Tree Basics
intro | seed | root
| trunk | bark | branch
| leaf
 |
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Courtesy G.
Lumis
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The seed is the part of the plant that contains the germ
of life that has the capacity to grow into another plant like the one from
which it came. Although differing in size and shape, all seeds contain
small leaves and the beginning of a trunk and root. Another thing all
seeds have in common is the need for heat and moisture to begin the
'sprouting' process.
For a time the young tree will live on nourishment
enclosed in the seed coating, but soon the root will reach down into the
ground and the leaves will expand into the air and from that time on the
young 'seedling' makes its own food from the materials it finds.
In order to grow, seedlings must have water, heat, light and air. In
nature seeds fall from the ripened trees laying on the forest floor until
they begin to sprout. Commercially, the forester will collect these tree
seeds and transport them to nurseries where they are planted and tended in
seedbeds. Two years later these 'seedlings' are then taken from the
seedbeds and planted into fields called transplant beds. They are allowed
to stay there from one to three years before finally being set out in rows
to form a plantation, where they will eventually grow to maturity.
Next: Root
