tree can be restrained by regular pruning or you can choose compact varieties. Larch trees with a weeping crown shape are very beautiful.

Matesequoia

This is a deciduous coniferous tree up to 40 m high with a trunk diameter of 2.5 m. The crown is slender and cone-shaped. The barrel at the bottom has many indentations and looks very impressive.
The needles are 1-3 cm long and 2 mm wide at first light green and bright, then darken in the summer, before falling in the fall it becomes depending on the location and weather conditions pale yellow or light pink to ruby ​​red and reddish brown. The needles are unusually soft. They grow late - by the end of May, and fall in early November.
Metasequoia is shade-tolerant, but develops better in open places. It grows quickly, is heat-resistant and frost-resistant down to -30°, wind-resistant, is not demanding on soils, but prefers well-drained, fertile and moist ones, and is stable in urban conditions. In China, it grows successfully on the streets and even along the sides of highways. Looks good near bodies of water.