National Arbor Day – April 30, 2010

Trees do so much for us. We use them in agriculture, to make paper, as lumber and so on and so forth. One of my favorite trees/plants is the “Traveler’s Palm” I learned about in high school. Traveler’s Palm, Ravenala madagascariensis (and I have remembered that all these years!) is a plant that belongs to the family Musacea along with our friend Musa paradisiaca, the aphrodisiac known as the banana plant or the Birds of Paradise - Sterlitzia Reginae.

I know, I am drifting off, but the plants and trees of the family Musacea are all monocotyledons, which means, they have a single cotyledon, making them the simpler and evolutionarily more ancient. This also causes them to have parallel veins on their leaves. While the leaves of the banana plant yield under the wind and tear in many places, the traveler’s palms leaves fan out higher and have a very strong vein running through the middle. As the vein progresses towards the middle of the tree, it forms a nice trough. Rain water collected in this cool and dark hollow forming a great source of water for travelers!

This is but one example of how trees serve us in many, many ways.

Stop for a moment. Look at the trees around you. Go sit under a tree and enjoy the shade!

Think about planting one. You may want to donate to have trees planted….

Arbor Day is celebrated around the world in some form or the other. You might want to look into how and when it is celebrated in your country or region and participate accordingly.

Finally, here is something beautiful that Warren Buffet said on Arbor Day:

“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” — Warren Buffet

If you liked this quote, here are some more you might enjoy:

http://blog.beliefnet.com/freshliving/2010/04/quotes-about-trees-for-arbor-day-2010.html

Happy Arbor Day!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

April 30, 2010 Posted in: Causes

One Response

Kylie Batt - May 18, 2010

Ааааааа!Быстрей бы!Не могу дождаться…

Traveler’s Palm, Ravenala madagascariensis (and I have remembered that all these years!) is a plant that belongs to [...] No related posts…..