Shadow-tolerant tree of the taiga: features and a brief description

Of all the landscape areas, the taiga is the largest part of the territory of our country. For thousands of kilometers spread gloomy forests, consisting of evergreen coniferous plants. Only the shade-tolerant tree of the taiga is able to tolerate an insufficient amount of light and heat, which is so characteristic of this zone.

Features of taiga plants

The basis of vegetation of the taiga is coniferous trees. They are the most enduring to the conditions of a harsh climate, characterized by a short summer and a long frosty winter. Soils freeze deep enough, not having enough time to warm up during the summer period, so often under the upper layer there is permafrost. Coniferous forest stretches endlessly along the lowlands, marshes, hills and hills. Poor, infertile soils are covered with a continuous carpet of moss. Under the dense crowns of trees, almost never penetrate the sun's rays, so no shrubs, no grass under this canopy almost do not grow.

Shadow-tolerant tree of the taiga

A feature of coniferous forests are soils that are not enriched with nutrients and humus. The reason is that coniferous trees do not shed their needles so often, and this is reflected in soil formation. The lack of wind and lack of sunlight under the tree crowns create increased humidity. A moss that grows well in such conditions can absorb a large amount of water, which leads to swamping of the terrain and the accumulation of peat.

It is believed that the most shadowy tree of the taiga is a spruce. But also the superfluity of the sun's rays of fir and cedar is not very good. Direct sunlight for them is simply fatal. These plants belong to aggressive species, since even in "infancy" due to their shade-tolerance they are able to displace other trees.

Siberian spruce

It is an elegant tree, shaped like a regular refined cone with a sharp tip. Spruce grows magnificently under the dense crowns of other trees. Short, single needles are very dense and can live up to 7 years. Thanks to them, the branches of the fir tree practically do not pass the sun's rays. It is very demanding of the soil moisture and its composition is the shade-tolerant tree of the taiga. Fir will not grow on dry and poor in composition soil. The peculiarity of these trees is their high sensitivity to frost, which happens in late spring, after the Christmas tree already has time to release young shoots. They are easily damaged by frost and dry up.

In the spruce forest, there are almost no other tree species that can not develop as a result of strong shading. At the same time, spruce remains well. True, the tree grows low, resembling an umbrella, their crown is loose, with thin branches, on which there are rare short little needles. With a lack of sunlight, organic substances are not produced by the tree, which prevents the development of wood. It is difficult to determine the age of such a plant. Herringbone, which is less than human height, can be 50 and even 70 years old. This shade-tolerant tree of the taiga, 3 letters from the name of which every child knows, is considered one of the most common plants of our forests.

Cedar

This is a mighty tree, sometimes reaching up to 40 meters in height and having a sprawling crown with several peaks. The branches are covered with long, dark-green beads collected in bundles of 5 pieces. The cedar is famous for its cones, which usually grow in the uppermost part of the crown. A mature tree can yield up to 1,500 cones per season. Pine nuts are a real treat for many forest dwellers. They feed on small rodents, and large animals, such as, for example, the brown bear. To create reliable shelters, many animals use the powerful roots that this shade-tolerant tree of the taiga has. Nor, dug by foxes, mink, badgers, under the old spreading cedars can be found a huge amount. The disadvantage of this tree is only that the fruiting period comes only to 40-50 years. To find fruit-bearing trees, the inhabitants of the taiga have to make quite large migrations.

Growing in the taiga, other numerous species of trees belong to more photophilous plants. Of these, only fir can be identified as another shade-tolerant tree of the taiga. The narrow-leaved lop used in the field-protecting forestation of the Non-Black Earth Region, and other shrubs, birch, aspen, larch and pine are well-known to all - they prefer well-lit solar patches.