Oak - description, types and characteristics for children

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Tree Oak

Oak is popularly called a century-old tree, apparently because oaks live up to 500 years, and some of their varieties even more than 1000 years. These trees from the beech family are very valuable.

Oak trees grow very slowly and annually increase their growth by only 1 cm, first in height and then in width. They can reach a height of up to 50 meters, and the majestic crown gives them a chic appearance. At the age of 50-60 years, trees bloom and bloom every spring, and in the fall they delight with fruits - acorns.

Acorns are food for some animals, as well as a medicine for many diseases. A coffee drink is made from acorns, which is useful for heart disease. No less useful is oak bark, which has many tannins and is used in both folk and official medicine. The leaves also help with many diseases and are also widely used in cooking, especially in pickling vegetables.

Oak is an energy donor. It is customary to hug centuries-old oak trees with your hands, thereby receiving a charge of positive energy. Walking through an oak grove can lower your blood pressure. And such a walk perfectly calms the nervous system, has a positive effect on the functioning of the heart, and calms the soul. But for chronically ill people, such a walk can be harmful.

In the national economy, oak is indispensable, especially its wood. It is very strong and is used for construction and furniture making. Oak piles are often used to construct underwater bridge foundations. When soaked, oak wood becomes like stone.

Oak is a symbol of strength, courage, fire, longevity. Legends were made about him; wreaths of oak leaves adorned the heads of the winners of the Olympic Games, as well as strong and courageous people, and wreaths of oak branches were also a symbol of fertility. And in ancient Rus' this tree was dedicated to God Perun, because the oak tree could withstand any lightning strike. Military councils, important meetings and even trials took place under it.

It is generally accepted that oak wood retains magical spells, which is why talismans and fortune telling boards are made from it. Many scientists prove that it is in oak groves that there are portals where you can go to other worlds and communicate with their representatives.

Oak is a very revered tree. His image was used in oral folk art, literature and art. Old-time oaks are protected by beautiful fences, there are even monument oaks. This emphasizes the people's love for this difficult tree.

What does oak look like?

Oak is a powerful tree with a mighty trunk. It immediately stands out from other plants with its voluminous, spreading crown. It reaches a height of 40 meters.

The most famous species is common or pedunculate oak.

How long does an oak tree live?

Usually the lifespan of a mighty tree is about 300 years;
some specimens reach a more noble age, measured in millennia.

In this case, growth in height usually stops after two hundred years of life. The width of the tree continues to slowly but constantly increase. The diameter can reach up to one and a half meters.

Oak bark is quite thick and durable, dark brown in color. It is covered with wrinkles and cracks.

A mighty tree cannot do without the color of the sun and is drawn to it. Because of this, the branches grow in different directions, acquiring bizarre shapes. The older the oak, the more bends, curves, curved lines.

Leaves and acorns

Leaves appear along with flowers in early May.

By September you can see acorns on the branches:

They begin to set at the end of summer. First green, gradually turning yellow, forming until the end of November.
The sizes vary, reaching a length of 2 to 5 centimeters, smooth to the touch.
Each one has a cap called a pluska, which serves as protection for the fetus. By mid-autumn, their grip weakens and the acorns fall off.

On the ground, the fruits serve as food for forest inhabitants. Wild boars and bears love to eat them.

The shape of the tree's leaves depends on the variety.

They usually have an elongated shape and rounded teeth. This is how they are often depicted in pictures describing oak trees.

They appear on curved branches only in June. They don't always succeed the first time. Often young foliage is destroyed by caterpillars.

Plants

P.54

Let's discuss it together

Question: Let's look at the drawings and photos, read the captions. Let's make a diagram of plant habitats. Is it true that plants are found everywhere on Earth and live in different conditions?

Answer: biologists divide all the vegetation on the planet into natural zones; we will draw up a diagram of the habitats of the plants shown in the photos and drawings based on natural zones.

The conclusion that plants live everywhere is correct because... plants adapt to life in different habitats, from aquatic environments to high mountains.

Question: using reference literature, each group supplements the information about the plant given in the hint on p. 55:

1. Plantain grows everywhere - in meadows, forests, along roads and fences...

Answer - addition: Plantain is a medicinal plant, it has a hemostatic effect, accelerates tissue regeneration processes, promoting rapid wound healing, relieves inflammation and destroys pathogenic microflora (anti-inflammatory and bactericidal effect).

2. Siberian larch lives more than 200 years. Larch wood is very durable, not afraid of moisture, and is often used in construction .

Answer-addition: construction and equipment of piers, swimming pools, loggias and balconies, shower rooms, wall panels and furniture, shipbuilding, production of musical instruments, production of parquet, laminated veneer lumber, sleepers in the construction of railway tracks, power poles.

3. Oak, it turns out, is a grain plant. During excavations in Ukraine, acorns ground into flour were found. Bread was baked from this flour more than 5 thousand years ago.

Answer-addition - from chopped fried acorns you can brew a drink equivalent to coffee or jelly. And acorn flour is prepared as follows:

Cut the peeled acorns into 4-5 pieces and add water. Soak for two days, changing the water 3 times a day. Then fill the acorns with double the volume of clean water and put on fire. At the first signs of boiling, drain the water and pass the acorns through a meat grinder. Spread the resulting mass in a thin layer to dry in air and then in the oven. Grind the dried mass in a coffee mill.

When you set the mill to coarse grinding, you get cereal for porridge, and when you set it to a finer setting, you get flour for flatbreads.

4. Dodder is a parasitic plant. It wraps itself around another plant and, using special suction cups, feeds on its juice.

Answer-addition: The dodder plant is rootless, feeds and attaches to the host plant with the help of suckers - haustoria, formed in places of contact with the feeding plant and deeply embedded in its tissue. The suction of nutrients occurs due to the higher osmotic pressure of the parasite's cell sap. By sucking out water with organic and inorganic compounds dissolved in it, dodders cause metabolic disorders in host plants, weaken and retard their growth and development. Growing rapidly, the parasite covers entire areas of susceptible crops, often causing the death of affected plants. Not only the yield decreases, but also the winter hardiness of plants, and the quality of products deteriorates. Grasses mown for hay that are infected with dodder dry poorly, become moldy, lose nutritional value, and can cause animal diseases and sometimes even death. Dodder also serves as a carrier of viral plant diseases.

Spreading

Oak is common in the Northern Hemisphere

, which is explained by comfortable weather conditions.

The powerful tree was respected in European countries and considered sacred. Meetings were held under the oak trees and rituals were held.

However, most of the oak forests have been wiped off the face of the earth. People needed areas for arable land and the expansion of villages and cities. Now oaks occupy no more than 5 percent of the entire forest belt in Europe.

Climate and soil

Oak prefers temperate climates.

Sometimes the mighty tree grows in the tropics, choosing high mountain areas and avoiding too high temperatures.

Soil fertility is important for oak

, from which it absorbs the necessary nutrients through a well-developed root system. Although oak grows in moderately humid conditions, some species survive in swamps surrounding forests and dry areas.

Useful composition of oak wood and fruits

Wood is durable. After drying, its qualities do not change. With proper care, it lasts for about a century, does not dry out or crack.

When it stays in water for a long time, it does not deteriorate, does not rot, but turns black. Such wood is known as moraine. It is harder, but soaking makes it more brittle.

The fruits are famous for their high content of tannins and beta-carotene. In addition, they contain essential oils and starch.

Where is wood used?

Hardness and high service life allow the wood to be used in shipbuilding and the mining industry. It has a high density, which is important for construction and finishing work.

Wood is used to create furniture, toys, and parquet. It can be tinted to give it a new shade. But it has its own rich palette, found in both light beige and dark brown shades.

The beneficial composition of the fruits has made them one of the ingredients for the preparation of medicines.

Use in construction

Due to the fact that wood does not rot in water, it is used to build structures that are sunk to the bottom of seas and rivers, and to create ships.

The older the tree, the more rings there are on its trunk. Such oak, distinguished by its considerable age, is especially valuable in structure. Souvenirs are also made from softer, and therefore young, trees. Over time, strength increases.

Building materials are made from oak wood due to its low susceptibility to combustion. It is considered fire resistant.

There is a version that the oak owes its name to the ancient Greek word, which translates as “to build.” After all, the quality of wood was assessed many centuries ago.

Interesting answers

Chronological table of Nekrasov (life and work)
1821 November 28 is the date of the beginning of the life of the future Russian writer Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov. He was born in a small town called Nemirov, which was included in the Podolsk province.
Electricity – message report
Electricity has become an integral part of the life of modern man. We treat the current running through wires as something proper and familiar. Electrical household appliances, all kinds of gadgets, and even the lighting of houses and apartments
Founding of St. Petersburg - message report
On May 1, 1703, the Russian army took the Swedish fortress of Nyenschanz. Peter the Great strove for the Baltic Sea, and after the capture of enemy fortifications by the military council, it was decided to build his own fortress.
Eratosthenes – report message
Eratosthenes was an ancient Greek scientist from Alexandria. He was born in the 2nd half of the 3rd century. BC. Eratosthenes was a very erudite man, his interests extended to almost all knowledge and skills existing in that era
What contributions did Copernicus make to science?
Copernicus was born in the city of Torun in Poland in 1473. In addition to him, there were 3 more children in the family. Nikolai successfully graduated from the University of Krakow, where he later taught.

Industrial Applications

Oak is used in the furniture industry. High strength and durability make it almost indispensable in this area.

In the wine industry, it is used to make barrels in which wine languishes. They are also used to make corks, thanks to which sparkling drinks do not go out of breath.

Acorns of some oak species are used in the food industry. The fruits of trees growing in Italy have a sweet taste. Acorns, common in Russia, are used to make a powder that serves as a coffee substitute.

Use in medicine

The beneficial properties of the tree's fruits are used in medicine:

tannins kill bacteria and help improve stomach function;

Beta-carotene helps with heart disease and removes toxins that pollute the body.

Oak bark relieves inflammation. A decoction is prepared from it, which is useful to drink for diseases of the throat and mucous membranes, including the stomach. The bark is collected in the spring from young oak trees. Then it is dried for several days until it becomes brittle.

The story about the beneficial properties does not end there. The leaves have a calming effect and help get rid of worms. An infusion of them will cure frostbite and eliminate burns.

Apple tree

I think the apple tree is not only my favorite tree. It's wonderful!

The apple tree is very much ours - a folk tree, although not a birch. I think that every garden had an apple tree. And in all our fairy tales, if there is a talking and acting tree, then it is an apple tree. She often helps people. Usually hides children from Baba Yaga, who is chasing them.

This tree has many benefits. The most important thing is apples! We still eat a lot of them (even though you can buy any exotic fruit). And about four hundred years ago it was a very important part of the people’s diet. After all, they made jam from apples, which they added to pies, and real marshmallows! And the apples were dried and soaked. So many things!

The apple tree also provides good shade in the summer. I noticed that in our yard there is the best shade from the apple tree - it’s coolest and most comfortable there. It has better shaped leaves, plus there are a lot of them. Although, maybe it’s just the apple tree growing so successfully in our yard.

And I just really like the way the apple tree blooms. I always admire its flowers in the spring - they are pinkish, there are a lot of them. And we have a lot of apples. They are beautiful both when they are green and when they turn red. I really like to climb the apple tree to pick them. Although, of course, my relatives usually pick apples from the ground. Sometimes apples need to be knocked down to do this!

Several years ago there was such a harvest that we simply had apples in every bucket and basin. We boiled them, extracted the juice from them, and dried them. It was no longer possible to eat them! Everyone has already been treated to food. But still, a lot of apples went bad. It was a pity, but we did everything we could. They just didn't sell it! But, in principle, the price for them was too low, no one even took them for free. And it was not worth taking them to the market.

But it doesn’t happen year after year. Afterwards there were almost no apples... Even in fairy tales, the apple tree often gives magical fruits. Youth, for example! And for Snow White, it was just the evil intent of her stepmother. But, by the way, the stepmother knew the most delicious fruit from the best tree.

And after all, Adam and Eve had an apple - this is a very ancient fruit! Of course, I love apples myself! We will have to bring them to school and treat them, since our apple tree produces especially tasty fruits. I'll bring it when the harvest arrives!

There is also a swing on my apple tree, and we sometimes hang a hammock.

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