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How can you NOT love trees?
This book does the usual first-rate DK job of briefly but thoroughly covering every aspect of forestdom - not just the whole seeds/bark/cones/leaves/fruit/needles bit, but peripheral topics like the timber industry, acid rain, good and bad insects and animals, etc. - its pretty much all in there somewhere, including this interesting illustration of how (and how NOT) to cut timber in order to maximize the "good" (i.e., won't warp with the grain) amount of lumber:
Meanwhile, in the "everything I learned in primary school is BS" category, it turns out my childhood understanding that trees are either "coniferous" or "deciduous" is totally wrong. Trees are either "coniferous" (cone-bearing) or "broadleaf" (having, y'know, broad leaves), and can be either "deciduous" or "evergreen." "Deciduous" simply means "loses its leaves in winter;" and while most deciduous trees are indeed braodleafs, there are in fact a few conifers that do shed their leaves (some larches and redwoods). Conversely, "evergreens" - which in general are your coniferous guys - actually include some broadleafs that DON'T lose their leaves at all (some oaks and magnolias). And don't even get me stared on palm trees...
Also interesting: the "dawn redwood" is apparently the "coelacanth" of the tree world, in that it was known only from fossils and so thought to be extinct up until the 1940's, when living trees discovered in China. The things you learn!
This book does the usual first-rate DK job of briefly but thoroughly covering every aspect of forestdom - not just the whole seeds/bark/cones/leaves/fruit/needles bit, but peripheral topics like the timber industry, acid rain, good and bad insects and animals, etc. - its pretty much all in there somewhere, including this interesting illustration of how (and how NOT) to cut timber in order to maximize the "good" (i.e., won't warp with the grain) amount of lumber:
Meanwhile, in the "everything I learned in primary school is BS" category, it turns out my childhood understanding that trees are either "coniferous" or "deciduous" is totally wrong. Trees are either "coniferous" (cone-bearing) or "broadleaf" (having, y'know, broad leaves), and can be either "deciduous" or "evergreen." "Deciduous" simply means "loses its leaves in winter;" and while most deciduous trees are indeed braodleafs, there are in fact a few conifers that do shed their leaves (some larches and redwoods). Conversely, "evergreens" - which in general are your coniferous guys - actually include some broadleafs that DON'T lose their leaves at all (some oaks and magnolias). And don't even get me stared on palm trees...
Also interesting: the "dawn redwood" is apparently the "coelacanth" of the tree world, in that it was known only from fossils and so thought to be extinct up until the 1940's, when living trees discovered in China. The things you learn!
