A tree, several visitors
The calendar is also read by returning to the same place.
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The book The Vegetation in Portugal distinguishes leaves that remain functional during the unfavorable season of marcescent leaves, already dried but still suspended in the canopy. Observing the same tree at different times helps to notice the change. Register what you see before giving a name to the species: green leaves, dried leaves caught, branches without leaves or new sprouts do not all tell the same story.
To compare visits, choose a concrete part of the tree: a visible branch from the same point or the entire canopy. Keep the date and record separately green leaves, dried leaves still attached, flowers and fruits. If you can't see an element, write "I didn't observe"; this is different from stating that it doesn't exist in the tree.
Readings of ginkgo and metasequoia allow you to start the comparison on the screen: both lose the leaves, but the drawing is different. The ash adds another question: are you observing a whole leaf or one of its folioli? Repeat observation and choose well what compares gives more information than trying to immediately guess the name of the species.
Choose a way to look
Open an option and choose the story.
A whole leaf in fan
The ginkgo leaf is simple; the division into lobes does not transform it into a composite leaf.
A tree with fan leaves →A leaf with several folioli
In the ash, several narrow parts belong to the same composite sheet.
A fruit with wing →A conifer loses her foliage
The metasequoia has leaves, buds and branches in opposite pairs and deciduous foliage.
A conifer who undresses in autumn →Dried leaves that get stuck
He knows marcescence and compares it to the persistence of green leaves.
An oak can store dried leaves →
Source and context
National Press — Vegetation in Portugal, semi-ducifolia and marcescent leaves
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation — Ginkgo
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation — Straits leaves, fruit and habitat
Accessed: . Editorial summary; the date of consultation is not the date of the facts.