Category Plants & Animals

Oil of cedar is a precious substance which the ancient peoples used to, embalm dead bodies. It was also once used to coat books to preserve them from insects and damp. The oil is obtained by distilling it from the African cedar and is essential oil, that one that gives a plant, flower or fruit its distinctive odour or flavor. These oils are used for the scenting or flavoring of numerous products, such as perfumes, cosmetics and soaps.

The African cedar grows in the north of that continent, especially on the Atlas Mountains. It is a very imposing conifer that bears many leaves and grows to a height of more than 40 metres. It closely resembles the more famous cedar of Lebanon which was also highly prized by the ancient peoples.

Cedar wood is soft and rich in resin. It can be worked easily and is used extensively in building and furniture-making.

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The holly bush can often look like a tree and grow to a height of more than 7 metres. Usually it is a shrub which in winter stands out in contrast with its glossy, green leaves against the dead, brown foliage all around it. The leaves of holly are intended to keep animals away. The leaves on the lower ‘branches of the plant are very prickly as this is the part most likely to be attacked by hungry animals. The leaves nearer the top of the plant are not so prickly because they are out of the reach of leaf-eating animals.

Holly usually grows in oak and chestnut woods. In winter the plant has bright red berries and is widely used in Christmas decorations.

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If we examine the trunk of a tree that has been chopped down, we will see first of all the outer ring of the bark which acts as a sort of waterproof coat for the tree. Inside the outer covering come a number of concentric rings. Each one of these rings represents a year in the life of the tree. The space between the rings is the wood which the tree produced during one year.

By counting the number of rings we can tell when the tree was born. These rings also indicate the dry periods the tree lived through as well as wet periods. In dry times the rings are very thin. In heavy rainfall years the rings are thicker.

Slender cores of wood can be taken from a tree, from the bark to the centre of the trunk; these samples reveal the same information and are taken with a borer that does no, significant damage to the tree.

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The prickly pear grows wild in warm Mediterranean regions. It anchors itself to rocky, barren slopes and forms large areas of scrub that grow to about 3 meters high. On cultivated land the prickly pear is often cultivated as a hedge. It is enough to plant just one leaf for a whole bushy shrub to start growing.

‘Leaf is not really the correct word to describe the green, fleshy vegetation of this plant. The leaves are really parts of the plant’s trunk which measure from 15 to 40 centimeters long and 15 centimeters wide.

The actual leaves of the prickly pear are very small and are shed almost as soon as they have appeared on the plant. They leave behind them thick tufts of thin needles. One of these needles grows outwards and becomes very sharp.

Since the prickly pear has no leaves the task of producing chlorophyll, without which no plant can live, is carried out by the trunk.

The prickly pear was introduced into Australia at the end of the eighteenth century as a food plant for cochineal insects. It spread and by 1870 had become a pest in Queensland and New South Wales. Its growth was controlled by the introduction of a little moth, the cactoblastis

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By using water, air and some mineral substances obtained from the soil, plants produce sugar and starch which are the basis of all organic matter. This transformation is made possible by chlorophyll which takes the energy of sunlight. Chlorophyll then uses this energy to separate the atoms of oxygen, hydrogen and carbon which make up air and water and rejoins them to produce organic matter and oxygen gas.

This process of photosynthesis is an extremely delicate and complicated operation. Scientists have succeeded in producing artificial photosynthesis.

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Every plant has to feed itself in order to carry out its vital functions. Usually the raw materials are extracted from the surrounding soil through the roots. In this way the roots supply the leaves of the plant, which are really small chemistry laboratories, with water and the necessary minerals to produce organic substances.

There are two basic’ types of roots: the taproot which consists of a single large axis from which fine hairs grow, such as the radish or the turnip, and the fasciculate root which is composed of several axes each of the same size as in the dahlia.

In each type of root there is a root-cap at the end of each root. This cap protects the growing part of the root organism and helps it to dig into the soil. When viewed through a powerful magnifying glass these caps are seen to be covered in very fine hairs. It is through these hairs that the roots suck in water and certain mineral salts from the soil.

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