Facts About Trees You Might Never Have Known
When it comes to knowing facts about trees, most of us learn to recognize many of the different species, and to some extent how some of those different species can be put to use. Landscapers have to know a different set of facts about trees, for instance how large they will grow, how they will look when they grow, and the type of care they need. Those dealing in timber learn how to tell the quality of the wood a tree is apt to provide, and foresters need to know a great many facts about trees as part of their efforts to keep our forests healthy.
There are many facts about trees that are rather trivial, and not a few which might appear trivial but are really quite important. For example, most of us are aware that trees take in carbon dioxide, what we consider to be a waste product and produce oxygen, their waste product, which if course is essential to most forms of life. A mid to large sized tree may use up to half a ton of CO2 during its lifetime and produce up to 13 tons of oxygen. Put another way, an average tree produces about 260 pounds of oxygen a year, and an acre of trees will produce enough oxygen to supply 18 to 20 people.
When we plant a tree in our yard, we pay particular attention to the quality of the soil it's in, and will usually give it a booster of fertilizer to help it get started. There's nothing wrong with this, and it's usually a good idea to give a tree good care, but the truth is the average tree gets 80% of its nourishment from the air it "breathes".
Trees Are Useful - One could say" trees are good to have", and leave it at that, because that's the truth. Trees provide us with lumber, other wood products, and paper. We don't use pencils quite as much as we once did, but an average sized tree can provide the wood for nearly 200,000 of them. If you can get 200,000 pencils from one tree, imagine how many toothpicks that tree could produce. Someone, somewhere, must have figured that one out. We burn wood to keep warm, or to roast marshmallows. Trees also give us fruits and nuts, providing shelter to humans and wildlife as well. Trees help keep the soil in place on slopes and hillsides.
Interesting Trivia - There are interesting facts about trees which are perhaps not as important as are the facts pertaining to the use we get from trees. If you want to see the largest trees in the world, head for California. The General Sherman sequoia is 275 feet tall, the tallest softwood tree, and a close neighbor, the Coast redwood, has reached heights of over 360 feet. The Bristle cone pines in California's Sierra Nevada mountains are considered by many to be the world's oldest trees, as several have been around for 4,600 years, although a tree in Sweden is thought to be at least twice as old. On a somewhat sad note, a tree in Africa, considered to be the world's most isolated tree, having no tree as a neighbor for over 100 miles, was hit by a car and destroyed. That driver must really have been distracted!
Trees Are Good - There are also facts about trees that are not quite so tangible. Trees make us feel better. Trees can shade our homes and cut down on heating bills in the process, as well as increase property values. Tree lined streets and parking strips are responsible for attracting more people to certain shopping areas and stores, and it's even said that hospital patients who have a view of trees from their room tend to heal more quickly and are released from the hospital earlier.
Trees are good.