What do we ‘see’ when we travel away from our home cities? Over the past few years, I have made it a point to look out for plants and flowers of that particular place, especially when overseas. This made my visit to the Scandinavian countries a double delight as I was able to enjoy the flora of the temperate region – which for me had been limited to books and electronic screens so far!
I had a small field guide to help identify the trees and I cannot express my joy at recognising a tree!!
Here is a road outside our Helsinki hotel that struck me for two reasons, one is obviously the golden carpet of yellowing autumn leaves and the second is the white bark. Moving a little closer, the white almost looked like paint! I did not need any reference to know that these were Birches. They belong the family Betulaceae and the genus Betula.
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| Autumn |
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| White bark |
These are mostly deciduous trees which means they shed their leaves in winter. All seemed to have straight trunks. This was most obvious in the countryside, as the scene outside the window was blur of vertical white lines!!
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| View from the bus window |
An article I read online, mentions that during the World War II, Birch wood was used to build the Hercules H4 which was a strategic airlift flying airboat. The aircraft is called “Spruce Goose” and is on display at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum at McMinnville in Oregon. Wow!!
Which trees have you spotted in your travels – for work or leisure?
🙂
I am participating in Parul’s #ThursdayTreeLove25. Head over to seen some wonderful trees from around the world…
Isn't Eucalyptus a birch too? Great piece of information, Archana.I click trees where ever I go – work or leisure. By now you know, I love them 🙂
Thank you for joining!
@Parul Happy to participate in #ThursdayTreeLove! Eucalyptus is not a Birch thought it also has a whitish trunk that also peels off. Eucalyptus belongs to the Myrtaceae family (same as Jamun).
Good info. I don't know much about tree names. Golden leaves are like a lovely carpet. It looks beautiful in autumn.
Yes a golden carpet indeed Mahathi! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
I have never seen a white bark:) and the view from the bus is beautiful:)
Thank you for stopping by Angela ! 🙂 🙂