TREES

TREES
Scooby & the gang are out learning about trees.

There are six (6) main groups of TREES:

·         BOARADLEAF

·         NEEDLELEAF

·         PALM

·         CYCAD

·         TREE FERNS

·         GINKGO

BROADLEAF TREES

·         Example:  Elms, Maples, Oaks, Walnuts, Ashes, & Willows

Broadleaf trees have flowers that develop into fruits.

Their seeds are often inside the fruit, like an apple

The flowers of broadleaf can look like flowers or they can look like fuzzy caterpillars, (catkins)

NEEDLELEAF TREES

·         Example:  Pines, Firs, Spruces, Redwoods, Giant Sequoias, Cypresses & Hemlocks

Most needle leaves for their fruiting parts inside cones

Those that have cones – conifers

Great forests of needleleaf trees can grow in places so cold that nothing else can grow there

·         Highest place on a mountain where trees can grow – timberline

Cedar, Sequoia, & Juniper trees are considered needleleaf trees, but their needles are really made up of tiny overlapping scales

Bald cypress trees are one of the few species that can grow in water

·         The roots have bumps which keep the tree from falling over

·         It is also a deciduous needle leaf

PALM TREES

Grow where the weather is warm all year

Most have no branches, only a bunch of large leaves at the top of the trunk

Some Palms produce dates or coconuts

CYCAD

Look like Palm trees but their seeds come in cones that resemble large pine cones

Cycads grow only in Africa, Asia & Central America where it is warm & damp

TREE FERNS

Look like palm trees, but they have no seeds at all

Produce tiny spores (cells that develop into new trees) on the undersides of their leaves

Tree fern were among the first green plants ever to grow on earth

GINKGO TREES

Grow well in cities

Leaves look like green fans

TREES PRODUCE

Leaves that decay & provide soil mulch (enriching the soil)

During photosynthesis – provide oxygen & carbon dioxide exchange

Food (fruit, nuts, chocolate spices

Medicine, wood, wood pulp

Toys

Cork

Turpentine

Habitats

Shelter

Climate control

Religious symbols

Folklore

History

They know that learning the parts of the tree is a very important! 

PARTS OF TREES

bark - the hard substance that covers a tree

bough - a big branch on a tree

branch - a part of a tree that grows out of its trunk

Cambium - layer of tissue one to several cells thick found between the bark and the wood; divides to form new wood and bark.

catkin - a long soft group of small flowers that hangs from the branches of willows & some other trees

 Cone - the fruit of a conifer

Conifer - a cone bearing tree

Crown - the wide circular top part of some types of tree

deciduous - Shedding all leaves annually.

evergreen - Trees with needles or leaves that remain alive and on the tree through the winter and into the next growing season.

Fir - evergreen conifers with needle-like leaves that are attached to the twig by a base that resembles a small suction cup, also having cylindrical cones

Foliage - the leaves of a plant or tree

Gall - lump on a tree or plant caused by insects or an infection

Hardiness Zone - A plant can be expected to grow in the zone's temperature extremes, as determined by the lowest annual temperature. Other conditions such as moisture, soil, and wind might affect the availability of individual plants.

Heartwood - the inner part of the wood; also called duramen.

Knot - round hard place in a piece of wood where a branch grew

Sapwood - living wood, often light colored, found between the bark or cambium and the heartwood, usually darker colored.

 

trunk - the main part of a tree that branches grow out of

 

The Inside Story

1. The inner bark, or “phloem”, is pipeline through which food is passed to the rest of the tree. It lives for only a short time, then dies and turns to cork to become part of the protective outer bark.
2. The cambium cell layer is the growing part of the trunk. It annually produces new bark and new wood in response to hormones that pass down through the phloem with food from the leaves. These hormones, called “auxins”, stimulate growth in cells. Auxins are produced by leaf buds at the ends of branches as soon as they start growing in spring.
3. Sapwood is the tree’s
4. The outer bark is the tree’s protection from the outside world. Continually renewed from within, it helps keep out moisture in the rain, and prevents the tree from losing moisture when the air is dry. It insulates against cold and heat and wards off insect enemies.
5. pipeline for water moving up to the leaves. Sapwood is new wood. As newer rings of sapwood are laid down, inner cells lose their vitality and turn to heartwood.
6. Heartwood is the central, supporting pillar of the tree. Although dead, it will not decay or lose strength while the outer layers are intact. A composite of hollow, needlelike cellulose fibers bound together by a chemical glue called lignin, it is in many ways as strong as steel. A piece 12" long and 1" by 2" in cross section set vertically can support a weight of twenty tons!

click on each highlighted link & learn about the importance of trees.

1.)  How would the world look if there were no trees? 
Trees Tame Stormwater Without the benefit of trees, the world suffers. 

2.)  How to Plant Trees to conserve energy.