Herbaceous plants. Evergreens and wintergreens in your garden, the necessary growing conditions Which plant leaves remain green until snow

Autumn - wilting of plants, leaf fall, preparation for winter.Everything is available for observation in the autumn months: from the first yellow birch leaves to the establishment of a snow cover.
Autumn is a turning point of the year: in a short period from September to November, nature undergoes a transition from heat to frost, from greenery to snow, from summer to winter. It takes only 3 months for a green-leaved forest with a lush grass cover to take on a completely winter look - leafless, bare trees against a white background of snow. Many changes occur in nature in autumn. And the most noticeable of them are the autumn coloring of foliage, leaf fall, the first snow. Autumn in our latitudes is an unusually colorful season. How many different tones and shades we see at this time in trees and shrubs. Gold and crimson foliage - this is the main sign of autumn. In the plant world, during autumn, there is a transition from a summer active state to a winter dormant period. The leaves of birches and maples, aspens and lindens lose their green color. They stop doing their usual summer work, and then break away from the branches and fall to the ground. This phenomenon is called - leaf fall. The crowns of trees are exposed, their shoots are exposed. Roots stop growing. Everything is preparing for winter, as if it is numb. However, there are also plants that have active growth in autumn. Take, for example, some herbaceous plants: ranunculus anemone, kandyk, lungwort. During September and October, until frost sets in, their sprouts (next year's shoots), which are shallow in the soil or even on its surface, noticeably increase in size and lengthen.

Exercise: Watch our forest grasses in autumn and you will find out which plants, besides those listed, behave in the same way.

Autumn excursion into nature will give a lot of impressions. Beginning of September. Deciduous forest is still green. But among the birch foliage, large lemon-yellow strands stand out here and there. Linden also has a lot of yellowness. This tree, like birch, begins to paint early. There are autumn tones in other trees - aspen, maple, oak, poplar. But only the colors of autumn appear faintly among the greenery of the crowns.

Gold and crimson are not yet masters in the forest, but only timid guests. Their time is ahead. Little by little yellow birch leaves fall. The wind will blow - it will spin in a flock in the air, slowly lowering them to the ground. There is no real leaf fall yet. The aroma of autumn is already felt - the smell of fallen leaves. True, he is still weak. Autumn has still little touched the forest grasses. Many of them turn green in summer. Mushroom suffering continues - there are a lot of mushrooms in the forest.

Questions: 1. What phenomena in plant life can be observed in autumn?

2. What plants are actively growing in September, October, preparing for spring?

3. What plants bloom in autumn?

4. Keep a diary of observations. Record seasonal changes in plant life in it.

Among indoor plants there are many that shed their leaves in autumn, or rather, they have the upper aerial part dies. These plants include bulbous (amaryllis), tuberous (begonias, gloxinia, caladium).

In all these plants, the upper aerial part dies off in autumn. Only bulbs, corms or tubers in the ground are preserved. This is a feature of ephemeroid plants, and it is associated with growing conditions in the wild. So plants endure long droughts in nature. In room conditions, such plants behave in exactly the same way.

Therefore, starting in September, you need to gradually reduce watering. During the dormant period, it is very important to preserve the underground part of these plants - tubers, bulbs, corms. In winter, you need to store the pot in a dark, cool place at a temperature of +13 +15 0С, only occasionally slightly moisten or sprinkle the ground so that the tubers or bulbs do not dry out in too dry ground. If the tubers or bulbs seem too shriveled, you can water a little.

The dormant period is very important for these plants, during this period they develop flowering buds. After a dormant period of three to six months, which usually ends in early spring, when daylight begins to increase, these plants begin to grow again.

In our forests there are many species of herbaceous plants, there are incomparably more of them than trees, shrubs and shrubs combined. In this respect, temperate forests are very different from tropical ones: there the ratio is reversed - there are very few herbaceous plants on the soil.

Among the herbs that inhabit our forests, there are flowering and vascular spore plants (ferns, horsetails, club mosses). However, flowering plants are still much larger.

Almost all forest grasses are perennials. They firmly hold their place in the forest for a long time. Many of them have long thin rhizomes or above-ground shoots that can spread sideways, capturing new territory. Such plants are called vegetatively mobile.

Seed propagation plays a relatively small role in forest grasses; they reproduce poorly in this way. One of the reasons for this is that the soil in the forest is almost always covered with a layer of fallen leaves or needles, which makes it very difficult for seeds to germinate, especially small ones. Vegetative propagation, i.e., the growth of rhizomes and aboveground shoots, does not interfere with the litter.

Among the forest grasses there are both summer-green plants, the aerial part of which dies off by winter, and winter-green plants, which retain foliage for the cold season. The conditions for overwintering grasses in the forest are quite favorable: the plants are protected by a more or less thick layer of snow, under which the soil usually does not freeze or freezes very weakly. In the forest you can find many types of winter green grasses. There are probably no less of them than summer greens. If in winter we dig up the snow under the trees, we will see on the soil many living green leaves belonging to various herbaceous plants.

Forest grasses are relatively shade-tolerant; they tolerate shading by trees and shrubs well. However, the forest environment for many of them is not a prerequisite for existence. Some forest grasses can grow well in an open area, in full light. Here they grow even more luxuriantly than in the forest, bloom more abundantly and bear fruit.

Herbaceous plants developing under the forest canopy are far from indifferent to the soil conditions in which the forest grows, especially to the provision of soil with nutrients and moisture. Some of them, for example, are very demanding on the content of nutrients and are found in forests that grow on rich soils, others are content with poorer soil and are therefore common in other types of forest. The same is true for moisture. In a word, forest herbaceous plants can be a kind of indicators of soil properties: its moisture content and richness in nutrients.

Many forest grasses are associated in their distribution with certain types of forest. Some prefer to grow in deciduous forests, while others prefer to grow in coniferous forests. This is due to many reasons. Not the last role is played here by the fact that different types of forest are associated with different soil conditions. Thus, broad-leaved forests usually develop on soils richer in nutrients than coniferous ones.

The connection of forest plants with certain types of forest, of course, cannot be overestimated, given absolute significance. Only a few forest grasses show a strict confinement to certain types of forest, most of them are found in many types. True, for some of them this plant is characteristic: here it is found much more often than anywhere else. In this sense, one can speak, for example, of plants characteristic of oak forests, pine forests, spruce forests, etc.

And one more circumstance. Among the forest grasses there are also those that do not give a clear preference to one or another forest mud, but are found in very many of them and are very widespread. These are peculiar indifferent plants.

We now turn to the consideration of individual types of forest grasses. Let us first get acquainted with those of them that are characteristic of coniferous forests - spruce and pine forests.

Common Oxalis (Oxalis acetosella). In a dense shady spruce forest, there is often a continuous cover of oxalis. At first glance, it seems that other herbs do not grow here at all. Continuous thickets of oxalis are sometimes found in pine forests. Oxalis is a small, fragile plant, as if consisting of only leaves that barely rise above the soil. Each leaf has three separate lobules and is similar to a clover leaf (Fig. 15). If you chew it - there is a sour taste, like from sorrel. Hence the name of the plant - "sour". Even more aptly, the German name for this little herb is "sour clover". The leaves of the plant owe their sour taste to the presence of oxalic acid salts. They are also rich in vitamin C and are quite edible even when raw. You can also make soups, sauces, salads from them. In a word, sorrel can serve as a good substitute for ordinary sorrel.

Oxalis leaf slices have one interesting property: they are able to fold along and droop. This happens, for example, before the onset of inclement weather. The leaves also fold at night. However, the lowering of the leaves can also be caused artificially if they are lightly hit. Only their movements will be rather slow, imperceptible to the eye. The leaves will drop within a few minutes. It is best to do this in the spring, when young light green foliage has just appeared in the oxalis.

To see how the oxalis blooms, you need to come to the forest in early or mid-May. At this time, she has small white flowers with a pink tint. Each of them sits at the end of a thin stalk. Flowers, like leaves, barely rise above the soil surface. They are clearly visible in the forest due to their white color.

On the contrary, it is difficult to notice the fruits of oxalis. In any case, they are not conspicuous. The fruit is a small greenish ball, which is located at the end of a thin stalk - in the very place where the flower was in spring. This ball is slightly larger than a hemp seed.

The small nondescript fruit has, however, one very interesting property - it is capable of exploding, as it were, at the touch. Try to find a few fruits in the oxalis thickets. Without taking them off the plant, lightly squeeze with two fingers, first one of them, then the other, the third. If among them there is at least one ripe fruit, from which the seeds have not yet had time to spill out, a surprise awaits you. Touching such a ball, you will feel some kind of push, as if a microscopic grenade exploded in your fingers. This fruit "shot" its seeds. This method of active ejection of seeds is rare in the plant world.

However, to be precise, it must be said that the fruit does not "shoot" at all. Oddly enough, he takes no part in the scattering of seeds and remains completely passive. The seeds fly out under the influence of a force contained in them (there is a special device on the side of the seed that acts as a repulsive spring).

When "shot" from the sour fruit, several small reddish seeds are thrown out. They have good germination and give rise to young plants. At the seedling of oxalis, two small oval cotyledons first appear, and then one or two tiny leaves of the same shape as in an adult plant.

Oxalis is a vegetatively mobile plant, it does not stay in one place all the time. Adult specimens have creeping shoots, which, growing, can move along the surface of the soil. From these shoots grow already familiar to us "clover" leaves.

European seventh week (Trientalis europaea)- a characteristic plant of a spruce forest. This is a small grass with a thin stalk sticking up, on top of which there are several elongated oval leaves directed in different directions (see the picture on the insert). A distinctive feature of the plant is that the leaves are located at the very top of the stem. Often there are seven of these leaves.

At the end of spring, flowers in the form of beautiful snow-white stars the size of a penny coin appear at the septenary. Each plant usually has only one flower. These graceful white stars cannot be overlooked. They seem to glow in the twilight of the spruce forest.

In the flower of the septenary, as a rule, there are seven petals. This is probably where the name of the plant comes from. The number seven is almost never found in the plant world, and the flower of this plant with seven petals and the same number of sepals and stamens is an extremely rare occurrence.

At the first glance at the flower of the septenary, it seems that all its petals are completely free, they have not grown together with each other. But this impression is wrong. When flowering ends, not individual petals fall to the ground from the plant, but the entire corolla - the entire white star. The individual petals of the flower are fused into one whole. The situation is exactly the same with primrose, a relative of the septenary (both plants belong to the primrose family). In a word, in the septenary we meet the case when it is not very easy to answer the question: what is the corolla of the plant - free-petal or not.

The flowers of the septenary are white in color. It is noteworthy that the flowers of many other plants found in spruce forests are also colored. This, of course, is not accidental. White flowers stand out better than any other in the twilight of the spruce forest, they are quickly found by pollinating insects.

Sedmichnik is one of the summer-green plants: its above-ground part dries up and dies off by winter. Some other plants of the coniferous forest behave in the same way. But it differs from them in that it begins to turn yellow and dry out very early, when almost all other forest grasses are still quite green.

Sedmichnik is a perennial plant. It winters with a thin living rhizome, located at the very surface of the soil. In spring, it gives rise to new shoots with leaves and flowers.

Two-leafed mink (Maianthemum bifolium). This small forest grass is very graceful when in bloom. A small thin stalk with two heart-shaped leaves rises from the ground, at the top there is a loose inflorescence of small, small white flowers with a pleasant smell. What attracts the attention of this modest forest plant? Some kind of tenderness, fragility, miniature.

Maynik blooms at the very beginning of summer, almost at the same time as lily of the valley. An elegant plant belongs to the lily family, it is related to lily of the valley, tulip, lily. However, its flowers are very different in structure from the flowers of many relatives: they have only four petals (from a botanical point of view, these are the shares of a simple perianth). In a word, the miner is not a typical representative of the lily family.

In late autumn, beautiful fruits ripen near the miner - small raspberry berries the size of a pellet. They resemble greatly reduced cranberries. At this time, the miner has a completely different look than during flowering. It is not even immediately recognizable: only a thin dry stem remains from the plant, at the end of which small raspberry balls are visible. These berries are preserved for a very long time - until the very winter. It happens that they overwinter unharmed. The snow will melt in the forest, and beautiful ruby ​​​​beads are still on the stems.

Maynik fruits are sweetish, but have an unpleasant aftertaste. These berries are poisonous. However, some birds eat the fruits of the mainika without any harm to themselves.

Maynik, like many other forest herbs, is a perennial plant. The above-ground parts of it die by winter, but the underground ones remain alive. It is in them that life is glimmering in the harsh winter time. Under the ground, near the mine, there is a thin, almost like a pencil lead, rhizome. At the end of its kidney, from which a new stem develops in spring with leaves, and sometimes with flowers. Flowering specimens of the maynik have two leaves, while non-flowering specimens have only one.

Wintergreen (Pyrola rotundifolia). The leaves of this small forest plant are very reminiscent of pear leaves. Because of this, the plant got its name. Wintergreen leaves are located near the ground itself and are collected together with a rosette, like a plantain. Until the plant blooms, it seems that it has no stem - only leaves. At this time, wintergreen does not attract attention to itself. But when the time comes for flowering, the plant is completely transformed. A long stem-peduncle rises from the rosette of leaves, and on it there are about a dozen beautiful snow-white flowers (see the picture on the insert). They are clearly visible in the deep shade of the spruce forest. The petals of the flowers are widely spread, from the center of each flower hangs down a long curved column of pistil. Wintergreen in bloom is very good: it is somewhat reminiscent of lily of the valley. This is one of the most elegant forest flowers.

If you notice some wintergreen specimen in the forest and watch it for several years, you will discover an interesting feature of the development of this plant. In some years wintergreen blooms, in others there are no flowers, only leaves are visible.

This happens with other forest herbs.

Wintergreen leaves remain green all year round. Pressed to the ground by a thick snow cover, they endure the long northern winter in complete darkness. Such winter-green plants in our forests are by no means uncommon. The preservation of green leaves in winter gives plants a certain advantage: in the spring, as soon as the snow melts, the overwintered leaves immediately, without any delay, begin to produce organic substances under the influence of light.

Wintergreen has several close relatives in our forests - other species of the same genus. But all of them are far inferior to her in the beauty of flowering.

Spiked crow (Actaea spicata). Juicy fruits of forest plants - edible and inedible - are most often red. It is this color that they have in raspberries and honeysuckle, bone berries and wolf bast, mink and strawberries. Black fruits are less common: they are, for example, buckthorn, blueberries.

Black fruits, similar to berries, also have a forest herbaceous plant. Anyone who meets this plant for the first time always pays attention to it. It is unusual to see a whole bunch of black shiny oval berries on a grassy stalk. Such a group of fruits is similar to a miniature bunch of black grapes, only it does not hang down, but sticks straight up.

The fruits of the black crow have an appetizing appearance, but they are poisonous. Under no circumstances should they be eaten. In the forest, in general, one must be careful: one should never eat unfamiliar berries.

Voronets stands out among forest grasses - this plant is quite large. It is like some forest ferns in height. The leaves are large, wide, but not solid, but strongly dissected into small slices. In spring, at the top of the stem, you can see a small dense inflorescence of small whitish flowers, somewhat reminiscent of elderberry flowers (see the picture on the insert).

Probably, many will be surprised that the crow is a relative of the buttercup. However, this is exactly the case: both plants belong to the same ranunculus family. True, the crow occupies a special position in this family, it stands apart: it has juicy fruits, which other buttercups do not have.

Voronets can serve as a good example of forest herbaceous plants that remain in the same place throughout their lives. This plant has neither long rhizomes nor creeping above-ground shoots.

In the forest, the crow is always found in separate specimens, far apart from each other. This is one of our comparatively rare forest plants. We usually find it in some types of spruce forests, where there is a lot of acid and oak grasses.

Single flower (Moneses uniflora). When you walk through a mossy coniferous forest at the beginning of summer, sometimes you notice white flowers the size of a two-kopeck coin under your feet, which barely rise above the moss carpet. A characteristic feature of the flowers is that they are drooping, as if suspended on a curved stem. This is how a small forest plant blooms - a single flower. The name of the plant is most appropriate: it always has only one flower (see the picture on the insert). In comparison with the plant itself, the flower seems very large. This flower is beautiful in its own way and has a pleasant smell (though rather weak). It has five white petals, which are widely spread in all directions. The stamens are collected in five pairs, a long straight column hangs down from the center of the flower with five teeth-stigmas at the end.

After flowering, it is difficult to find a single flower in the forest: firstly, it does not stand out in any way, and secondly, its appearance changes greatly. The branch-pedicel, on which the flower was suspended, becomes completely straight and stretches strongly upwards. At the very end of it one can see a small spherical fruit-box. This is all that remains of the beautiful white flower.

The leaves of the same flower are small, rounded, collected in a rosette. Like green coins spread across a moss carpet. They winter under the snow green. One flower is one of the rare plants. Therefore, when you meet her in the forest, take care, do not tear.

Coppice noble, or liverwort (Hepatica nobilis). In late April - early May, on the streets of Moscow, Leningrad and some other cities, you can see small bouquets of beautiful bluish flowers with a lilac tint for sale. Each flower is like an asterisk with rounded rays. This is a noble copse, or liverwort. It grows mainly in the forests of the northwestern regions of the European part of the country.

Coppice blooms very early, as soon as the snow melts. At this time you walk through the spruce forest - on the ground under the trees there is only a carpet of green moss and the dark, dull green of overwintered plants. And suddenly a surprise - a bright blue flower. And after him another, third, fourth ... Coppice blossomed! A thin stem-flower stalk rises above the ground, and at its end is a beautiful flower. Inside the flower there are many graceful white stamens, and in the very center there is a cluster of tiny greenish pistils. According to the color of the flower, the coppice, of course, does not at all resemble a buttercup, but in the structure of the flower they have much in common - the shape of the petals, the abundance of stamens and pistils. The similarity is not accidental: buttercup and copse are relatives, both plants belong to the buttercup family.

During the flowering period, the coppice has not only flowers, but also dark green leaves that have overwintered under the snow, lying on the ground. Their shape is unusual: the leaf blade is slightly incised into three large lobes. You will not find such leaves in any of our other plants. Overwintered leaves have a painful appearance and soon die. When the plant fades, young ones grow to replace them, exactly the same shape, but only light green and shaggy with hairs. Over time, they darken, lose hairs.

Coppice is one of the few of our forest plants that have had buds "harvested" since autumn. They can be found in large buds, which are located at the very surface of the earth. You open a bud, break a bud - all parts of the flower are clearly visible. And the most amazing thing is that the petals of future flowers, although small, already have a bright bluish-purple color.

Club moss (Lycopodium clavatum). Among the usual inhabitants of coniferous forests is club club moss. This plant is found mainly in the northern half of the European part of the country and is little known to residents of the southern regions.

The appearance of the mosquito is very peculiar. It has long and thin stems, shaggy from numerous small leaves (Fig. 16). The stem spreads along the ground, giving small lateral branches. Each young branch ends in a small brush of fine white hairs.

The creeping stem of the club moss resembles a long green cord and sometimes reaches several meters in length. It seems that the whole whip lies on the ground completely free. But try to lift it up - and you will find that the stem is in some places attached to the ground by roots.

Plaun is an evergreen plant. It is always the same - in winter and summer. Its appearance does not change even when it dries up. Therefore, club moss whips are often used in more northern regions as greenery for decorating portraits in rooms and halls. Such greens never fade and seem fresh for a long time.

If the conditions for the life of the clubmoss are sufficiently favorable, special long branches go up from the creeping stems of the plant. They end in narrow-cylindrical yellow spikelets. There are several of them on one branch - from two to five (see Fig. 16). Numerous spores ripen in spikelets, which at the end of summer spill out in the form of an abundant yellow powder. Each spore is so small that it can only be seen under a microscope. This is the smallest cell containing a lot of vegetable fat, which explains its yellow color. She, like a speck of dust, is easily picked up even by a weak breath of wind.

Spores serve as a means of reproduction of the club moss. Once on the soil and finding favorable conditions, they germinate. The life path of a mosquito is long and complicated. At the same time, it is amazing and unusual. This is one of the secrets of the plant world, which became known to man not so long ago - only about 100 years ago.

What is the path of development of the club moss? From the spore, a small plant first grows, completely unlike an adult club moss. This is the so-called sprout. In size, it is no larger than a large pea, and in shape it is a bit like a turnip. Who would think that this is the offspring of that green club moss with shaggy branches that we see in the forest! Even botanists did not know for a long time about the existence of a growth in the club moss.

The growth serves as an intermediate stage in the life of the club moss. But at the same time, it plays a very important role: fertilization takes place here, the fusion of male and female germ cells. Only after this can the familiar green large club moss be born. His life begins on a sprout: he grows here for the first time, like a flower in a pot. One can already recognize the clubmoss in this small plant: it has a thin green stem with small characteristic leaves that rushes up to the light, and a small root that penetrates the soil. Years pass, the moss grows, becomes more and more. It does not become quite an adult soon - in 20-30 years. And the sprout dies soon after the young club moss begins to grow.

Moss spores are still used in medicine in the manufacture of certain types of pills, baby powders, etc. And before they were widely used in metallurgy. In order to obtain a casting with a very smooth surface, the mold into which the metal was poured was lightly sprinkled with spore powder. In contact with molten metal, the spores instantly burn out. Between the mold and the casting, for a moment, there is a thin layer of gases that were formed during the combustion of spores. This prevents the metal from sticking to the mold. After cooling, the casting can be easily removed and is very smooth.

Club spores are harvested in large quantities by special collectors and then delivered to collection points. They are collected in the following way. Shortly before the start of the natural rash of spores from spikelets, the collectors go to the forest, where there are thickets of club moss. It is best to do this early in the morning, in the dew. Yellowed spikelets full of spores are cut off with scissors and collected in an appropriate container. Then the spikelets are dried indoors, placed on paper or thick cloth, in basins, troughs, etc. After a while, the spikelets begin to "dust" and the spores spill out.

In our coniferous forests, you can find not only club-shaped club moss, but also several other species of club mosses.

Mariannik meadow (Melampyrum pratense). Probably, many people are familiar with a plant called Ivan da Marya. When it blooms, it attracts attention with its two-tone purple-yellow color. If you look closely, it is easy to see that the uppermost leaves have purple, and the flowers have yellow. The correct, scientific name of this plant is oak maryannik. But this is not what we want to talk about now. We will talk about his closest relative, which is called meadow maryannik.

You may have seen this plant in the forest. It is very similar to Ivan da Marya, but only it does not have purple leaves, and the flowers are almost white. You might think that this is some kind of discolored copy of Ivan da Marya.

This type of maryannik is typical for coniferous forests, although it has the specific name "meadow".

Meadow maryannik is an annual plant. Every year it starts life anew - with a seed. At the end of spring in the forest every year you see many seedlings of maryannik with large oval cotyledons. Shoots develop quickly and in a few weeks turn into adult plants. In the middle of summer, flowering is already beginning. An annual plant among forest grasses is a rarity. Almost all herbs that are found in the forest are perennial. And they reproduce almost exclusively by the growth of rhizomes and above-ground shoots, and not by seeds.

The fact that maryannik is an annual plant is easy to determine. To do this, you need to dig up any instance and look at its root system. In annual plants, as a rule, there is a thin root, which is, as it were, a continuation of the stem in the soil. It is no thicker than a stem and quickly fades away, it is easy to remove it from the ground. It is this root that maryannik has.

Mariannik seeds are quite large, white, very similar in appearance to "ant eggs" (ant larvae). These seeds are spread by ants, who carry them throughout the forest. This method of seed dispersal is often found in forest herbaceous plants. Many species of them use the "services" of ants. Such plants are called myrmecochores.

Creeping Goodiera (Goodyera repens). In a coniferous, often pine forest, on a green carpet of mosses, one can sometimes see clusters of a plant that looks like a miniature plantain. Its leaves are ovoid, collected in a rosette and flattened. Only they are 2-3 times less than that of plantain. Yes, and their surface is different - with the original mesh pattern (Fig. 17). This is a creeping goodyear plant, an interesting plant in many respects. It belongs to the orchid family and is therefore related to those lush orchids that are grown in greenhouses and have large and very beautiful flowers.

Orchids are a large family, there are about 20 thousand species in it. Almost all of them are inhabitants of distant tropical countries. In our latitudes, there are few representatives of this family and they cannot compete in size and beauty of flowers with their tropical relatives. Northern orchids are small herbs, their flowers are usually small.

This often happens in the plant world: large and beautiful southern plants have undersized and nondescript relatives in the north.

Goodyear blooms in mid-summer. A small thin stalk rises from the rosette of its leaves, the length of which usually does not exceed 10-15 cm. Small white flowers are collected on its top (see Fig. 17), which do not attract attention to themselves.

Fruits are subsequently formed from the flowers - very small boxes. And the smallest seeds ripen in them, and, moreover, in huge quantities - up to a thousand in each box. You can imagine how small they are. Such seeds are almost invisible to the naked eye. The mass of each is hundred-thousandths of a gram. Not seeds, but real dust particles. They, like a fine powder, are easily picked up by air currents. Their internal structure is extremely simple: there are no rudiments of a root, stalk, leaves, as in many other plants, but only a homogeneous tissue of small cells. These are the same seeds and tropical, beautiful orchids that are grown in greenhouses. Florists make a lot of efforts to germinate these "motes" and get mature plants from them. They have to be sown not in the soil, but in a special nutrient medium, they need special care, etc.

One more feature of Goodiera is also interesting. If you carefully remove the plant from the moss on which it grows, you can see the underground organs of Goodiera - a rather long creeping rhizome with roots extending from it. Goodyear roots are unusual for such a small weed - thick as a match. In addition, they are smooth, completely devoid of lateral branches and relatively short. How can these oddities be explained?

It turns out that a thick felt grows on the surface of the roots from the thinnest threads of microscopic fungi that live in the soil - the so-called mycorrhiza. The filaments of the fungus replace the root hairs of the plant: they absorb water from the soil. Under these conditions, thin branches of the root are simply not needed. Yes, and a long length too. The fungus, settling on the roots of Goodera, brings certain benefits to the plant. However, he also receives some benefit for himself. Fungal hyphae penetrate the living cells of the outer layer of the root and extract organic matter from there. Such mycorrhiza is called internal, or endotrophic.

The symbiosis of a fungus and a flowering plant, apparently, developed a very long time ago. It is interesting that Goodyear cannot live without mycorrhiza. The commonwealth with the fungus has become the vital need of the plant. Goodyear needs the presence of the fungus throughout his life, from the very birth. Even its seeds cannot germinate without the participation of the fungus.

Common podelnik (Hypopitys monotropa). In the second half of summer, when blueberries are already ripe, a very strange plant appears in the forest. Here and there, on the ground under the trees, thick pale yellow sprouts are visible, lifting fallen leaves and needles. Often they are found in whole groups. They are as thick as a pencil and hook-shaped (Fig. 18). The sprouts gradually lengthen, but for some time remain bent and only later completely straighten. Each sprout is covered with scaly leaves, flowers bloom on its top. The whole plant has a completely uniform pale color, as if molded from wax. The flowers are the same, you won’t even notice them right away: they don’t stand out in any way.

From the flowers of the podelnik, by autumn, fruits are formed in the form of small oval boxes with extremely small, like dust, seeds. It is beneficial to have such seeds in forest conditions. After all, they are very volatile and are easily picked up even by weak currents of air. And in the forest, as you know, there is no strong wind.

Podelnik is a perennial plant, it appears every year in the same place in the forest. But its shoots have a short life. They rise to the surface of the earth for a short time and only to bloom and then produce seeds. The rest of the year the plant "sits out" underground.

The name "podelnik" is not entirely apt: the plant we talked about is found not only in spruce forests, but also in other types of forests. It can sometimes be found even in oak forests.

Let us now turn to the herbs characteristic of broad-leaved forests - oak forests. A special group of herbaceous plants with rather large broad leaves dominates here - oak broad grass. We will now tell about some oak forest plants.

European hoof (Asarum europaeum). Being in the forest, you probably paid attention to the leaves of this plant more than once. They have a very characteristic shape. The leaf is rounded, but on the side where the petiole approaches it, it is deeply incised (Fig. 19). In shape, such a leaf somewhat resembles a horse's hoof print, from which the name of the plant comes. There is a similarity with the human kidney, as a result of which botanists call it kidney-shaped.

The leaves of the hoof are rather dense, dark green above, glossy. They winter under the snow alive. Take a fresh leaf and rub it between your fingers and then smell it. You will feel a specific smell, which is somewhat reminiscent of the smell of black pepper. Therefore, the hoof is sometimes called "forest pepper".

The stem of the hoof never rises above the surface of the soil, it is always spread out on the ground and in some places is attached to it with roots. At the end of it are two leaves on long thin petioles. The leaves are arranged oppositely, one against the other. Between them at the very end of the stem in autumn you can see a large bud. Its content deserves attention.

Outside, the kidney is dressed in thin translucent covers, under them are the rudiments of two future leaves. They are very small, but already have a green color. These leaves are folded in half. In the center of the kidney is a small ball that looks like a pellet. If you carefully break it open, you will see small stamens inside. So, this is nothing but a bud. The amazing foresight of the plant: in advance, already in the fall, the buds are harvested!

In spring, wild hoof blooms very early, shortly after the snow melts. But if you come to the forest at this time, you may not find flowers. The fact is that they are hidden in dry fallen leaves and do not appear on the surface. Real invisible flowers! They have an original, unusual for flowers dark color - brown with a reddish tinge. The structure of the flower is also not quite usual: it has only three petals. This is less than most of our other plants. And there are many stamens in a flower - twelve. This number is also rare. The flowering of the hoof usually goes unnoticed by anyone. And when it ends - it's hard to say. The flower outwardly changes little after flowering: its petals do not fall off and even retain their shape and color.

By the middle of summer, fruits are formed from the flowers of the hoof. In appearance, they almost do not differ from flowers - a rare case in plants! The fruits contain brownish shiny seeds the size of millet grains. The seeds have an interesting feature: each of them is equipped with a kind of fleshy white appendage. This appendage is a delicacy for ants. Having found a seed in the forest, the ant immediately drags it to its dwelling. Of course, not all seeds can be delivered to their destination. Many of them are lost along the way in different parts of the forest, often far from the mother plant. This is where the seeds germinate. Therefore, wild ginger belongs to the number of myrmecochore plants.

Hairy sedge (Carex pilosa). Many people think that sedges are inhabitants of swamps and damp meadows. This view is not entirely correct. Sedges grow not only in swamps and damp meadows. They can be found in forests, and in the tundra, and in the steppes. There are, oddly enough, even in the deserts. But only in different places - different species. And many species of sedges are known (only in the Moscow region, for example, there are more than fifty of them).

In deciduous forests grow their own species of sedge. Most often, hairy sedge is found here. This plant often forms a continuous dark green cover under the canopy of an oak and especially linden forest. Everywhere you look, there are narrow, no wider than a pencil, ribbon-like leaves. The edges of the leaves are soft - you won't cut yourself on such leaves. If you pluck one leaf and look at its edge in the light, numerous hairs are clearly visible with the naked eye, like short villi. The leaves of this species of sedge are strongly pubescent, which is why it is called hairy. Hairiness is a reliable distinguishing feature of this sedge. There are no other such sedges in the forest.

Whenever you come to the forest, hairy sedge always turns green. In this form, it leaves in the fall under the snow, and in this form it winters. If you dig out the snow cover in winter, you can see the green narrow ribbons of its leaves. When spring comes, new leaves grow to replace the old, overwintered leaves. They can be immediately distinguished by their paler coloration. Over time, young leaves darken, and old ones gradually dry out.

Under the ground, the hairy sedge has long thin rhizomes, no thicker than a bicycle spoke. They are able to quickly spread in all directions, leaves grow from them. Thanks to this "spreading" of rhizomes, the plant captures new territories. Sedge seeds almost do not reproduce in the forest. Although the seeds ripen, they almost never sprout from them. Germination is hindered by a thick layer of fallen leaves.

Sedge blooms, like many of our forest grasses, in spring. During flowering, its male spikelets are very noticeable - brushes light yellow from stamens, rising on high stems. Female spikelets, on the contrary, do not attract attention in any way. They consist of an axis as thin as a thread, on which small greenish flowers sit one by one. These flowers look like small buds of a tree. At the end of each flower are three white stigma tendrils. Later, by autumn, a small, millet grain-sized, swollen green pouch ripens from a female flower, inside of which an even smaller nut-fruit is placed.

Common goatweed (Aegopodium podagraria). Not all plants of oak forests are able to grow in the form of a continuous cover and, moreover, over a large area. Many of them grow in single specimens and are never found in mass. Sleep behaves completely differently. In an old oak forest, one can sometimes see extensive dense thickets of this rather large herbaceous plant on the soil. The thickets of goutweed are so dense that they completely cover the soil, leaving absolutely no free space. It is noteworthy that they consist only of the leaves of this plant.

The shape of goutweed leaves is quite characteristic, they are easy to recognize: a leaf blade, strongly dissected into large segments, located in a horizontal plane, is attached to the end of a long petiole. If you look closely at the sheet, it is not difficult to notice a certain regularity in its structure. The leaf petiole branches at the top into three separate thinner petioles, and each of these, in turn, branches again at the end in exactly the same way. Individual leaf lobes are attached to these thin terminal ramifications—there are a total of nine. A leaf of such a structure is called botanically double-triple.

It should be noted, however, that the leaves of the goutweed do not always consist of nine individual leaves. Sometimes some of them, neighboring ones, grow together with each other into one whole. And then the total number of leaves decreases - they are no longer nine, but only eight or seven.

Although the gout is one of the typical forest plants and grows luxuriantly in the forest, it almost never blooms under the canopy of trees. The flowering of the plant can only be observed in an open area or in a rare forest, where there is a lot of light. Under these conditions, a tall rather powerful stem with several leaves appears in the goutweed, and characteristic inflorescences develop on its top - complex umbrellas. The inflorescences consist of many very small white flowers and are somewhat reminiscent of carrot inflorescences in appearance. This similarity is natural, since gout, like carrots, belongs to the umbrella family.

Snot is one of the forest plants, which is not limited in its distribution only by the forest. It often grows in open space, outside the forest, for example, in gardens, orchards, etc. In some places, this plant even acts as a weed, and, moreover, annoying, difficult to eradicate. The aggressiveness and vitality of goutweed is largely due to the fact that it reproduces very vigorously vegetatively, with the help of long thin rhizomes. Such rhizomes are able to grow rapidly in different directions and give rise to numerous above-ground shoots and leaves. That is why goutweed almost always grows in dense thickets. It quickly captures any free area and holds it for a long time, and, if possible, also expands it.

So, we have before us an example of a plant that is very aggressive and capable of growing luxuriantly in a variety of conditions - both in the dense shade of the forest, and in a completely open place. Not many forest plants have this ability. And among them, probably, there are not at all those who, like the dream, would at the same time be malicious weeds.

Snot is a plant suitable for food. For example, its young leaves are edible fresh, they are rich in vitamin C. True, these leaves have a peculiar flavor that not everyone may like. Goutweed leaves have another use as a food product: in some areas they are used to prepare cabbage soup along with sorrel and nettle. Snotweed is considered a good fodder plant for livestock.

Yellow Zelenchuk (Galeobdolon luteum), like gout, is one of the mass plants in oak forests. When you walk through the forest, continuous thickets of Zelenchuk often stretch for many tens, and sometimes several hundred meters. But only their height is much less than that of the goutweed, Zelenchuk is a plant more squat, more strongly pressed to the soil.

When the greenfinch blooms, it looks a bit like a "deaf nettle" (as the white nettle is sometimes called), but only its flowers are not white, but light yellow. The shape of the flowers is very similar: their corolla, as botanists say, is two-lipped, it is somewhat similar to the wide-open mouth of some animal. This flower structure is typical for the labial family, to which Zelenchuk belongs.

Zelenchuk blooms in late spring, a little later than bird cherry. Flowering does not last long - two weeks. In the end, yellow two-lipped corollas fall to the ground and a green calyx in the form of a funnel with five long teeth along the edge remains on the plant from the flower. At the bottom of the calyx, over time, a dry fruit ripens, consisting of four separate small slices of an irregularly angular shape. Such a four-lobed fruit is found in all representatives of the labiate family.

The name "zelenchuk" is given to the plant, probably because it remains green all year round - both in summer and in winter. There are many such herbs in our forests, but for some reason only one of them is called greenfinch.

The appearance of this plant is very variable. Only such features as a tetrahedral stem and opposite arrangement of leaves never change. And the leaves themselves vary greatly both in size and shape - from larger elongated ovoid, slightly similar to nettle leaves, to small, almost rounded ones. The stems are also very different - some are short, erect, others are very long, creeping, with bunches of roots in some places. It is hard to believe that such different stems and leaves belong to the same plant. Zelenchuk leaves, which differ greatly in shape, however, have one common feature - a characteristic, rather unpleasant odor, which is clearly felt when rubbing a fresh leaf with your fingers. Zelenchuk can be easily recognized by smell. This feature is much more reliable than the highly variable leaf shape.

Zelenchuk is a vegetatively mobile plant: its long creeping above-ground shoots can quickly grow over the soil surface in different directions.?

That is why Zelenchuk almost always grows in dense thickets. Zelenchuk also has another interesting feature - a white pattern on the upper side of some leaves. This pattern is made up of individual spots. Spotted leaves compare favorably with plain green ones, they are much more beautiful, more elegant and involuntarily attract attention. The white color of the spots is simply explained: under the thin upper skin of the leaf there is a space filled with air. It is the air cavities that create the effect of white coloring.

Zelenchuk is a typical inhabitant of the more northern oak forests of the European part of the Soviet Union, he does not go far to the south. You will not meet him, for example, in forest-steppe oak forests: here it is too dry for him. But in the oak forests of the forest zone, Zelenchuk is often a massive, dominant plant. It is also found in spruce forests, but not in all, but only in those that develop on richer soils.

Lungwort obscure (Pulmonaria obscura). This plant blooms in the forest, perhaps the earliest. Before the snow had melted, short stems with pink and blue flowers were already swaying in the wind (Fig. 20). On the same stem, some flowers are dark pink, others are cornflower blue. If you look closely, it is easy to see that buds and younger flowers are pink, and older, fading ones are blue. Each flower changes color throughout its life, as if repainted. The same can be seen in some other plants, such as forget-me-not (her buds are pale pink, and the flowers are light blue).?

Such a change in color during flowering is due to the special properties of the coloring matter contained in the petals. It's called anthocyanin. This substance is amazing, a real "vegetable chameleon". Anthocyanin can be pink, blue, or purple. It all depends on the acidity of the solution in which it is contained: an acidic solution - the color is pink, slightly alkaline - blue. Just like a chemical litmus indicator.

So, why does the color of lungwort petals change? For the reason that the content of the cells in the petals at the beginning of flowering has an acidic reaction, and later - slightly alkaline. The red-blue inflorescences of the lungwort, due to their variegation, are especially noticeable for pollinating insects.

Consequently, the "recoloring" of lungwort flowers is not an accidental phenomenon, it has a certain biological significance.

In spring, not only lungwort blooms in the oak forest, but also some other plants. However, almost all of them, like lungwort, have brightly colored flowers. At this time of the year, there is a lot of light in the oak forest, and here it is more noticeable not the white color of the flowers, as in a shady spruce forest, but another - red, blue, yellow.

Now about the name "lungwort". It is not at all accidental. The plant is so named because its flowers contain a lot of nectar. Lungwort is one of our earliest honey plants. Lungwort flowers are often visited by sluggish hairy bumblebees. On a sunny spring day, they diligently rummage through the flowers and fly from one plant to another with a low bass hum.

Lungwort is a very conspicuous early spring flower, which is willingly plucked by everyone who finds themselves in the forest at this time of the year. Her pink and blue bouquets are very beautiful. And the best part is that these are the first spring flowers. The only pity is that some flower lovers are too addicted to collecting lungwort. Instead of a modest bouquet, they have a whole bunch of flowers in their hands. These people are destroying many plants in vain. After all, to admire the beauty of flowers, a few stems are quite enough.

If you show someone a bunch of lungwort and ask what these flowers are called, they will probably answer you: "Snowdrops." It is somehow customary for us to call by this word all those plants that bloom very early in spring and come out almost from under the snow. And there are quite a lot of such firstborns of spring. Moreover, in different parts of our country these are completely different plants: in the Moscow region there are some, in the Voronezh region - others, in the Caucasus - still others. Therefore, residents of some areas claim that their snowdrops are blue, others that they are white, etc.

The appearance of the lungwort varies greatly throughout the year. In early spring, short stems with small leaves and flowers are visible above the soil surface. In summer, the plant has only a few large, rough leaves on long petioles. They resemble enlarged and strongly elongated linden leaves, but the edge of the leaf is completely different - smooth, not jagged.

Violet amazing (Viola mirabilis)- a characteristic representative of oak broad grass. Amazing violet blooms in early spring and at this time it especially attracts attention. In the plant, we see a rosette of basal leaves and pale lilac flowers that rise up on thin pedicels. Violet leaves have long petioles, and their shape is a cross between hoof and linden leaves. The flowers are quite large, with a pleasant delicate aroma. Their structure is the same as that of the well-known pansies, but only in size they are several times smaller, and their color is uniform.

Violet is called amazing because of one interesting feature of its reproduction. The plant appears to have two types of flowers. Some of them are spring, those very beautiful and fragrant flowers that we just talked about. But besides them, there are other flowers - summer, which look like buds and never open.

The fate of spring and summer flowers is completely different. Spring, it would seem quite "normal" flowers after flowering, oddly enough, do not bear fruit. It's just a beautiful empty flower. But summer, nondescript and always closed flowers, which seem unusual, eventually turn into the most ordinary fruits - boxes with many seeds. In such closed (cleistogamous) flowers, seeds develop as a result of self-pollination.

So, nothing is formed from beautiful, "normal" flowers, while nondescript, closed ones, on the contrary, bear fruit. Isn't it amazing?

In summer, violet looks completely different than in spring. At this time, she has an erect stem with leaves and fruit-boxes. Each box, when ripe, opens along three narrow doors and releases the seeds, equipped, like the hoof, with a special appendage. This fleshy appendage serves as food for ants, which play a large role in dispersing the seeds of this plant.

Violet is amazing - the plant is vegetatively motionless. She always stays in the same place. And it is found in the forest in single specimens, never forming continuous thickets.

Buttercup anemone (Anemone ranunculoides). In oak forests there are amazing plants - oak ephemeroids. They amaze with unusually fast rates of development and very short life. The term "ephemeroids" comes from the word "ephemeral", which means short, fleeting. Plants, which will be discussed, fully justify their name. They really appear on the surface of the earth only for a short time, and then disappear for a long time.

It is to such plants that buttercup anemone belongs. When in the spring, a week or two after the snow melts, you come to the forest, this plant is already blooming. Anemone flowers are bright yellow, they are very reminiscent of buttercup flowers. Each plant almost always has only one flower. The appearance of the anemone is quite characteristic: a small stem rises from the ground, at the end of it there are three leaves, spread out in all directions and strongly dissected, even higher is a thin branch that ends in a flower (Fig. 21). The height of the whole plant is small - rarely more than 10-15 cm.

Flowering anemone usually lasts only a few days. The flower petals soon crumble, and at the end of the pedicel there remains a small green "hedgehog" - a dense bunch of fruitlets, like a buttercup.

When anemone blooms, forest trees and shrubs are just beginning to bloom. At this time, there is a lot of light in the forest, almost like in an open place. But now the trees are dressed in foliage, and it becomes dark in the forest. By this time, the development of anemone ends. It begins to turn yellow, the stem with leaves withers and lies on the ground. At the beginning of summer, no traces of the plant are left. In a few weeks, the anemone manages not only to grow, but even to bloom and bear fruit. Such haste is explained simply: the anemone has too little time for its development. That favorable period for her is very short when the forest stands without leaves and it is quite light under the trees.

Anemone is a perennial plant. In spring, its stem with leaves and a flower does not grow from a seed, but from a bud, which is located at the end of the rhizome. The rhizome is located horizontally in the uppermost layer of the soil, directly under the fallen leaves. It looks like a sinuous, knotty knot of a brownish color. If you break such a rhizome, you can see that it is white and starchy inside, like a potato tuber. Nutrient reserves are stored here - the very "building material" that is necessary for the rapid growth of the above-ground shoot in the spring.

Anemone development begins unusually early - at the end of winter, under snow. At this time, the plant can already notice the blooming of the kidney at the end of the rhizome. A very small whitish sprout, curved like a hook, first appears from the kidney. As soon as the snow melts, this sprout quickly lengthens and straightens. Soon the plant will bloom.

After flowering, as we already know, the aerial part of the anemone turns yellow and dries up. But the plant, of course, does not die. A rhizome remains in the soil, which gives rise to a new shoot with leaves and a flower the next spring. So, anemone lives in fact only a few weeks a year, and the rest of the time it is at rest, even in summer. Almost all plants turn green in the summer, bloom, bear fruit, and the anemone for all this time, as it were, leaves the stage. In a word, the anemone has its own, very special, amazing development schedule.

Corydalis halleri (Corydalis halleri). In oak forests, in addition to anemone, there are other ephemeroids. One of these hurried plants is Galler's Corydalis. It blooms in early spring, even earlier than anemone. As soon as the snow melts, its low stems sticking up appear with delicate lacy leaves and a dense inflorescence of lilac flowers. Corydalis is a miniature, fragile and very elegant plant. Meeting her in the spring forest is always pleasant.

The development of the Corydalis is in many ways reminiscent of the development of the anemone already familiar to us. Its flowering is short-lived. If the weather is warm, the corydalis fades very quickly. After a few days, instead of flowers, small pod-shaped fruitlets are already visible. A little later, black shiny seeds spill out of them on the ground. Each such seed has a white, fleshy appendage that attracts ants. Corydalis is one of many forest plants whose seeds are dispersed by ants.

Corydalis fruits ripen earlier than all other forest plants; it bears fruit first in the forest. This is the most hasty plant even among the ephemeroids. And when the trees and shrubs are dressed in young, foliage, the Corydalis turns yellow, lies down on the ground and soon dries up. Under the ground, she has a juicy live nodule - a small yellowish ball the size of a cherry. It stores nutrient reserves, mainly starch, necessary for the rapid development of the shoot for the next spring. At the end of the nodule there is a large bud, from which the fragile stalk with lilac flowers, already familiar to us, will subsequently grow.

Corydalis, unlike anemone, reproduces well by seeds. This is the only way to reproduce it. It is one of the vegetatively immobile plants and remains in the same place all its life. New specimens of corydalis can only appear from seeds. Of course, more than one year passes from seed germination to the formation of an adult plant capable of flowering. First, small plants appear with slightly dissected leaves and a tiny nodule. Over the years, the leaves become larger, they more and more resemble the leaves of an adult plant. The tuber also increases in size over time.

Perennial hawk (Mercurialis perennis). Many plants, if dried, retain their green color. True, not as bright as fresh. There are also those that always turn black when dried. And one of the plants of our flora turns blue when dried. It is called a perennial hawk and is usually found in deciduous forests.

It is best to observe the blue of the plant if you pick it at the end of April, when it is just emerging. It is necessary to find sprouts that have barely risen above the soil surface, yellowish, hook-shaped, but already with noticeable leaves. It is these sprouts that, when dried, become completely blue. (The color becomes more intense if, after drying, they are slightly moistened with water.) The unusual change in color is due to the fact that blueberry contains a special substance similar to indigo paint. While the plant is alive, this substance is not colored in any way, but after the death of the plant, it oxidizes and becomes blue.

Prolesnik blooms in April - May, but in such a way that you won’t notice it. The flowers are small, inconspicuous, do not stand out at all in color among the leaves. Some specimens of the plant bear only female flowers, others only male. A greenish fruit subsequently develops from the female flower, which consists of two small spherical parts connected to each other and sitting at the end of a long thin twig.

In summer, as well as in spring, the woodland is not distinguished by anything: neither in color, nor in shape, nor in anything else. From a rather long and straight stem, rising upwards, elongated oval leaves on well-marked petioles depart. They are located on the stem in pairs, one opposite the other. There are few leaves at the bottom of the stem, most of them are at the end of the shoot. Prolesnik almost always grows in thickets in the forest. Its above-ground shoots grow from long thin rhizomes hidden in the soil and usually highly branched. Something similar is observed in goutweed and hairy sedge.

Prolesnik belongs to the euphorbia family. It is a relative of those spurge herbs in which white milky juice is abundantly secreted at the point of rupture. However, the hawk itself does not have milky juice. This plant, like many of our spurges, is poisonous. Prolesnik is a typical forest plant, but it is not found in all forests, but only where the soil is sufficiently moist and rich. It is especially common in oak forests.

May lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis). Lily of the valley flowers are like small porcelain bells on a long stem. There is something unusually attractive in these graceful flowers. Many had to meet lily of the valley in the forest. But not everyone knows about the life of the lily of the valley, about its structure and development.

The life of a lily of the valley in spring begins with the fact that sprouts appear on the surface of the soil, similar to a thick awl. In this form, the lily of the valley is difficult to recognize, the sprouts are too unlike an adult plant. But time passes, the sprout lengthens, its end turns green. And now the characteristic lily of the valley leaves have already unfolded. Now everyone can determine which plant is in front of him. Flowers appear later than leaves. First, a stalk-peduncle with small greenish balls-buds comes to light. Then the buds turn white, and finally wonderful, fragrant snow-white flowers open. Flowering goes from bottom to top: the lowest flower blooms first. Lily of the valley blooms for a short time, especially in warm weather. Before you have time to look back - the flowers have already darkened, wrinkled, faded.

By autumn, lily of the valley fruits ripen - orange berries the size of a pea. These beautiful berries, however, are completely inedible and, moreover, are still poisonous. They have a specific unpleasant aftertaste, although they are sweetish.

The leaves of the lily of the valley dry out quite early. At the time of golden autumn, when the forest is dressed in a colorful outfit, they lose their green color and become translucent, like parchment paper. In late autumn, nothing remains of the plant above the ground.

Lily of the valley winters in the form of a thin, like a match, long, cord-like rhizome, located shallow in the soil. It is the rhizome that in the spring gives rise to those aboveground sprouts like an awl, which have already been discussed. Each sprout grows from a special bud. The end of the rhizome can grow horizontally for a long time, thanks to which the lily of the valley spreads in the forest.

Perhaps not everyone knows about one interesting feature of the lily of the valley: it has three types of leaves. One type is ordinary green leaves, well known to everyone. The other is scaly leaves developing at the base of the regular greens. The third - bracts in the form of very small scales, one for each flower, at the base of the pedicel.

Lily of the valley is not only a beautiful forest flower. It is also an important medicinal plant. Valuable drugs that regulate cardiac activity are obtained from its aerial parts. Lily of the valley raw materials are harvested in huge quantities - hundreds of tons annually only in our country. Lily of the valley is collected in different types of forest. However, it has been established that in some types of forest the plant has a lower medicinal value, while in others it has a higher value.

Petrov cross scaly (Lathraea squamaria). In early spring, usually in those forests where hazel or linden grows, sometimes you can find a strange plant that is completely devoid of green color. From under the layer of fallen leaves, rather powerful white-pink sprouts, bent like hooks, rise in some places. Over time, they gradually straighten and lengthen. The name of the mysterious plant is Peter's cross. The white thick stem of the plant in the lower part is covered with peculiar leaves in the form of large scales, and above it bears many pink flowers tightly pressed against each other.

If you try to dig the Peter's cross out of the ground, you will fail. You won't be able to extract it completely. The fleshy stem of the plant continues underground and is white in color. But its thickness not only does not decrease, but even increases. It is densely covered with completely unusual leaves - short, white, strongly swollen, similar to very thick buckets. In their recesses sometimes come across the corpses of insects. From this, the wrong conclusion was previously made that this plant is insectivorous.

The underground stem (rhizome) goes very deep into the ground and branches many times. Interestingly, the side branches depart at right angles and in pairs, one against the other. It turns out peculiar crosses (hence the name of the plant). If you excavate for a very long time and carefully, you may also find thin roots of a plant extending from the rhizome. They come into contact with the living roots of hazel or linden and stick to them, receiving nutrients from there. At the point of contact, special thickenings are formed - suckers.

Peter's cross could probably never rise to the surface of the earth: it is always provided with food. But the life of each plant is not limited to nutrition alone, it is necessary to leave offspring. It is for this that the cross rises from the land of Peter in the spring. Its flowers contain nectar, they are willingly visited by bees and bumblebees, which produce pollination. Pretty soon, the flowers form fruit-boxes with black seeds of the same size as those of poppies. When the seeds ripen, spill out, the life of the above-ground shoots ends, they dry up. And there are no traces of the plant left. Peter's Cross hides in the ground for many months. And in some years it does not appear at all, even in spring.

Kupena medicinal (Polygonatum officinale). “I met some strange, very tall lily of the valley in the forest,” a person who was far from botany once told me. As it turned out, it was about a plant whose name is Kupena officinalis. Kupena really has a resemblance to lily of the valley - almost the same leaves. But there are only a lot of them, and they are located on a long stem that rises from the ground and is inclined in an arcuate manner. The flowers are bought greenish-white, elongated, and the fruits are bluish-black berries. In this she is not at all like a lily of the valley. But when the kupena has neither flowers nor fruits, and even the plant is underdeveloped, oppressed - it really kind of resembles a lily of the valley.

Kupena is sometimes called "Solomon's seal" because of the original rhizome, hidden in the soil and therefore unfamiliar to many. It is, as it were, a short knotted stick, as thick as a finger or a little more, located at a certain depth, parallel to the surface of the soil. Thinner sections of the rhizome alternate with thicker sections - swellings. Each bulge has a rounded indentation on top, like the imprint of a small round seal. From the end of the rhizome, a high above-ground shoot with "lily of the valley" leaves goes up.

What is the origin of rounded dents on the rhizome? To answer this question, it is necessary to follow the development of the plant throughout the year. In the spring, a new above-ground stem with leaves grows from a bud at the end of the rhizome. The rhizome during the summer, remaining in the soil, lengthens by several centimeters. By autumn, a new bud forms at the end of it, and the stem with leaves dries up and dies. In the place where it departed from the rhizome, a trace remains - a rounded dent, similar to a seal impression. The rhizome grows a little every year, and by autumn another rounded hole appears on it. If you look at the rhizome in the summer, you can even accurately determine the age of each "seal": the closest to the green stem is last year, the next one is the year before last, etc. The age of the oldest "seal" is the age of the whole plant. In other words, looking at the rhizome, we can say how many years this copy of the kupena lived. Botanists make a similar determination of the age of some other perennial herbs.

True nest (Neottia nidus-avis). Among the green forest grasses, this plant immediately catches the eye: it is completely different in color than its neighbors. A stalk of the color of coffee with milk rises from the ground, at the top of it there are a dozen and a half small flowers of the same color. In the lower part of the stem - inconspicuous leaves in the form of scales. The whole plant is brownish, monochromatic, even its flowers do not stand out in any way. Before us is a nest - one of the forest orchids (Fig. 22).

The nesting box belongs to the orchid family. The petals of her small flowers, like all orchids, are not the same. One of them stands out in particular for its size and shape. This is the so-called lip. It is wider and longer than the other petals and is located below. The lip serves as a kind of landing site for pollinating insects visiting the flower in search of nectar. In some orchids, the lip is very large and has a bizarre shape (in our Central Russian orchid called "Venus slipper", the lip looks like a shoe).

In the fruits of nesting, as in other orchids, a huge number of tiny seeds ripen. There can be more than a thousand such dust grains in each fruit. The seeds are dispersed by the wind, like pollen. Even weak air currents pick them up. We met the same thing with some other forest plants, which have already been discussed on the pages of this book.

The underground nesting organs are interesting, thanks to which it got its name. If we carefully dig up the plant and then carefully free it from the ground, we will see something unusual. Thick roots are intertwined into a ball that looks like a bird's nest made of twigs.

Nesting comes across in the forests not so often. Usually it grows in single copies, located far from each other. The nest reproduces only by seeds. If you pull out or dig up a plant before the seeds have spilled out, it will not be restored here. Therefore, nesting should be protected as much as possible, as, indeed, all our other wild-growing orchids.

These are some of the characteristic plants of oak forests. Of course, one should not think that they can be found exclusively in oak forests: they are also found in mixed (coniferous-deciduous) forests, and in some types of coniferous forests - where there are richer soils. But still, they are characteristic of oak forests: it is here that they develop most magnificently and are found in the largest numbers.

Among the forest grasses, there are those that are common in many types of forest and do not give a clear preference to either coniferous or broad-leaved forests. These are, so to speak, neutral, indifferent representatives of the forest flora. Several of these plants will now be discussed.

Lyubka bifolia (Platantheia bi folia). The flowers of some plants smell weak during the day, but in the evening and at night they emit a strong aroma.

Among these plants is the two-leafed lyubka, which can be found in the forest or in a forest clearing. You have probably seen it in nature more than once and maybe even collected it for a bouquet. Lyubka is sometimes called the beauty of the night due to the fact that at night she smells much stronger than during the day. The aroma of its flowers is sharp and peculiar, a bit reminiscent of the smell of decorative fragrant tobacco. A flowering plant is not devoid of grace: a thin, slender, erect stem, on top of which there is a loose inflorescence of white flowers, near the ground there are two large elongated oval leaves (this is why the lyubka was called two-leafed). The leaves are located one against the other and almost lie on the ground. They are shiny, as if varnished. Their shape and especially glossy surface are a good distinguishing feature of the plant. Therefore, love can only be recognized by the leaves, even when it does not bloom. Along with flowering specimens, there are always those that do not bloom. This is the case with many plants. Interestingly, non-flowering instances of love sometimes have not two leaves, but only one. We find the same thing, for example, in lily of the valley and double-leaved mahnica. Those plants that bloom develop two leaves, and the rest - usually one.

The underground organs of Lyubka are peculiar - two small oval nodules the size of a thimble and a bunch of thick unbranched roots. These two nodules are also a good distinguishing feature of the plant. Nodules serve as a place of deposition of nutrient reserves. By their origin, they are strongly thickened roots. Especially large nodules in adults, flowering specimens of love. One of the nodules is lighter in color and elastic, the other is darker and softer. The first of them is young, which appeared this year, the second is old, last year.

The thick, non-branching roots of Lyubka resemble the roots of the already familiar Goodyear. The similarity is not accidental. On the surface of the roots of Lyubka, as well as in Goodiera, a thick felt develops from the threads of fungi - mycorrhiza. (We have already said that mycorrhiza is found in many forest plants.)

Lyubka belongs to the orchid family. Like many of our forest orchids, it is not particularly beautiful during the flowering period. Its flowers are white, monochromatic, small, not striking in shape or color. True, the flowers have one interesting detail - the so-called spur. This is a thin and long process in the form of a tube, closed at one end. It somewhat resembles a miniature sword sheath. Inside the spur is a colorless sweet nectar. Thanks to the many long spurs sticking out in all directions, the love inflorescence seems shaggy.

But the most interesting thing about the love flower is pollination. Like all other orchids, Lyubka is pollinated by insects. When any insect tries to get inside the flower in search of nectar, a thin short thread with a tiny ball of pollen at the top is glued to its head - pollinarium (it looks somewhat like the antennae of some diurnal butterfly with a club-shaped thickening at the end, but only much smaller) . Having visited a flower, the insect carries away this decoration on its head. What happens next is easy to imagine. When an insect enters another love flower, the pollen ball is on. The "antennae" touches the stigma of the pistil and pollination occurs. In other words, Lyubka, as it were, sends out its pollen with insects, due to which cross-pollination is achieved. And besides, not individual dust particles, but immediately a large mass of them, a whole cluster.

Not only insects are capable of extracting pollinaria from flowers. We can do the same with success. Take a sharpened pencil and insert its end deeper into the flower. When you take the pencil back out, you will see that a "whisker" or even two have stuck to it (each flower has two pollinaria). This is one of the most interesting experiments that can be done with plants in nature. If the experience is not successful with the first flower, do not despair. Try another, third, fourth. A little patience and everything will work out. Failure may be due to the fact that you came across flowers that are too old, where pollinaria are no longer there, or, conversely, too young, where pollinaria have not yet matured.

Many of those who visit the forest in summer collect bunches of blooming love. Every year more and more people come to the forest, the collection of flowers increases year by year. If this continues further, then very soon Lyubka will completely disappear from our forests, and our descendants will never be able to admire this graceful plant. The threat of the complete destruction of Lyubka is quite real. This plant reproduces only by seeds, and, moreover, with difficulty. By collecting flowers, we do not allow the seeds to ripen, and therefore, we completely destroy the offspring of the plant in the very rudiment. If there are no seeds, then new specimens of love cannot appear, and the old ones will die sooner or later. The plant is in serious danger.

Wintering horsetail (Equisetum hiemale). Horsetails have a characteristic appearance: their thin stems are divided into clearly visible segments. Between the segments there are peculiar "belts" of small teeth pressed against the stem and fused together. These teeth are the leaves of the plant.

Many horsetails have a well-defined main stem. Lateral branches depart from it, thin and long. The branches are usually horizontally spread and radiate in all directions. It turns out, as it were, peculiar floors, or tiers. In appearance, such horsetails are somewhat reminiscent of a coniferous tree in miniature.

Wintering horsetail looks completely different. Its main stem is devoid of lateral branches and looks like a dark green twig of a regular cylindrical shape (Fig. 23). Such a stem, like that of other horsetails, is divided into segments. It is best to get acquainted with this horsetail in late autumn, when the leaves have already fallen from the trees. At this time, the stems of other forest horsetails died and withered, while in the wintering horsetail they remain as green as in summer. Dark green twigs tolerate winter well. They can sometimes be seen in the forest in the middle of winter: they stick out of the snow. In the spring, the plant continues its development as if nothing had happened. For the ability of the stems to overwinter, this horsetail was called wintering. In other horsetails, the situation is different: their stems dry out every autumn, and new ones grow to replace them in the spring.

All horsetails reproduce by spores. Spores ripen in special oval spikelets, located singly at the very top of the stem. Sufficiently developed spikelets, until spores have yet spilled out of them, somewhat resemble in appearance a small spruce cone. In terms of developmental features, horsetails are in many ways similar to club mosses: they also grow a very small growth from spores, completely unlike an adult plant. Only after the fusion of the female and male germ cells occurs on the growth, the adult horsetail already familiar to us is born here.

If you pick the stem of any horsetail, you feel that it is dense, hard. This is due to the fact that the cell walls of horsetails contain a lot of silica. But the stems of wintering horsetail are especially hard - in this respect it surpasses all its fellows.

When a herbarium of various types of horsetails is collected, their stems are usually flattened when dried under pressure. And in wintering horsetail, the stem retains its original cylindrical shape. In appearance, live and dried stems almost do not differ: neither shape nor color change during drying. Wintering horsetail contains especially a lot of silica. If you hold the stem for several minutes over the flame of a gas burner, the soft tissues of the plant will burn out and a white silica "skeleton" will remain. The silica-rich stem will not fall apart after burning.

You can try the hardness of the stem of this horsetail for yourself. With this stem you can file your nails like a file. Only it is necessary to cut not along, as with an ordinary file, but across. A few movements in one direction or the other - and the nail noticeably grinds off. In the past, the hard stem of wintering horsetail has found interesting uses -

This amazing horsetail is found most often on the slopes of forest ravines. Here it often forms whole thickets. Its dark green stems are often tufted.

In addition to wintering horsetail, there are other types of horsetail in our forests.

Female kochedyzhnik (Athyrium filix-femina). Such a strange name has one of the widespread forest ferns. But before talking about this plant, I would like to say a little about ferns in general.

Ferns are moisture-loving and shade-tolerant plants, so their life is closely connected with the forest. These are characteristic representatives of the forest flora. There are more than two dozen species of them in our forests. Ferns feel best in small forest clearings, glades, along roads passing through the forest - in a word, where there is enough light. Here they grow luxuriantly, sometimes forming dense thickets.

Ferns are graceful plants. They always attract attention with the beautiful green lace of their foliage. Long pinnate leaves are often collected in bunches resembling wide funnels. Sometimes such a funnel has a surprisingly regular shape, it looks like a huge green glass (the word "glass" is borrowed from French, where it means "fern").

There are many remarkable things about the reproduction of ferns. The smallest speck of spore dust, not visible to the naked eye, hitting the ground, gives rise to a small green plate no larger than a fingernail - an outgrowth. Who would think that this tiny plant living on the soil in the forest is one of the stages in the development of a large fern? There is no more similarity between them than between a caterpillar and a butterfly. After some time, a real fern appears on the growth, at first very small.

If you want to see where spores form on a fern, look at the underside of the leaf in late summer. You will find here many very small brownish specks scattered over the surface. It is possible to consider the details of the structure of such spots - they are called sori - only with the help of a strong magnifying glass or microscope. At high magnification, you can see that each speck is a cluster of small flat sacs filled with spores. When the spores mature, the sacs burst and their contents spill onto the ground. The smallest spores are very volatile, they are picked up even by a weak wind, and air currents carry them away from the mother plant.

If you want to grow a real forest fern at home, sow the spores in a jar of earth and cover with a glass on top to create sufficient air humidity. After some time, small green plates-overgrowths will appear on the surface of the soil, and then baby ferns with small, but already characteristic lacy leaves, will begin to grow from them. It will take many years to grow an adult fern...

How to get fern spores? Pick a small piece of fern leaf in the forest with mature sori (they are brownish in color). Holding the leaf over a jar of damp earth, lightly scrape the sori with a needle. The spores will separate from the leaf and fall to the surface of the earth, and nothing else is required for sowing. The most important thing is that the sori are mature enough.

The leaves of our forest ferns tend to die off in autumn. New ones grow to replace them every spring. At the beginning of development, the leaf looks like a spirally twisted flat snail. In early spring, in the forest on the ground, here and there, heaps of such "snails" come across (they sit at the end of the fern rhizome). Over time, leaf primordia gradually unwind, grow and turn into adult leaves. Deployment of leaves usually lasts several weeks.

Pay attention to how the leaf primordia of snail-like ferns unwind. First, the lowest part of the leaf is formed, then the growth processes gradually and sequentially cover the overlying parts. At some period of time, one can see an already strongly elongated "petiole", and at its end, at a certain height above the ground, a "snail" (the last turns of the spiral) that has not yet fully untwisted. Finally, the leaf fully unfolds, becomes straight, flat, but its upper part continues to grow for some time.

Consequently, the leaves of ferns grow at the top, that is, in the same way as the stems. Real leaves grow differently - the base. From a botanical point of view, fern leaves are modified stems and it is wrong to call them leaves. Botanists call them a special word - vayi.

One of the most common forest ferns in our country is the female kochedyzhnik. This plant has the usual appearance of a fern: it has long feathery leaves that form a wide funnel. The leaves are strongly dissected into small lobules, they are lacey, perhaps even more openwork than those of many other Central Russian ferns. On the underside of the leaves, you can see small brownish spots - sori, similar in shape to commas. The leaves extend from the end of a short thick rhizome, almost not rising above the soil surface. Every year, the leaves die off for the winter, and new ones appear to replace them in the spring.

The name of this fern seems somewhat strange. Where did the incomprehensible word "kochedyzhnik" come from? What is it connected with? To answer this question, you need to get to know the leaves of our plant in more detail. If in the autumn, in September, you tear off a leaf of the nodule, you will see at the base of the petiole, in the place where it is attached to the stem, a characteristic point, similar to a black arrowhead. True, the tip is not straight and flat, like a real arrow, but a curved, curved one. In shape and size, it is very reminiscent of an ancient tool with which our ancestors wove bast shoes. This instrument was called kochedyk. This is where the strange word "kochedyzhnik" came from, which is not understandable to modern man.

Why is the kochedyzhnik called female? Probably for the reason that its leaves are especially delicate, thinly laced, strongly dissected compared to the leaves of other ferns.

Kochedyzhnik is a medicinal plant. A decoction of its rhizome is used as an anthelmintic.

Common bracken (Pteridium aquilinum). Many readers are probably familiar with this forest fern. Its large leaves are not collected in bunches-rosettes, like many other ferns, but rise from the ground one by one, located at some distance from each other. Each sheet is somewhat reminiscent of a flat umbrella with a thin handle. On it you will not find sori, which are found in most of our other ferns. Instead, there is a solid, narrow strip of brown that runs along the edge of the sheet. However, leaves with such a border are very rare. The bracken almost never reproduces by spores. It maintains its existence through the growth of thin cord-like rhizomes located underground. Rapidly elongating, the rhizomes are able to spread to the sides and capture a new area. From these rhizomes, familiar umbrella-leaves grow in the spring.

Bracken differs in many ways from most other ferns: it has no sori, the leaves look like umbrellas and are not collected in rosettes, the rhizome is thin and long, resembling a cord. The bracken is also distinguished by its slow development in the spring: it begins to wake up much later than all other ferns in the forest, and does not appear for a long time on the surface. The rudiments of leaves come out of the ground only in the second half of spring, when bird cherry blossoms. Leaves fully unfold only at the beginning of summer.

In former times, the young shoots of bracken were used as food, the rhizome served as soap, the leaves, which have anti-rotten properties, were used to wrap fruits and vegetables, the ash, which contains a lot of potassium, was used in glass and soap factories.

Among my dacha neighbors there are many pensioners who live outside the city almost all year round. Contrary to popular belief, they grow not only potatoes and cucumbers on their plots - after all, man does not live by bread alone. Ornamental trees and shrubs are planted, flower beds are laid out. But the trouble is: already in October there is little left of all this beauty, except for the coniferous trees. But in my garden, green leaves can be seen almost at any time of the year: I specially planted perennials with wintering foliage. Neighbors often ask for advice on what exactly should be planted on the site so that it looks more fun in the off-season. Perhaps winter-green herbaceous plants will also interest you.

carved sheet

Number one on my list of herbaceous perennials with overwintering leaves are geuchera, geucherella and tiarella. I give them the palm for a reason. Not only that, their foliage does not wither after the first frost, but decorates the garden until the snow falls. The spectacular leaves of these plants have a wide variety of colors. This is especially true of geyher and geyherella. In a deserted autumn garden, green, yellow, orange, purple and “silver” bushes flaunt against the background of bare earth. But the carved leaves of tiarelles attract attention primarily with their shape, reminiscent of exquisite jewelry.

I have heard that geyhera and geyherella are very capricious plants and die in the first wintering. In fact, this is not true at all. If you plant them according to all the rules, picking up a place in partial shade and making good drainage, they will easily endure all the hardships of our long winter. They are not afraid of severe frosts, because they hide from the cold in snowdrifts. In winter, they face only two misfortunes. Firstly, on heaving soils (namely, this is what I have in my area), plants stick out of the ground during alternating thaws and frosts, and then their roots can really freeze. To prevent this from happening, when planting, I always try to deepen my geyhers, and in the fall I additionally spud them with compost or light earth. Secondly, these plants are very sensitive to soaking and, with an excess of moisture, rot or rot. Therefore, when choosing a place for them in the garden, it is necessary to provide that it is dry there not only in summer, but in autumn and spring too. And for those who are still afraid that these delicate-looking plants will not overwinter, I can advise you to cover them with non-woven material in the same way as roses. By the way, geyhers can become excellent partners for the latter. And additional shelter is not required to build. True, in this case, they will not decorate the autumn garden for long, and you will deprive yourself of the pleasure of admiring their frost-covered foliage, when after night frosts the garden is exactly in a silvery haze, and each bush of geyhera seems to be a masterpiece of jewelry art. So don't be afraid to take the risk of leaving these plants uncovered - it's worth it!

Not flowers alone

Badan is next on my list. A wonderful plant: unpretentious, reliable, and most importantly, beautiful in both summer and winter. Its large leaves sometimes even peek out from shallow snowdrifts, making you believe that the ice captivity is not eternal and spring will surely come sooner or later. In addition, in addition to the species badan, which is well known to many summer residents, there are now many different varieties of hybrid origin that differ in size, shape and color of leaves and, of course, flowers, which in this case is not so important, because in autumn it is the foliage that comes to the fore .

Hellebores also belong to plants with wintering foliage. Of course, they are planted for the sake of magnificent spring flowering, but the dense, strongly dissected leathery leaves on high petioles are also very good, especially in autumn under the canopy of trees against the background of fallen yellow foliage. Dark green, shiny, they argue with bad weather and impending cold weather with all their appearance. A large hellebore bush at this time may well compete in decorativeness with miniature coniferous plants.

Carpets under the trees

Among other winter green perennials, there are also ground cover plants on my list. Pretty emerald rugs give the autumn garden a special charm, and a couple of leaves, planned from the nearest tree, seem to be woven on a green background with a pattern that nature itself has carefully thought out.

Of the ground cover perennials, first of all I would like to mention Goryanka and periwinkle. The first, unfortunately, is not familiar to all flower growers. It's a shame: after all, this wonderful plant pleases the eye throughout the season. In the spring, during flowering, it is simply amazing (not without reason in Germany it is called the flower of the elves), and in summer and autumn it attracts attention thanks to its spectacular foliage. In many species of Goryanka, the leaves remain green in winter, while they are dense, leathery, sometimes with a wavy or jagged edge. Goryanka grows at a moderate rate, forming dense low curtains, which look especially good under the canopy of trees or large shrubs.

Tenderly beloved by me, the periwinkle enjoys an unkind reputation among some summer residents. Believe me, this is nothing more than superstition. The fact that this plant is planted in cemeteries speaks only of the amazing vitality of the periwinkle, which, without any watering and care, is able to withstand any Spartan conditions. Growing, it forms dense beautiful carpets, and its small dark green shiny leaves seem like the scales of a fabulous dragon dozing in the garden. In addition, the periwinkle has variegated forms that look more cheerful.

Of course, my list does not end there. But even the listed perennial plants are quite enough for the garden to remain attractive and pleasing to the eye during the dreary off-season.

When the days become shorter, and the sun no longer generously shares its warmth with the earth, one of the most beautiful seasons of the year comes - autumn. She, like a mysterious sorceress, changes the world around and fills it with rich and unusual colors. Most notably, these miracles occur with plants and shrubs. They are among the first to respond to weather changes and the onset of autumn. They have three whole months ahead of them to prepare for winter and part with their main decorations - leaves. However, at first, the trees will certainly please everyone around with tints of color and frenzy of colors, and the fallen leaves will carefully cover the earth with their veil and protect its smallest inhabitants from severe frosts.

Autumn changes with trees and shrubs, the causes of these phenomena

In autumn, one of the most important changes in the life of trees and shrubs occurs: a change in the color of the foliage and leaf fall. Each of these phenomena helps them prepare for winter and survive such a harsh season.

For deciduous trees and shrubs, one of the main problems in the winter season is the lack of moisture, so in the fall all useful substances begin to accumulate in the roots and core, and the leaves fall off. Leaf fall helps not only to increase moisture reserves, but also to save them. The fact is that the leaves evaporate the liquid very strongly, which is very wasteful in winter. Coniferous trees, in turn, can afford to show off with needles in the cold season, since the evaporation of liquid from them is very slow.

Another reason for leaf fall is the high risk for branches to be broken under the pressure of a snow cap. If fluffy snow fell not only on the branches themselves, but also on their leaves, they would not withstand such a heavy burden.

In addition, many harmful substances accumulate in the leaves over time, which can only be eliminated during leaf fall.

One of the recently uncovered mysteries is the fact that deciduous trees placed in a warm environment, and therefore not in need of preparation for cold weather, also shed their leaves. This suggests that leaf fall is not so much associated with the change of seasons and preparation for winter, but is an important part of the life cycle of trees and shrubs.

Why do leaves change color in autumn?

With the onset of autumn, trees and shrubs decide to change the emerald color of their leaves to brighter and more unusual colors. At the same time, each tree has its own set of pigments - "paints". These changes are due to the fact that the leaves contain a special substance, chlorophyll, which converts light into nutrients and gives the foliage a green color. When a tree or shrub begins to store moisture, and it no longer reaches the emerald leaves, and the sunny day becomes much shorter, chlorophyll begins to break down into other pigments, which give the autumn world crimson and golden tones.

The brightness of autumn colors depends on the weather conditions. If the weather is sunny and relatively warm, then the autumn leaves will be bright and variegated, and if it rains often, then brown or dull yellow.

How the leaves of different trees and shrubs change color in autumn

Autumn owes its riot of colors and their unearthly beauty to the fact that the foliage of all trees has different combinations of colors and shades. The most common purple color of the leaves. Maple and aspen can boast of crimson color. These trees are very beautiful in autumn.

Birch leaves become light yellow, and oak, ash, linden, hornbeam and hazel - brownish yellow.

Hazel (hazel)

Poplar quickly sheds its foliage, it is just beginning to gain yellowness and has already fallen.

Shrubs also delight with the variety and brightness of colors. Their foliage turns yellow, purple or red. Grape leaves (grape - shrub) acquire a unique dark purple color.

The leaves of barberry and cherry stand out against the general background with a crimson-red tint.

Barberry

From yellow to red, rowan leaves can be in autumn.

The leaves of the viburnum turn red along with the berries.

Euonymus dresses in purple clothes.

Red and purple shades of foliage determines the pigment anthocyanin. An interesting fact is that it is completely absent in the composition of the leaves and can only be formed under the influence of cold. This means that the colder the days, the more crimson the surrounding leafy world will be.

However, there are plants that, not only in autumn, but also in winter, retain their foliage and remain green. Thanks to such trees and shrubs, the winter landscape comes to life, and many animals and birds find their home in them. In the northern regions, such trees include trees: pine, spruce and cedar. To the south, the number of such plants is even greater. Among them, trees and shrubs are distinguished: juniper, myrtle, thuja, barberry, cypress, boxwood, mountain laurel, abelia.

Evergreen tree - spruce

Some deciduous shrubs also do not part with their emerald clothes. These include cranberries and cranberries. In the Far East there is an interesting wild rosemary plant, the leaves of which do not change color in autumn, but curl up into a tube in autumn and fall off.

Why do the leaves fall, but there are no needles?

Leaves play an important role in the life of trees and shrubs. They help create and store nutrients, as well as accumulate mineral components. However, in winter, when there is an acute shortage of light, and, therefore, nutrition, the leaves only increase the consumption of useful components and cause excessive evaporation of moisture.

Coniferous plants, which most often grow in areas with a rather harsh climate, are in great need of nutrition, so they do not shed their needles that act as leaves. The needles are perfectly adapted to the cold. The needles contain a lot of chlorophyll pigment, which converts nutrients from light. In addition, they have a small area, which significantly reduces the evaporation from their surface of much-needed moisture in winter. From the cold, the needles are protected by a special wax coating, and thanks to the substance they contain, they do not freeze even in severe frosts. The air that the needles capture creates a kind of insulating layer around the tree.

The only coniferous plant that leaves its needles for the winter is larch. It appeared in ancient times, when summers were very hot and winters were incredibly frosty. This feature of the climate led to the fact that the larch began to shed its needles and it was not necessary to protect them from the cold.

Leaf fall, as a seasonal phenomenon, occurs for each plant at its own specific time. It depends on the type of tree, its age and climate.

First of all, poplar and oak part with their leaves, then the time of mountain ash comes. The apple tree is one of the last to shed its leaves, and even in winter, it may still have a few leaves.

Poplar leaf fall begins at the end of September, and by mid-October it completely ends. Young trees retain their foliage longer and turn yellow later.

Oak begins to lose its leaves in early September and completely loses its crown in a month. If frosts begin earlier, then leaf fall occurs much faster. Along with oak leaves, acorns also begin to crumble.

Mountain ash begins its leaf fall in early October and continues to delight with its pink leaves until November 1. It is believed that after the mountain ash parted with the last leaves, dank chilly days begin.

The leaves on the apple tree begin to turn golden by September 20. By the end of this month, leaf fall begins. The last leaves fall from the apple tree in the second half of October.

Evergreens and shrubs do not lose their foliage even with the onset of cold weather, as ordinary hardwoods do. Permanent leaf cover allows them to survive any weather conditions and retain the maximum supply of nutrients. Of course, such trees and shrubs renew their leaves, but this process occurs gradually and almost imperceptibly.

Evergreens do not shed all their leaves at once for several reasons. Firstly, then they do not have to spend large reserves of nutrients and energy to grow young leaves in the spring, and secondly, their constant presence ensures uninterrupted nutrition of the trunk and roots. Most often, evergreen trees and shrubs grow in areas with a mild and warm climate, where the weather is warm even in winter, however, they are also found in harsh climatic conditions. These plants are most common in tropical rainforests.

Evergreens such as cypresses, spruces, eucalyptus, some types of evergreen oaks, rhodendron can be found in a wide area from harsh Siberia to the forests of South America.

One of the most beautiful evergreens is the blue fan palm, which is native to California.

The Mediterranean oleander shrub is distinguished by an unusual appearance and a height of more than 3 meters.

Another evergreen shrub is the jasmine gardenia. Her homeland is China.

Autumn is one of the most beautiful and colorful seasons. Flashes of purple and golden leaves, preparing to cover the ground with a multi-colored carpet, coniferous trees piercing the first snow with their thin needles and evergreens, always pleasing to the eye, make the autumn world even more delightful and unforgettable. Nature is gradually preparing for winter and does not even suspect how fascinating these preparations are to the eye.

Facebook

Twitter

In contact with

Classmates

Google Plus