Content
- Is there also a conifer with leaves?
- Needles are also leaves
- Exotic: conifer with leaves
- A leafy tendril grows out of the conifer - What's behind it?
- Tips
The kauri tree is a conifer
Is there also a conifer with leaves?
In elementary school, every child learns that conifers do not have leaves but narrow needles. Only deciduous trees have more or less broad leaves. That this statement is not quite correct, you can read in the following article: First, there are actually coniferous species with leaves and secondly, it is also needles to leaves - they are just as capable of photosynthesis as any other foliage.
Needles are also leaves
The main task of a tree is photosynthesis, in which the sunlight is absorbed by the chlorophyll and converted into usable energy. It is this chlorophyll, too, which colors the plants green, whether deciduous or conifer, shrub, flower or alga. Consequently, the needles of conifers, as conifers are called in Latin, are simple leaves. They are only shaped differently than the deciduous trees. For this reason, botanists do not speak of "needles", but of a "needle blade" or "needle-shaped leaf".
Exotic: conifer with leaves
Incidentally, there are actually conifers that do not form typical needles, but more or less broad leaves. A typical example of this are the Kauri trees (Agathis), which are native to Southeast Asia, New Zealand and Australia, whose dark green leaves are flat, elongated-oval shaped and quite wide at the base. There are around 17 different species that can not be cultivated here. Needless to say, some of the Podocarpaceae have a similar appearance to African Afro-yellowwood (Afrocarpus gracilior) or South African Broad-leaved Stones (Podocarpus latifolius). These species are not cultivated with us either.
A leafy tendril grows out of the conifer - What's behind it?
However, if your conifer suddenly spiny shoots with broad leaves grow, then it is most likely a mistletoe. This plant is an evergreen, parasitic species, which is often found in treetops in the treetops in some regions. Sometimes, however, these food parasites also live in the midst of the tree trunk (so-called "full parasites"), so that their leafy shoots seem to outgrow the actual conifer. Very common among us is the white-berry mistletoe (Viscum album L.), which grows extremely slowly and mainly attacks deciduous trees and firs and pines.
Tips
In general, the needle shapes and colors in the coniferous trees are very varied. There are long and short needles, thick and thin, soft and sharp, green, blue and yellow ...