Interesting facts about conifers

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to breathe in the coniferous forest? I want to inhale and inhale this air. How easy it becomes for the body, what physical and spiritual ascent do you experience when leaving the coniferous forest? The coniferous forest is a doctor by nature. It is an established fact that the air in the coniferous forest contains eight to nine times less bacteria compared to birch groves.

Phytancides - biologically active substances formed by plants that kill or inhibit the growth and development of bacteria, microscopic fungi, protozoa.

Vitamins

In 1 kg of dry matter, spruce and pine needles contain the following vitamins:

The needles contain carotene up to 320 mg / kg. Depending on the season, its content varies slightly.

The vitamin C content in needles can be 600 mg% in the winter and drop to 250 mg% in the summer. If you store needles for one month at a temperature of +5 ° C, the level of vitamin content will not change.

The use of needles is the very secret of the power of Siberians.

A recipe for vitamin infusion for the prevention and treatment of colds and vitamin deficiency:

30 g of needles, rinse with cold water, pour 150 ml of boiling water. Boil for 40 minutes in the summer and 20 minutes in the winter, the lid of the dishes should be closed. Then strain, drink during the day for 2-3 doses. You can add honey or sugar to the broth to improve the taste. In spring, you can drink infusion or a decoction of young branches or cones of spruce. This is a good tool for the prevention and treatment of colds, scurvy.

Conifers in medicine

Conifers are widely used in both traditional and traditional medicine.

For the preparation of ointments, tinctures, oils and many other preparations, all parts of the plant are used: bark, needles, cones, pollen, branches.

Coniferous plants are used in the treatment of diseases such as neuralgia, pyelonephritis, diabetes, atherosclerosis, hypertension, insomnia, arthritis, recovery from strokes, bronchial diseases.

In nature, there is a plant of yew valuable for oncology. The substance Paclitaxel is isolated from it. This substance effectively fights some types of cancer.

For twenty years now, pharmaceutical companies have been using Tees to create cancer drugs. For example, drugs based on yew berry are successfully used in the treatment of diseases such as breast cancer and ovarian cancer in women, prostate cancer in men, cancer of the colon and its various divisions, lung cancer, squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, stomach cancer, both in men and in women during hormone therapy.

In Europe, conscientious gardeners pruning hedges from hedgehogs give circumcised material for further use in pharmacology.

Centenarial trees

Until recently, the oldest tree was Methuselah. Methuselah is a representative species of the Spinous intermountain Pine. Scientists believe that this coniferous plant germinated 4846 years ago, it is more than 2800 years BC.

Not so long ago in Sweden another tree was discovered-old: Old Tikko. Its age is estimated at 9550 years.

If you pay attention to the lists of the oldest living trees, conifers are flawless leaders. There are 21 trees over 1500 years old, of which 20 are conifers.

It does not sink in fire and does not burn in water

During forest fires, conifer cones, igniting, turn into incendiary shells that “shoot” to a distance of 50 meters, which on the one hand promotes the spread of plants, but also the spread of fire.

However, Sequoia is perhaps the most fireproof representative of conifers. Sequoia absorbs moisture well, due to the thickness of the bark up to 30 cm and its fibrillation, which is easily crumbling in the usual state. However, despite its fragility, the Sequoia bark has an amazing property when exposed to high temperatures or when exposed to open fire, the bark charring forms a kind of thermal shield. The principle of this shield is somewhat similar to the thermal protection system on returning spacecraft.

Construction material

We have all heard that Venice is built on pillars of larch.

Indeed, larch wood is a type of building material that does not rot. But not many people remember that our “Window to Europe”, the city of St. Petersburg, was built on piles of larch, which was also used in the construction of Tsaritsyno and Odessa.

Water supply was made from larch in some monasteries of the Arkhangelsk province, such as the Artemievo-Verkolsky Monastery or the Transfiguration of the Savior Solovetsky Monastery.

And in the Sverdlovsk Museum of Local Lore you can see the Big Shigirsky Idol, whose age is estimated at 9,500 years. It is made entirely of larch and is perfectly preserved.

But also such representatives of conifers as juniper differ in durability, its wood is very decorative and is used in inlays, or decoration.

Cases are known that when drilling wells or wells for water extraction, perfectly preserved sequoia wood was found.

The wealth of nature

Amber is a fossil resin. Resin - the hardening in the air of the emission of many plants, is released as a result of normal processes or damage to the plant.

The only amber industrial enterprise in the world is located in the Kaliningrad region of Russia. Amber deposits in the Kaliningrad region account for at least 90% of the world.

In amber, inclusions called “inclusions” are often found - arthropod insects adhering to a drop of resin did not drown in it, but were blocked by new portions of resin, as a result of which the animal died in the rapidly solidified mass, which ensured good preservation of the smallest details.

Coniferous forests spread over a vast part of the land. Due to their wide distribution, they, along with tropical forests, are the lungs of our planet. The increase in temperature led to the spread of pests, massive deforestation, fires all this leads to the death of forests. In turn, this leads to environmental degradation.

It may take a year to destroy a forest, and years to revive it. The dying of a forest means the dying of life, and not only for the animals living in it, but as a result of humanity which is already facing this problem.

Watch the video: About Plants u0026 Gardens: How Do Coniferous Plants Reproduce? (January 2021).