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| Is this a maple? |
Before I moved to Switzerland, I hadn't realised how much attention I paid to my natural surroundings (like them or not). I knew which Eucalypt was which -- a lemon-scented gum, a red gum, a jarrah, a ghost gum, a mallee -- not only by the leaves but also by the bark and the type of sap they produce. I knew a sheoak, a banksia, a callistemon, a baoab. A lot of this comes from my parents and their love of gardening, that's for sure. But I hadn't realised how much I took it for granted.
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| Or is this a maple? |
Now, here, there are the most beautiful trees everywhere with such distinctive leaves, often acting in some distinctive way in the spring or autumn, and I don't know what they are. It leaves me feeling very much like a foreigner, probably more-so than not being able to speak the language here to the extent that I'd like. I've learnt a few - like chestnut trees, oaks and... well maybe actually that's it.
I thought I knew what a maple was, until I realised there are just so many different trees that have maple-shaped leaves.
Actually, to be honest, even the oak I'm not so sure about. They have rounded edges to their leaves, right? So what is this?
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| An oak or not an oak? |
Don't get me started on these fancy things known as 'pine trees'. Holy cow. What is with all these different conifers around the joint! Droopy ones, sticky-outy ones, grey ones, deep green, ones with little seeds, ones with big cones, and I almost took a photo of what I thought was a conifer until I saw its red berries... so maybe not? My pine tree knowledge stops at 'Rottnest Island Pine'. And chances are these aren't that...
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| Botanical name: Christmas Tree |
Seems I might need to put a tree-watching book on my list to Santa this year...
This is an awesome culture difference... your trees sound SO exotic to me... gum trees... baoab! And reading about our trees through your eyes is an interesting feeling, making me realize how much knowledge I (completely irrationally) take for granted that everyone knows!
ReplyDeleteTrees here are different too from nordic ones, but not so completely, we still have a lot of them in common. I would say second pic is maple, looks more correct and maples turn distinctly yellow (at least our common maple, sometime maybe orangish). First is a bit different - but they also told us in botany at Uni that people will pester biologists for trees and if you are in the city, you can be pretty f**ked, as there are plenty of weird garden-hybrid trees around.
White Oaks have rounded lobes, Red Oaks have pointed lobes, so that could be some red oak. I'm only used to the rounded variety in the wild in the north too.
First conifer is some cypress, they are less common in the north too.
The lowest two are both fir-trees, grow huge, and there are varieties but all very recognizably fir to me.
Our common pine-trees are different (pretty!!), grow in drier ground, have branches high up and red bark.
Yes some conifers have berries (like Juniper http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniperus_communis) :) Yay I got all caught up in this tree-business.. :)
Ooo this is awesome! It's so great that you could confirm maples and oaks for me, this makes me stupidly happy! I walked past those oak leaves again today and said, 'Hello, red oak!' like an idiot, but a happy idiot. Haha.
DeleteI had a look at images of the juniper, and it wasn't that... it had red berries that almost looked like raspberries. I'll take another picture next week on the walk home from swimming and run it past you.
Meanwhile, I could do the same post for just smaller plants, and learning what all the wild berries look like, even without the fruit, and this strange edible leaf that tastes like garlic, called bärlauch. Oh I'm so excited I can ask you all these questions now! Get prepared!