Unusual rare trees. The most unusual tree in the world. Unusual trees of the world: photo. African fat baobabs

There are over 100,000 species of trees in the world. Depending on the nature of the terrain and climate, they grow tall or low, strewn with dense and large foliage or small needles. And there are also specimens that have outlandish edible fruits. Today we will tell you what unusual and rare trees of the world live on our planet.

bottle tree

This is a native of Namibia. worlds are not always useful and pleasing to the eye. The bottle tree is one of the most poisonous plants on our planet. Its milky juice is extremely dangerous. Previously, the Bushmen used it as the strongest poisonous agent, with which they moistened arrowheads.

It got its name due to the unusual shape of the barrel - its resemblance to a bottle is amazing! The tree grows in the mountainous regions of the country. Its flowers are usually white or pink, which turns into a dark red towards the center.

Wavon tree

What other unusual trees are there in the world? There are many of them, and one of them is Wavona (Wawona), which grew in the USA. This is a sequoia from the Mariposa Grove, located in one of the country's national parks. According to some reports, the giant tree is about 2100 years old. In 1969, it collapsed, unable to bear the weight of the snow on its crown. The height of the giant was 71.3 meters, the diameter of the trunk at the base was 7.9 meters. For environmental reasons, they decided to leave Uavona in place, since such a whopper is quite capable of creating its own mini-ecosystem for insects, small animals and many plants.

In 1981, a passage was cut out in a huge tree. The tunnel turned out to be quite spacious: 2.1 meters wide, 2.7 meters high and 7.9 meters long. Since then, the amazing tree has become one of the attractions of the United States.

bombbucks

These interesting trees of the world are quite difficult to find. Most often they can be found in Mexico. They are a distinctive feature and attraction of the Ta Prohm temple. Mighty roots twine around the ancient temple, and the height of the bombax grows up to 60-70 meters.

peach palm

These amazing trees of the world grow in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. In addition, they are found in South and Central America.

Peach palms have rows of sharp black spikes arranged in rings along the entire surface of the trunk - from the roots to the very top.

The plant reaches a height of 20 meters, and the leaves grow up to three meters in length. In the past, the natives used the fruits of this tree for food after they had fermented a little. But even today, fermented remains a favorite delicacy.

milk tree

Such unusual grow in South and Central America. They were named so because of the milky juice, both externally and tasting reminiscent of cow's milk. It is tasty and healthy, contains vegetable wax, water, sugar. But more viscous and thicker than real milk.

To obtain a woody drink, an incision is made on the bark, to which a container is substituted. About 1 liter of juice is collected per hour. Unlike natural cow's milk, milky juice, even in the tropics, does not spoil within a week.

Trees of the World: Breadfruit

There are many unusual plants in Oceania. Along with the coconut palm, which gives butter and milk, the amazing breadfruit tree grows in this area. It bears fruit in "buns" weighing up to 12 kg. The pulp of oval fruits accumulates starch, which, as the fruits ripen, turns into dough. Ripe fruits of the tree, having a yellow-brown shell, are baked, and after that their taste resembles a slightly sweet wheat bread. By the way, raw pulp is stored poorly, but crackers do not deteriorate for a long time.

candy tree

Often, the trees of the world amaze not only with their unusual appearance, but also with amazing fruits. For example, in Southeast Asia in the forests you can see sweet hovenia - a tree that looks like a linden, more than 15 meters high.

Its juicy and thick stalks are half (47%) sucrose and taste like raisins with a hint of rum. In autumn, it is enough to shake the tree, as these fragrant "candies" fall in whole bunches. More than 35 kilograms are harvested from one Hovenia.

Candleberry

In the Panama Canal area, you can see real candles on the trees. The fruits of such plants contain a large amount of fat. Locals insert a wick into their middle and use them to illuminate their homes. It is important that the flame of these "candles" burns brightly and does not smoke at all.

oil tree

Agree, the trees of the world can surprise even the most experienced botanist. Take, for example, the unique oil tree (hanga) that grows in the Philippine Islands.

Soapberry

But the natives of America were able to solve the problem with detergents with the help of soap trees. Sapindus grows on the Florida peninsula. By lightly rubbing its ripe fruits, you will get a rich soapy suds. It should be noted that the locals do not use any other soap.

And quilaya, growing on the western slopes of the Andes, is covered with a bark containing saponin, a substance that creates soap suds. Things washed with this bark do not fade or shed.

Keppel tree

In India, another amazing tree grows - keppel. Its fruits are so fragrant that the person who has tasted them, the sweat acquires the smell of violets.

These apple-sized fruits are covered with thick skin and have sweet and juicy flesh. They taste like mangoes and grapes. Grow in small groups (several pieces).

The most beautiful trees in the world

The flora of our planet is very diverse, its representatives cannot be counted. Trees, bushes, flowers... Dwarfs and giants, useful and not very useful, beautiful and nondescript in appearance - all of them are certainly interesting and worthy of attention. Now we are interested in the most beautiful tree in the world. According to experts, it grows in the park of the city of Tochigi (Japan). This is a wisteria planted in 1870.

Its branches are supported so that they form a flower umbrella. From mid-April to mid-May on wisteria you can see an unusual

Albizia

The trees of the world, photos of which you can see in our article, are striking in their diversity. Albizia, or sleeping tree, is a large plant belonging to the legume family. Its height is about 12 meters. The tree has a spreading umbrella-shaped crown. Distributed in Transcaucasia and Central Asia.

rare trees

The oldest tree on earth is the Methuselah pine. Its age is over 4850 years. It got its name in honor of the Biblical hero, who was considered the main long-liver in the world.

This tree grows in the United States, more precisely, in the White Mountains. The exact place where the pine grows is known only to botanists who monitor it. Such secrecy is explained by the desire to protect this old-timer from vandals. Many tourists go to the mountains to find a relic, but their attempts, as a rule, fail.

This is not just a tree, it is a symbol of eternity. It seems dead, but at the same time, each of its branches is full of life.

"Tree of Life"

Perhaps this is the loneliest tree in the world. And the only one that grows in the sands of the Bahrain desert.

The Tree of Life, or Shajarat al-Hayah, as the locals call it, is 400 years old, but the most interesting thing is not its age or the fact that it is a very rare specimen. Scientists cannot understand how the acacia managed to live for several centuries in the desert, completely without water, while exuding life energy.

dragon tree

This amazing tree grows on one of the Canary Islands. Scientists believe that he is from 650 to 1500 years old. It consists of several trunks that tightly wrap around each other and grow upwards. The dragon tree is crowned with a canopy of dense foliage. It was named so because of the resin that is released when the leaves or bark are cut. Locals believe that this is the blood of a dragon that has dried up. This resin is used to treat various diseases.

tule tree

This is a very large tree belonging to the species Taxodium mexican, which grows in the city of Oaxaca (Mexico). It has the largest girth of the trunk (58 meters). Its age is about 2000 years. Previously, many argued that this is not one tree, but three, fused together. But all doubts disappeared after the analysis. It was found to be one plant. Perhaps this is the most unusual tree in the world. His photo can be seen in many biology textbooks and, of course, on this page.

In 1994, the leaves of the relic turned yellow, and the branches began to dry out. Scientists decided that the tree was dying, but when experts in wood diseases examined it, it turned out that this giant simply did not have enough moisture.

Shri Maha Bodhi Tree

The Bodhi tree has an unusual structure: it has a huge dome and aerial roots hanging down to the ground. To see this amazing plant with your own eyes, you will have to go to Sri Lanka and visit the temple in Bodhgaya. This representative of the plant world is allegedly named after the Hindu traders who sold goods while sitting under it, but, according to another version, it was not at all like that. Bodhi is believed to have grown from the sprout of a sacred tree under which the great Buddha attained Enlightenment in the 6th century BC.

I have detailed about the most incredible trees on the planet. But life does not stand still and it's time for the second part of the story about the most unusual and interesting trees on our planet.

Baobabs in Madagascar

Baobab is the national symbol of the island of Madagascar, and is also painted on the coats of arms of Senegal and the Central African Republic. There are 10 types of baobabs in the world. This is a very amazing tree, which is interesting, no one can accurately state the age of the tree. Since it does not have annual rings, these trees are long-lived and there are trees with an age of about a thousand years. Scientists say that these trees can live up to five thousand years. At first glance, you can understand that this is a very large tree with a solid trunk size and height (the trunk is up to 11 meters wide, up to 25 meters high, and the crown spreads branches up to 40 meters in diameter).

Ficus, Philippines, or we talked about it in sufficient detail in the article.



Young mangrove trees underwater


Mangrove trees are evergreen deciduous plants that have settled on tropical and subtropical coasts and adapted to life in conditions of constant ebb and flow. They grow up to 15 meters and have bizarre types of roots: stilted (lifting the tree above the water) and respiratory (pneumatophores), sticking out of the soil, like straws, and absorbing oxygen. Few plants would survive in salt water, but this is not the case with mangroves. They developed filtering mechanisms. The water sucked up by their roots contains less than 0.1% salt. The remaining salt is excreted by the leaves through special leaf glands, forming white crystals on the surface.

Cypresses, Lake Caddo


Lake Caddo is a large lake in the United States, lying in eastern Texas on the border with Louisiana. This is a protected area that contains the largest cypress forests on the planet. The area of ​​the lake is about 106 sq. km.

Wisteria, Japan


Wisteria, or, as it is also called, wisteria (Wisteria), is widely used in decorative floriculture. Looking at the flowing green waterfalls of stems and long feathery leaves, densely covered with large clusters of blue, purple, white or pink delicately scented flowers, it is difficult to imagine that wisteria is the closest relative of peas and beans. But this is true, because this fragrant vine belongs to the legume family, and its fruits are elongated pods with seeds similar to lentils.

Bottle trees of Socotra Island


The bottle tree This impression is correct, for the trunk of the bottle tree is indeed shaped like a pot-bellied bottle. The tree can reach 15 meters in height. As for the diameter of such a tree, it can be three meters. The tree grows in Eastern Australia and is very loved by the local population. When periods of drought come, the leaves of the tree go to feed livestock. But the trunk of the bottle tree is a source of drinking water! In addition, in the upper part of the trunk in special cavities there is an accumulation of very sweet juice. This is real nectar! The whole plant is involved. So, the seeds of the bottle tree are roasted or eaten raw. The roots of young trees are very juicy and are eaten as root crops.

, Hawaii

Dragon Tree, Socotra Island


An old Indian legend tells that a long time ago in the Arabian Sea on the island of Socotra, there lived a bloodthirsty dragon who attacked elephants and drank their blood. But one day, one old and strong elephant fell on the dragon and crushed it. Their blood mixed and wetted the ground around. At this place grew trees called dracaena, which means "female dragon". The dragon tree (or Dracaena dragon) grows in
tropics and subtropics of Africa and on the islands of Southeast Asia. Socotra is one of six islands off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean where this amazing plant grows.

Quiver tree, Namibia

Japanese maple


Japanese maples are exceptionally showy ornamental trees and shrubs. Even in winter, deciduous Japanese maples captivate the eye with an unusual shape of a bare crown, resembling a mushroom or an umbrella, and many thin fan branches. However, the peak of beauty of Japanese maples occurs in autumn, when their leaves are painted in stunning bright colors: red, orange, gold ...

An innumerable number of amazing trees grow on the territory of our planet. We will introduce you to some of them in this article. We are all used to how the trees around us look like in everyday life, so if we see something unlike them, at first we can’t even believe that such unusual trees exist - but they exist, they grow beautifully where we are not and are taken for granted by the locals
Take, for example, the baobab - well, who among us in our right mind would call such a tree "ordinary"? Moreover, he does not even have rings to determine the age - scientists have to be content with the results of radiocarbon analysis when determining it.
No less interesting is another type of baobab, familiar to Madagascar landscapes - the teapot baobab. It is not a separate species - any of the six species of baobab growing in Madagascar can take the form of a teapot or a bottle. What is the reason for this is unknown, but most likely in this way the trees take care of moisture, which is not so much in these latitudes.
Another interesting tree is the rainbow eucalyptus. The bark of this amazing tree literally attracts the eye - it seems as if some kind of artist "worked" here. By themselves, eucalyptus trees, even without "rainbow" bark, are amazing trees. Their uniqueness lies in the fact that the tallest trees ever found were eucalyptus trees. For example, one report from 1872 mentions a fallen eucalyptus that was over 150 meters high!

Another amazing tree that does not have growth rings is a dragon tree or just a dragon tree. Due to the red juice that immediately protrudes from the cut of the bark, it is also sometimes called the dragon's blood tree.
Cotton trees (ceibs) that grow on the ruins of the ancient Cambodian temple complex of Angkor Wat deserve special attention - their roots have long formed a single whole with the ancient stone buildings of the majestic temple Ceibs are interesting in and of themselves, not only in the context of a picturesque "symbiosis" with the ruins of an ancient temple. Their unusualness lies in the fact that, being essentially representatives of the family of palm trees, they grow mainly in the arid regions of the planet, and therefore their entire trunk and branches are covered with a dense layer of thorns, allowing them to retain the moisture necessary for life.
Sometimes there are such unusual trees that they are given their own names. This happens for a number of reasons - because of the enormous age, unusual appearance or colossal size. One of these unusual trees is the Methuselah intermountain pine, discovered in 1953 in the Inyo National Forest in eastern California. The uniqueness of this pine tree lies in the fact that it is one of the oldest and still living trees in the world - according to experts, this year Methuselah turned 4842 years old. In order to prevent acts of vandalism and protect the pine, its exact location is not disclosed. Another ancient tree with its own name is located in another North American state - South Carolina. We are talking about the 1500-year-old Angel Oak, growing in the wilderness of John's Island. The height of the oak is 20 meters, the diameter is 2.7 meters, and the most spreading branch reaches 27 meters in length. This oak received such an unusual name from the last names of the last owners of these lands - the Angel family.
Also noteworthy is the thickest tree in the world - the Tule Tree, growing next to one of the churches in the Mexican city of Santa Maria del Tule.
The tree belongs to the taxodium family, found only in Mexico, the girth of its trunk is 11.62 meters, the circumference of the trunk is 36.2 meters, and the Tule Tree reaches a height of 35.4 meters, although it used to be a little higher. According to different versions, it is from one and a half to six thousand years old.


The most ancient olive tree grows on the island of Crete - the Elijah Buibon tree. Despite the fact that it is already about 4 thousand years old, it, surprisingly, still continues to bear fruit.

And last but not least, I would like to dwell on, perhaps, the most unique of the trees known today - a relatively young, in comparison with the above centenarians, "only" a 400-year-old Tree of Life that grew in the middle of the desert in Bahrain, not far from the city of Jebel Dukhan . It seems amazing that such a huge tree survived and grew in conditions of extremely scarce water supplies, and it still remains a mystery how miraculously he managed to do this ...

The plant world is striking in its diversity and beauty. For example, trees are so unique that sometimes you can’t even believe that such a thing really exists.

This article will present unusual, unique types of trees in the world.

In general, a huge number of amazing trees grow on the territory of the Earth: fabulously beautiful, centuries-old, huge and very small, with unusual shapes of crowns and branches, and many more. etc. And all of them in themselves represent interesting facts that occur in nature.

Blooming and evergreen, dwarf and giant - these are all amazing trees. They are magnificent and attractive with their unusualness, fabulousness. Rainbow eucalyptus, swamp cypress, fiery tree, majestic baobab, dancing pines, Japanese maples ... There are a lot of them, silently standing in one place for decades and even centuries.

Below are some interesting trees of the world.

Fig tree and silk

Silk and fig trees grow on the ruins of the temple of Ta Prohm (Cambodia). They attract numerous tourists with their unusual roots. They are large, long and not hidden, as usual, in the ground, but braid the ruins, for which they received the name "stone eaters".

Looking at them, one can imagine the tentacles of giant octopuses clinging to the remains of the ancient temple. Today these plants are protected by UNESCO.

Eucalyptus

At first glance, this is an ordinary eucalyptus that has grown to 75 meters. The trunk has a diameter of 2.4 meters. But there is a feature in it. This is the rainbow eucalyptus, which is the only species of this tree that grows in the northern hemisphere.

Looking at it, you can understand that this species has an incredibly beautiful color of the bark. Young trees are usually bright green. But as the tree grows, the bark acquires purple, orange, burgundy and blue colors, as a result of which vertical stripes form on the trunk, varying in width, length and shape.

In general, the eucalyptus is the tallest tree in the world of all time, because in an 1872 report there is mention of a fallen tree that reached a height of at least about 150 meters. Modern eucalyptus trees do not grow above 101 meters.

oil tree

There are trees that can surprise even the most experienced botanist. For example, an oil tree (hanga) growing in the Philippine Islands. It is unique in that its fruits contain, one might say, pure oil.

In the Philippines, in recent years, technology has been developed to use its fruits as a source of fuel for the engine.

Baobab

This plant should be included in the list of "unusual trees of the world." This is a baobab. He doesn't even have age rings.

There is a legend in Africa about the appearance of this tree. There was a quarrel between the baobab and God. The second, angry with the tree, tore it out of the ground and stuck it back up with its roots. This is how his bizarre form arose.

For Africa, this tree is not unusual, because there it grows almost everywhere. One aspect deserves special attention. The baobab-teapot got its name due to the trunk, huge in volume, capable of containing a large amount of water.

It should be noted that some trees of this species can be called real centenarians, because their age is 1200 years! Perhaps such a long life is explained precisely by the shape of the trunk and its contents. It can store water, the volume of which can reach 120,000 liters! This species is found only on the island of Madagascar.

banyan

Mahabodhi is the Buddha tree. It is named after the Hindu merchants who sold their goods while sitting under this tree. The peculiarity of this tree is in its aerial roots hanging from the branches to the ground.

The most famous type of banyan (sacred ficus) is Mahabodhi in Anuradhapura, which grows in Sri Lanka. According to stories, this tree was grown from the cuttings of the plant under whose crowns Buddha attained enlightenment (sixth century BC). It turns out that the banyan planted BC (288) represents the oldest tree in the world grown by man with a known exact date of planting.

Tule tree

This plant belongs to the list of "the largest trees in the world" because of its thickness. The diameter of the thickest tree in the world is 14 meters. At least 30 people are needed to fully embrace it with outstretched arms. And its height is rather big - 40 meters, and its weight is 600 tons.

Thule grows in Mexico. Initially, the opinion of scientists was that this miracle of nature is the result of the fusion of several trunks. DNA analysis has proven that this cypress is a single organism.

As for the exact age, not everything is clear yet. Most likely, the tree is one of the oldest.

There is another interesting point. If you look closely at the bark, then on the patterns located on it you can see the silhouette of a person or animal (such an interesting entertainment was invented by local residents).

giant sequoia

It is the largest tree in the world in terms of volume.

Grows "General Sherman" (its height is 83 meters) in the National Park "Sequoia". Its volume is approximately 1.486 thousand cubic meters. meters, and weight - more than 6 thousand tons.

Presumably, it is 2300-2700 years old, and annually the sequoia is gaining such a volume of wood as a smaller plant of this species (18 meters in height) contains.

Wollemia

The coniferous wollemia tree (the oldest tree in the world) looks rather funny, fraught with ancient history. It is located in Australia.

The dinosaur-like tree is 200 million years old. Scientists in 1994 found a living wollemia.

The location of the trees was carefully hidden in order to protect this species from complete destruction. There are only 100 copies left. Now such a tree can be seen in the botanical gardens.

The tree of Life

There are a huge number of long-lived trees, but this 400-year-old is special, magnificent. It grows in the desert with little to no water sources, and it's impressive.

The ancient mesquite tree is another wonder of nature growing near Jebel Dukhan (two kilometers away), Bahrain.

cashew tree piranji

The trees of the world cannot be imagined without one of the most majestic and beautiful trees.

This famous tree-forest is located near the city of Natal in Brazil. He is 177 years old, and this cashew covers almost 2 hectares of land. It was planted by a fisherman in 1888. Due to a genetic mutation, the branches that touch the ground, for some reason, begin to take root. This does not happen with other trees of this species.

As a result, the tree is a whole forest, covering an area of ​​8,400 thousand square meters. meters. In general, it produces about 80,000 fruits a year.

Dancing Forest of Russia

In the Kaliningrad region in the Curonian Spit reserve (37th kilometer) there is one unique place. The pine trees growing here are strangely twisted, bent, and in some places twisted into rings.

Until now, scientists have not been able to explain what is happening here, that even the trees are dancing. Today there are many different theories: biological, geomagnetic, mystical.

In conclusion - an interesting but sad fact

There was once a Tenere tree, which is the loneliest desert tree.

This is a plant that grows in the Sahara Desert (Niger). The age of a single tree growing on a vast territory (radius of 400 km) was 300 years. Once upon a time there grew a forest, gradually destroyed by the winds and the desert. The last acacia had very long roots, which allowed them to feed on water from great depths.

In 1973, a unique Tenere tree was knocked down by a drunk driver, after which a metal monument dedicated to the Lonely Plant was erected at this place.