From fvhsu@hotmail.com Sun Dec 14 14:50:03 1997 Date: Mon, 24 Nov 1997 06:06:52 PST From: Felix Hsu To: vespirus@socrates.berkeley.edu Subject: Web Projects: Group 2...Intro Brian... Finally here it is the final version of the web project. I have two pages of the web project; Francis should have the other three. I have the Introduction and the Systematics pages. I will send them to you separately. Felix This is the INTRODUCTION ********************************* Introduction to Pinaceae

Introduction to Pinaceae

Pinaceae belongs to a large group of evergreen trees known as conifers. There are also other conifer familes such as Cupressaceae and Podocarpaceae; but Pinaceae is the largest as well as the most well known group of conifers. When most people say "conifers" the idea of pine trees and pine cones pop into their heads. They are correct since the name conifers originated from cones that the trees produce.

The Pinaceae consists of about 262 species. The most common species of Pinaceae is pine (Pinus). However Pinaceae also consists of other close relatives of pine trees such as firs (Abies), cedars (Cedrus), spruce (Picea), larches (Larix), and hemlock (Tsuga) just to name a few of the more popular relatives. Other less well known relatives include Cathaya, Keteleerias, and Pseudotsuga. Most of these 262 species are found in the Northern Hemisphere usually in cold to temperate weathers ranging from China to US to Europe.

Conifers in general produce a unique scent that differs from the smell produce by flowers. This pleasing smell can usually be smelled in bathroom cleaners such as Pine Sol. This scent is also used to freshen up houses, cars, and rooms.

Commercially, pine trees and relatives are important. During the Christmas season, Christmas trees are needed. Each country uses different types of Christmas trees dictated by tradition, availability and strangely enough the effects of central heating. In the US, Scott Pines (Pinus sylvestris) and Douglas Firs (Pseudotsugamenziesii) are used widely; in Britain Silver Fir (Abies alba) and Norway Spruce (Picea abies) are used instead. Usually the these trees do not drop needles very fast thus are good for indoor use. However very few survive after Christmas. It is such a waste since these trees take up to five years to grow for a months worth of attention.

The uses of the Pinaceae usually falls heavily on the wood and the wood by-products. Many wooden structures such as desks, chairs, tables, bedframes, house foundations, and even ships are made of pines, spruces, and cedars. Wood was widely used before the Age of Steel to build ships for ocean-faring or even a short trip down the river. Furthermore wood by-products such as resin, pitch, and turpentine are important in wood-working. Resin is mainly used for varnish and laquer; it usually is yellow to brown in color and produces both pitch and terpentine. Terpentine can be found as paint solvents and drying agent; this compound produces rosin which is used to create better contact in string instruments between the bow and the strings.

In the garden, conifers like any other tree can serve many purposes. A row of any tree can lessen the wind speed greatly thus protecting whatever is behind the row of trees. Other than to add to the beauty of the house, these conifers can also prevent people from looking in from the outside. Thus the trees from the pine family can serve a dual role of form and function.

Another unique gardening idea is bonsai. This gardening idea is a technique to stunt the growth at both the root tips and tree top. The type of tree that results is known as a bonsai tree. Originating from China, bonsai is an attempt to imitate moutain growth of dward conifers.

You can explore more in depth about Pinaceae by going to the links below.

If you would like to know about trees in general or perhaps where Conifers fall within the geological timeline, you can always explore these sites.

University of Kentucky's Tree Web is a good place to look at not only conifers in general but also other types of trees.

This site seems to be a timeline from the Virginia Tech Paleontology Lab listing the approximate periods when certain plant divisions first appeared. This site does not go into specifics of each family within the divisions.

The Southern California Natural History site contains information related to the Pinaceae specifically those found in Southern California.

Finally an extiensive source of listings for all vascular plants can be found at the Internet Directory for Botany: Vascular Plants.

And for all those who are interested in Bonsai, there are alot of sits related to Bonsai in Yahoo. But my favorites after perusing the numerous sites is <"A HREF=http://www.ask.or.jp/~ryokuen/"> Horyokuen's Bonsai Nursery in Japan .

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