Unusual trees. The most unusual trees in the world The most amazing trees in the world

The fantasy of mother nature can only be envied - it is truly inexhaustible. There are so many interesting and unusual corners on earth that even a lifetime will not be enough to explore them. Each continent is unique in its own way, and above all, its flora. There are more than 100,000 species of trees alone. Some of them are so peculiar in appearance, texture and dimensions that I would like to pay special attention to their description.

Trees of the world: the amazing-incredible among us

An impromptu top ten of the most amazing trees in the world might look like this. Moreover, the order does not play any role at all - they all deserve a prize, if not for beauty, then for strangeness and originality, for sure.

The place of "deployment" is the island of Socotra (an archipelago of the same name in the Indian Ocean). Visually resembles an umbrella turned inside out or a giant russula mushroom with a green hat. The massive trunk of this miracle of nature reaches up to 10 m in height, and the crown circumference radius can be tens of meters. The tree got its exotic name because of the resinous juice of a red hue resembling blood. During the monsoon rains, dragon "umbrellas" begin to bloom, covered with funny branched panicles.

A distinctive feature of this tall and proud handsome man is a multi-colored trunk. It seems that some impressionist artist did a good job of creating such a bright and unusual palette. In fact, the whole trick is that the bark of a tree, renewing itself in a natural way, changes color from pale light green to brick-raspberry. And on the way from "youth" to "old age" it still manages to transform into orange, purple, green and even blue. In addition to their multicolor, chameleon eucalyptus can be safely called one of the planet's longest-lived trees. Their age often jumps over a thousand-year bar, and the height reaches 100 meters or more.

Of course, it has nothing to do with military topics, but the fruits unequivocally resemble combat nuclei - hence the name. Often found in subtropical botanical gardens. The original fruit-balls tightly stick around the tree trunk, representing a real threat to the lives of those who dare to stand next to this outlandish representative of the forest flora.

At first glance, nothing extraordinary - many will think. Few people are surprised by ficuses, and they grow in almost every home. But all the smirks instantly disappear from the face at the sight of a huge and semi-mysterious tree growing in the botanical park of the Indian city of Khauri. Among the people, it received the name "Forest Tree", representing a real forest grove with hundreds of individual trunks and a shady upper crown. And in order to completely lose the gift of speech, it is worth mentioning its size - about 1.5 hectares in volume. According to scientists, the old ficus is about 250 years old.

It is easy to guess that this relative of the baobab got its name because of its resemblance to a glass bottle. Of course, not a single botanist will undertake to give him a prize for grace and aesthetics, but there is a certain eccentricity in his appearance - this is a fact. It grows in Namibia, feels great under the scorching African sun and even pleases the eye with pink-red flowers, vaguely similar to magnolias. And the bottle tree is very poisonous, which Bushmen warriors did not neglect to use, smearing hunting arrows with its juice.

The tree is native to Nicaragua and Costa Rica. It has a rather warlike appearance, thanks to the spiraling coils of sharp spikes that wrap around the trunk from the roots to the very top. The height of the palm tree can reach up to 20 m, and the length of the leaves often exceeds 3 m. It is noteworthy that the fruits of the peach "ruff" are still popular among the inhabitants of Central and South America, making up a significant part of the daily diet. And the most interesting thing is that they acquire the brightest taste precisely in the fermented form.

In mythology, the Maya was one of the sacred symbols, and today the baton of worship has migrated to Puerto Rico, a South American state under the jurisdiction of the United States. The fruits of adult trees are large boxes, which contain a fluffy shiny fiber resembling cotton. But the most amazing thing about this 60-meter giant is that the trunks and large branches are simply strewn with prickly thorns. Such a frightening "outfit" helps the tree retain moisture and feel good in the tropical heat.

Its discoverers were English navigators who moored to the shores of New Guinea and watched with surprise how the local natives ate juicy fruits resembling bread on both cheeks. Later, the tree was cultivated in Jamaica, and it was used for a long time to feed slaves on plantations. Bread "loaves" by weight can reach up to 4 kg, heaping on the trunk or large branches. On average, seven hundred fruits are harvested from one adult tree per year - a good harvest! And these powerful handsome men with a spreading crown live up to 70 years.

It turns out that you can milk not only a cow, but also trees - an amazing discovery for the inhabitants of Russia and a phenomenon of everyday life for the inhabitants of Central and South America. An incision is made on mature fruits, and then, by analogy with birch sap, a container is substituted, and the liquid gradually drains into the prepared container. At one time, you can "milk" up to 4 liters of juice. When such milk is boiled, wax is released, which is then used to make candles or impromptu chewing gum.

The second name is kigelia. It continues the food theme, although in its raw natural form, its fruits are not eaten. Large sausage-shaped cucumbers hang between the branches, acquiring a brown color in the process of ripening. Among Africans, kigelia is still considered a panacea for all diseases, being actively used to treat skin and venereal diseases, wounds and insect bites, ulcers, as well as for various shamanic rituals. And alcoholic drinks are also made from “sausages”, adding honey to start the fermentation process.

The world of trees is really unpredictable and amazing. And no matter how hard technical progress tries to subdue our attention, it will never surpass nature.

Ecology

Trees are known to be the lungs of our planet. Without these green representatives of the flora, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for mankind to exist on earth. Their diversity is amazing, and the uniqueness of some of them is fascinating. Below is a list of the most unusual green "lungs" from around the world.

1. Bottle tree. It grows in Namibia. This tree is one of the most dangerous plants on earth. The deadly juice of the bottle tree has the consistency of milk. In the past, these poisonous wood secretions were used by Bushmen for arrowheads.

The tree grows in the mountainous regions of the deserts of Namibia. The striking resemblance to the bottle was the reason for this name. The flowers of this tree are amazingly beautiful in shape and color. Pale pink or white at the edges, they usually gradually turn into a rich red towards the center.

2. Wavon tree. This former Sequoia used to grow in the small forest of Mariposa (Mariposa Grove), located in Yosemite National Park (Yosemite National Park), USA. After a strong hurricane, the sequoia fell down, then it was turned into a tunnel.

A passage was cut into the tree back in 1881, and since then it has been a popular attraction for tourists from all over the world. According to rough estimates, the sequoia is very ancient, its age is 2300 years.

3. Madagascar baobab. From the name itself, the habitat of this plant becomes clear. The trees are over a thousand years old. Baobab is officially listed in the Red Book as a rare endangered species. Some trees reach 80-90 meters in height, while the girth of the trunk is up to 25 meters.

During the dry seasons, swollen trunks of baobabs provide water for entire regions. Trees bloom for only 24 hours. The flower of the power tree of Madagascar was decided to be transferred to a denomination of 100 francs.

4. Bombaxes. These trees grow in Cambodia, but even there they are not everywhere, there are only certain places where they can be seen. Traveling in Southeast Asia, they can be found near the Ta Prohm temple. Tree roots seem to hug an ancient temple.

It is amazing that the trees grow to an impressive dizzying height. Strangler Ficuses grow not far from the same temple, which, like their neighbor trees, cover the walls of the temple. The temple building itself is included in the UNESCO list as one of the objects of "World Heritage Sites".

5. Hyperion is considered a California sequoia. This is the tallest tree in the world. Slender and graceful, it amazes with its beauty. Usually hyperions live about 1200-1800 years. The tree is very impressive in size. It reaches 115.5 meters in height and almost 10 meters in diameter.

From which we can conclude that Hyperion is as much as 5 floors higher than the famous Statue of Liberty. According to experts, about 95% of all sequoias died due to their cutting down. Today, these amazing giant trees are especially carefully protected as an endangered species.

6. Peach palm. This tree is often found in Central and South America. However, its official homeland is Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The peach palm tree looks very, very strange: rows of black sharp spikes, resembling cold weapons or hedgehog needles, encircle the entire trunk from the roots to the top of the tree.

Usually these trees grow up to about 20 meters. The leaves are also large and long, sometimes reaching 3 meters in length. The Indians used to eat the fruits of this palm tree. It was this kind of food that made up the bulk of the diet of Native Americans. If you think that this fruit was consumed exclusively in the Middle Ages, you are mistaken. The fermented fruit of the peach palm remains a favorite and popular delicacy to this day.

7. Crooked trees in the forest of the city of Gryfino. In Western Poland, near the town of Gryfino, more than 400 of these trees, unusual in shape and curves, grow. The reason why trees have such strange curves is still not exactly known. According to some assumptions, these trees were twisted due to human intervention, but why this was done remains a mystery.

Some believe that the tree hulls were used to make bent wooden furniture, parts for boat hulls, or were used to make ox-drawn plows or other agricultural implements. The outbreak of World War II caught those who grew these amazing trees by surprise, people had to rush to leave these trees, and now the story of their appearance in these forests is a mystery.

8. Baobab Sunland. The location of this tree is South Africa. Baobab Sunland is a tree that grows near Modjadjiskloof, Limpopo province, a famous region of South Africa. This woody plant has been turned into a bar. The baobab is completely hollow inside, which creates a natural space inside it.

In 1933, a small bar was opened in it, which can easily accommodate 15-20 people. It is one of the largest baobabs in South Africa, and in all likelihood the widest tree on the entire African continent. The tree reaches 4 meters in girth and 20 meters in height. In addition, the bar tree is one of the oldest plants in the world, over 6,000 years old.

9. Burmis tree. The Burmis tree is a soft pine that grows near the Canadian city of Alberta. What is unique about this tree? It is unusual in that it died more than 40 years ago in the 1970s of the last century. Surprisingly, it still stands without any signs of decay. According to experts, at the time of his death he was at least 600-750 years old.

In 1998, due to strong winds, the tree was felled, but the locals picked it up and put it back in the position it stood before the storm. Some time later, the hooligans broke one of the branches, and again the locals came to the rescue, they fixed the broken part of the branch back to its original place. The Burmis tree is one of the favorite attractions of tourists from all over the world. The tree is considered the most photographed.

10. And finally, the Tree of Life. The location of this amazing plant is Bahrain. This tree, reaching a height of almost 10 meters, is approximately 4 centuries old. It is unusual in that it grows in the desert and is the only tree growing in an area of ​​​​a few kilometers around. Surprisingly, he does not have access to water. The roots of this tree go deep underground.

Many believe that this is how the tree reaches the water, but people fail to solve this riddle to the end. The tree is one of the main tourist attractions. Every year, 50,000 people come here from many countries of the world to see this place. Locals believe that this is where the Garden of Eden was located. The Tree of Life is under the protection of UNESCO and, like Bombax, is included in the list of "World Heritage Sites".

All these trees are amazing in their appearance, age, and a number of other features. They perfectly characterize the area in which they grow. If you ever get the chance to see these countries, be sure to visit the places where the trees grow.

The ten most interesting trees, both in terms of age and appearance.

Oak Angel.
The Angel Oak grows in South Carolina in the USA and is approximately 1,500 years old. It reaches a height of 20 meters, the trunk is 2.7 meters in diameter and its crown has an area of ​​1600 square meters. This magnificent tree is considered one of the oldest living organisms east of the Mississippi River. Oak has survived numerous natural disasters, including earthquakes, floods and hurricanes.

Olive tree Elia Bouybon.
This olive tree is the oldest of its kind in the world. And, oddly enough, it still bears fruit. According to scientists from the University of Crete, its age is from 3500 to 4000 years. More than 20,000 people come here every year.

Dragon's blood tree.
This tree is also known as the Dragon Tree from Socotra Island in Yemen. This tree is one of the most famous sights of Yemen. The name of this tree comes from its ability to produce red juice and resin. Locals still consider them a cure for all diseases.
In addition, the island of Socotra is famous for its uniqueness. Scientists say that 37% of the plants, 90% of the reptiles and 95% of the mollusk species living here are found nowhere else in the world.

Thule tree.
The massive Tule tree is a 40-meter cypress growing in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Each of its branches is an independent tree in itself. The circumference of its trunk reaches 119 meters. It is so large that initially scientists thought it was several trunks merged together, but DNA tests showed the opposite.

Baobab teapot.
Baobab is a common African tree. There are many species, but teapot- or bottle-shaped baobabs are especially notable. Their age is often 1200 years. Baobab can store up to 120,000 liters of water and survive the most severe droughts.

Ta Phrom trees.
The trees growing on the ruins of the Cambodian temple of Ta Prohm are simply mesmerizing. Two main species predominate here - the silk tree and the fig tree. Their giant roots attract thousands of visitors every year.

Methuselah tree.
Intermontane spiny pine is one of the longest-lived plant species. They grow mainly in a narrow area in Utah, Nevada and California. They grow very slowly and their needles can stay green for 40 years. Methuselah pine is one of the most ancient in this region. It grows in the White Mountains, and its age is 4843 years.

Silk tree.
This incredibly beautiful silk tree belongs to the mallow family. Endemic to the tropical and subtropical forests of South America, it reaches a height of 27 meters. The trunk and branches are covered with sharp thorns that help it retain water during dry periods.

Rainbow eucalyptus.
This tall tree occupies a special place among the eucalyptus trees. This tree is grown for ornamental purposes, due to the beauty of the colorful bands that cover the trunk. Renewal of the upper layer of the bark occurs annually. Initially, the bark is bright green. Then, as it matures, it darkens and acquires blue, purple, orange and maroon tones.

Tree of life.
There are many examples of long-lived trees, but this magnificent 400-year-old tree grown in the desert without any special water source is simply impressive. The ancient mesquite tree is considered a wonder of nature. It is located 2 km from Jebel Duhan, Bahrain.

Trees are part of our lives, supplying us with oxygen, food, homes, warmth and building materials. There are about 100,000 different types of trees, including a quarter of all living plant species on Earth. Among the billions of trees around the world, there are completely unique amazing representatives.

Baobab is considered to be the birthplace of Madagascar, it is also common in Africa and Australia.

Baobab trees are the oldest forms of life on the African mainland, and many of those still standing today date back to Roman times. The amazing baobab or “monkey breadfruit tree” can grow up to 30m high and 11m wide. Most of the year they remain without leaves. A characteristic feature of the baobab is their pot-bellied trunk, which serves as a reservoir of water. The baobab tree can hold up to 120,000 liters of water to survive severe drought conditions. Some trunks are so big that people live inside the tree. One of the most beautiful clusters of Adansonia Grandidier baobabs is located on Baobab Avenue in Morondava, Madagascar. Some baobabs take on the shape of a bottle, a skull, and even a teapot.

The Dragon Tree in Icod de los Vinos in Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, is a unique representative. It is believed that it is between 650 and 1500 years old, but experts find it difficult to draw accurate conclusions, since it does not have one trunk. Rather, it consists of many small trunks that hold on to each other as they grow upwards. It has a dense canopy of leaves and gets its name from the resin that is released when its bark and leaves are cut away. Residents believe that this is the dried blood of a dragon and have been using it since ancient times to treat various ailments.

Giant sequoias that grow in the Sierra Nevada in California are considered the largest trees in terms of volume. The largest tree is the "General Sherman" in Sequoia National Park, which reaches a height of 83 m, a volume of about 1,486 cubic meters. m, and weight more than 6000 tons. The tree is thought to be somewhere between 2300 and 2700 years old, and every year the tree gains as much wood as a normal 18 meter tree contains. It is a real natural masterpiece and the greatest living organism on Earth.

4. Pando - aspen-shaped poplar

Pando or Trembling Giant, located in Utah, USA, is an amazing massive colony of wasp trees sprawling over 100 acres of Utah. Almost all of the trees in this colony are genetically identical, that is, they are clones of each other. Every tree in this area comes from a single organism, part of a giant underground root system. Pando consists of 47,000 trunks and its collective weight is 6,600 tons, making it the heaviest organism in the world. Despite the fact that the average age of individual trunks is about 130 years, the whole organism is already about 80,000 years old.

5. Tule Tree

The Tule tree is a particularly large tree of the Taxodium mexico species, which is found near the city of Oaxaca in Mexico. This tree has the largest girth of the trunk (58 m) and a diameter of the trunk, which is 11.5 m. It is said that the Thule Tree is so thick that you do not hug it, but it hugs you. It is believed that the tree is already about 2000 years old. For a while, detractors claimed that in fact there were three trees disguised here, but a thorough DNA analysis confirmed that this is actually one beautiful tree. In 1994, the tree was threatened: the leaves turned painfully yellow and there were dead branches everywhere. The tree was dying. When the “healers” of the trees were called, it turned out that the problem that caused the Tule tree to suffer was ordinary thirst and it needed to be treated with water. Naturally, after careful water procedures, the tree came to life.

6. Tree of life

The tree of life in Bahrain is the loneliest tree in the world. The mesquite tree is located at the highest point in the barren desert of Bahrain, hundreds of kilometers from other natural trees. It is believed that its roots stretch for several tens of meters to the aquifers. The exact age of the tree is unknown, but it is believed to be over 400 years old. However, the secret of the Tree of Life is not its size, age or shape, although it is quite large and very beautiful. The most amazing thing is that it stands alone in the barren desert at the highest point in Bahrain, in an area where there is absolutely no water. In a place where nothing seemed to survive, this tree seems to radiate life itself. People come here in droves, as the locals believe that the tree stands on the site of the Garden of Eden.

7. Wollemia

Despite its uniqueness and beauty, the interesting qualities of Wollemia are hidden not in appearance, but in its history. Wollemia growing in Australia is a real living dinosaur. The oldest fossil of the Wollemia tree dates back to 200 million years ago. When, in 1994, scientists suddenly discovered a living Wollemia tree, they were simply dumbfounded. The exact location of these conifers has been carefully hidden in order to protect the remaining trees, which are less than 100 in nature. various botanical gardens.

8. Cashew Tree Piranji

This famous tree, located near the city of Natal in Brazil, is a 177 year old cashew tree that covers almost 2 hectares of land. It was planted in 1888 by a fisherman who did not know that the tree had a genetic mutation that allowed it to take up so much space. Unlike a regular cashew tree, when the branches of the Piranji tree touch the ground, it takes root and continues to grow. Today this tree serves as a tourist attraction. If you get close to this largest cashew tree in the world, you will feel like you are entering a forest. In fact, all this is one tree, the size of which reaches 8400 square meters. m. The tree is 80 times larger than the average cashew tree and covers an area larger than a football field, bringing about 80,000 fruits a year.

9. Tenere Tree

The Tenere tree is mentioned in this list because it no longer exists. A lone acacia growing in the Sahara desert in Africa's Niger, more than 300 years old, was the only tree within a radius of about 400 km. It was the only tree left of the vast forest that had been swallowed up by the merciless desert. When the scientists dug a hole next to the tree, they found that its roots descended up to 36m below the water table. In 1973, the Tenere tree was run over by a drunk truck driver, and today a metal monument has been erected at the site in honor of the Lonely Tenere Tree.

10. Banyan: Mahabodhi Tree

The banyan tree is named after the banyans or Hindu traders who sold their goods while sitting under the tree. Even if you have never heard of the banyan tree, you will surely recognize it. The shape of this giant tree cannot be confused with anything: a majestic dome with aerial roots that descend from branches to the ground. One of the most famous species of banyan tree called sacred ficus or Bo tree is the Mahabodhi tree in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. The tree is said to have been grown from a cutting of a real tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment in the 6th century BC. Planted in 288 BC, it is the oldest human-planted tree in the world with an accurate planting date.

Today we want to bring to your attention the most unusual trees growing on our Earth. As you know, the most common plant on our planet that deserves a special place in our lives is a tree. There are more than 100,000 species of them growing on our land. Where and how a person just does not use it, but we pay attention to the trees around us only if they differ in some way from their neighbors either in size or in bizarre shapes or flowers and fruits.

• Dragon tree (Dracaenacinnabari) or more precisely cinnabar-red dracaena. It grows on the island of Socotra. Outwardly, this miracle of nature resembles an umbrella turned inside out with a green hat of foliage and a massive trunk. The height of an adult tree is 10 m. The dragon tree got its name because of the resinous red juice. Flowers near the tree appear during the monsoon rains in the form of branched panicles.

• Australian baobab - "Bottle Tree" or Adansonia Gregory (Adansonia Gregorii), named for its resemblance to a glass container - a bottle. It grows in the mountains of Namibia, its milky juice is very poisonous, in ancient times hunters lubricated their arrows with it. During the flowering period, beautiful pink-red flowers appear on the branches of the bottle tree.

• The largest tree in the world grows in the "Giant Forest" of the Sequoia National Park, California, USA in the Sierra Nevada mountain range (Sierra Nevada, California). The height of the long-lived sequoia "General Sherman" (GeneralSherman), according to various estimates, is about 2800 years old, is 83 meters, the girth of the trunk is more than 24 meters, the circumference of the crown is about 33 meters. But what is the most interesting tree is still growing and increasing its trunk diameter by 1.5 cm per year. But in 2006, due to heavy snowfalls, one of the branches of the tree broke off, the diameter of which is about two meters and the length is more than 30 meters, but this incident did not affect its status as the "Largest Tree in the World" growing in our time. But the tallest tree growing here in California is the Hyperion tree, its height reaches 115.5 meters, thereby exceeding the height of the Statue of Liberty. These are the giants on our planet.

• Madagascar baobab or Adansonia Grandidieri (Adansonia Grandidieri), a mighty tree about 80 meters high and about 25 meters in girth, grows on the island of Madagascar. Some specimens of baobabs have been growing for over 1000 years. The even and smooth trunk of the baobab accumulates a large amount of water, so it easily tolerates drought. The white flowers of the baobab, although they are short-lived when flowering, having bloomed, live only for a day, but they have been awarded the attention of the treasury of Madagascar. On the 100-franc note they are depicted, the flowers of the Madagascar baobab.

• Baobab Sunland (Sunland) of South Africa, located near Modjadjiskloof, the tree is hollow inside, so in 1933 it was equipped with a mini bar for 15-20 seats. The tree itself is not tall, about 20 meters, but its age is simply impressive, it is over 6000 years old.

• Tree of Life, Bahrain. In the midst of a large desert, a single green tree 9.75 meters high has been living in extreme conditions for more than 400 years. The locals called this place the Garden of Eden, it is still not known exactly how the tree survives in these conditions, there is an assumption that its roots go deep into the ground, and from there they take life-giving moisture for growth and life. UNESCO has taken this Tree of Life under its protection, including it in the list of "World Heritage Sites".

• Rainbow eucalyptus (Eucalyptus deglupta) with a beautiful multi-colored trunk - a tree, is also a long-liver of our planet and quite tall, sometimes growing up to 100 meters in height or more. The beautiful coloring of the bark comes from the constant peeling off of old strips of bark, exposing bright salad, young bark. Over time, the bark roughens and dulls, turning dark green, then blue and purple, and then changing from orange-red to crimson-brown. These are the constant transformations and updates that occur with the eucalyptus bark, constantly changing its appearance.

• With unusual fruits similar to cannonballs, the Cannon Tree (Couroupitaguianensis) grows in South America. The tree is very prolific, producing 200-300 kernels with a diameter of 15-25 centimeters. A favorite tree of many subtropical botanical gardens, as it attracts with its original fruits that have stuck around almost the entire trunk of the tree. But getting close to it, and even more so standing under it, is dangerous, there is a risk of being hit by an impressive core.

• The Great Banyan or Ficus Bengal, this tree, which has the largest crown area, grows in the Indian Botanical Garden in the city of Khauri. Looking from the side at this green miracle of nature, you will not immediately understand that in fact it is not a grove or a shady oak forest, but one tree. This handsome man has another name "Forest Tree", as it has not one, but several thousand trunks at once. It is about 250 years old and occupies a rather impressive area of ​​1.5 hectares and has 3300 aerial roots.