Relic plants: types, names. relic plants
We all know from school that many of the ancient animals that once inhabited the planet have long since died out. But did you know that now the Earth is inhabited by animals that have seen dinosaurs. And then there are animals that have been around longer than the trees these dinosaurs ate the leaves from. At the same time, many of these ancient representatives of the fauna have not changed much over the millions of years of their existence. Who are these old-timers on our Earth and what is so special about them?
1. Jellyfish
The first place in our “rating” is rightfully occupied by jellyfish. Scientists believe that jellyfish appeared on earth about 600 million years ago.The largest jellyfish that a person caught was 2.3 meters in diameter. Jellyfish do not live long, about a year, because they are a delicacy for fish. Scientists are puzzled over how jellyfish perceive nerve impulses from the organs of vision, because they do not have a brain.
2. Nautilus
Nautiluses have lived on Earth for over 500 million years. These are cephalopods. Females and males differ in size. The nautilus shell is divided into chambers. The mollusk itself lives in the largest chamber, and uses the rest of the compartments, filling or pumping out biogas, as a float for diving to depth.3. Horseshoe crabs
These marine arthropods are rightfully considered living fossils, because they have lived on Earth for more than 450 million years. To give you an idea of how long this is, horseshoe crabs are older than trees.It was not difficult for them to survive all the known global catastrophes, practically without changing outwardly. Horseshoe crabs can rightfully be called "blue-blooded" animals. Their blood, unlike ours, has a blue color, because it is saturated with copper, and not with iron, like human.
Horseshoe crab blood has amazing properties - when it reacts with microbes, clots form. It is in this way that horseshoe crabs make a barrier against microbes. A reagent is made from the blood of horseshoe crabs and medicines are checked for purity with its help.
4. Neopilins
Neopilina is a mollusk that lives on Earth for about 400 million years. He has not changed in appearance. Neopilins live at great depths in the oceans.5. Latimeria
Latimeria is a modern fossil animal that appeared on our planet about 400 million years ago. During the entire period of its existence, it has not changed much. At the moment, the coelacanth is on the verge of extinction, so the catch of these fish is strictly prohibited.6 Sharks
Sharks have existed on Earth for over 400 million years. Sharks are very interesting animals. People have been researching them for many years and never cease to be amazed at their uniqueness.For example, shark teeth grow throughout life, the largest sharks can reach 18 meters in length. Sharks have a wonderful sense of smell - they smell blood at a distance of hundreds of meters. Sharks practically do not feel pain, because their body produces a kind of "opium", which dulls pain.
Sharks are amazingly adaptable. For example, if there is not enough oxygen, they can “turn off” part of the brain and consume less energy. Sharks can also regulate the salinity of the water by producing special means. The vision of a shark is several times better than that of cats. In dirty water, they see up to 15 meters away.
7. Cockroaches
These are the real old-timers on Earth. Scientists claim that cockroaches have inhabited the planet for more than 340 million years. They are hardy, unpretentious and fast - this is what helped them survive in the most turbulent periods of history on Earth.Cockroaches can live for some time without a head - because they breathe with the cells of the body. They are excellent runners. Some cockroaches run about 75 cm in a second. This is a very good result for their height. And their incredible endurance is evidenced by the fact that they withstand radiation radiation almost 13 times more than a person.
Cockroaches can live without water for about a month, without water - a week. Their female retains the male's seed for some time and can fertilize herself.
8. Crocodiles
Crocodiles appeared on Earth about 250 million years ago. Surprisingly, at first crocodiles lived on land, but then they liked to spend a significant part of their time in the water.Crocodiles are amazing animals. They don't seem to do anything for nothing. To facilitate the digestion of food, crocodiles swallow stones. It also helps them dive deeper.
In the blood of a crocodile there is a natural antibiotic that helps them not to get sick. Their average life expectancy is 50 years, but some individuals can live up to 100 years. Crocodiles are not trainable, and they can be considered the most dangerous animals on the planet.
9. Shields
Shields appeared on Earth during the dinosaur period, approximately 230 million years ago. They live almost all over the world, except for Antarctica.Surprisingly, the shields have not changed in appearance, only they have become smaller in size. The largest shields were found 11 cm in size, the smallest - 2 cm. If hunger sets in, cannibalism is possible among them.
10 Turtles
Turtles inhabited the Earth approximately 220 million years ago. Turtles differ from their ancient ancestors in that they have no teeth, and they have learned to hide their heads. Turtles can be considered centenarians. They live up to 100 years. They perfectly see, hear, have a delicate scent. Turtles remember human faces.If the temperature in the nest where the female laid her eggs is high, females will be born, if it is low, only males will be born.
11. Hatteria
Tuatara is a reptile that appeared on Earth over 220 million years ago. Tuataria now live in New Zealand.Tuatara is similar to an iguana or lizard. But this is just a resemblance. Tuataria established a separate detachment - beakheads. This animal has a "third eye" on the back of its head. Hatterias have slowed down metabolic processes, so they grow very slowly, but they easily live up to 100 years.
12. Spiders
Spiders have lived on Earth for over 165 million years. The oldest web found in amber. Her age became 100 million years. A female spider can lay several thousand eggs at a time - this is one of the factors that helped them survive to this day. Spiders have no bones, their soft tissues are covered with a hard exoskeleton.The web could not be made artificially in any laboratory. And those spiders that were sent into space spun a three-dimensional web.
It is known that some spiders can live up to 30 years. The largest known spider is almost 30 cm long, while the smallest is half a millimeter.
13. Ants
Ants are amazing animals. It is believed that they have been living on our planet for more than 130 million years, while practically not changing their appearance.Ants are very smart, strong and organized animals. We can say that they have their own civilization. They have order in everything - they are divided into three castes, each of which is engaged in its own business.
Ants are very good at adapting to circumstances. Their population is the largest on Earth. To imagine how many there are, imagine that there are about a million ants per inhabitant of the planet. Ants are also long-lived. Sometimes queens can live up to 20 years! And they are amazingly smart - ants can train their fellows to find food.
14. Platypuses
Platypuses have lived on Earth for over 110 million years. Scientists suggest that at first these animals lived in South America, but then they reached Australia. In the 18th century, the platypus skin was first seen in Europe and considered ... a fake.Platypuses are excellent swimmers, they easily get their own food from the river bottom with the help of their beak. Platypuses spend almost 10 hours a day underwater.
Platypuses have not been bred in captivity, and there are quite a few of them left in the wild today. Therefore, animals are listed in the International Red Book.
15. Echidna
Echidna can be called the same age as platypuses, because it inhabits the Earth for 110 million years.Echidnas are like hedgehogs. They boldly guard their territory, but in case of danger they burrow into the ground, leaving only a bunch of needles on the surface.
Echidnas do not have sweat glands. In the heat, they move little, in the cold they can hibernate, thus regulating their heat transfer. Echidnas are long-lived. In nature, they live up to 16 years, and in zoos they can live up to 45 years.
I wonder if a person can live on Earth for so long?
In accordance with the climate of the Tertiary period, the relics of the latter belong to heat-loving (thermophilic) plants.
This group is quite numerous, interesting and diverse, it is represented by both hydrophytes and especially forest mesophytes - mainly tree species. Since in the Pleistocene glacial epochs alternated with warm interglacial ones, both cold-resistant glacial relics and thermophilic interglacial ones remained from the Pleistocene. Finally, in the Holocene, climate fluctuations towards significant dryness manifested themselves in the vigorous dispersal of steppe xerophytes.
Forest mesophytes at that time, on the contrary, reduced their ranges, retreated to the north, remaining in the south only in isolated locations, where they are still relics (for example, pine in island forests among the steppes of Northern Kazakhstan). The subsequent cooling and increase in humidity favored the expansion of the areas of forest plants of a temperate climate (boreal), and the areas of the steppes regressed and acquired a relict character in the north.
These, obviously, are the modern ranges of a number of steppe species in Central Yakutia, north of the 60th parallel.
Let's take a closer look at some groups of relics on the territory of the USSR.
1. Relics among aquatic plants are represented by species characteristic of water bodies of the tropics and subtropics; in the Tertiary time they lived in northern Eurasia, and now they are preserved here in isolated localities with huge disjunctions of ranges.
These are brasenia (Brasenia purpurea; common in tropical Asia, America and Australia, but in our country it grows only in the Far East - in Ussuri and Lake Khanka, and in a fossil state known from the Tertiary and interglacial deposits of Europe.
A relic in the USSR is the water lily lotus (Nelumbium).
Its range covers North Africa (Nile), South China, India. Relic sites cut off from this area are known in Transcaucasia and again in Ussuri and Lake Khanka. In addition, the lotus grows at the mouth of the Volga, in the Astrakhan Reserve, but this cold-sensitive plant could not survive the Ice Age in this area, when the tongue of the glacier descended far to the south between the Volga and the Don.
Consequently, this is not a relic, but the result of a later introduction by migratory birds nesting at the mouth of the Volga. Of the tropical hydrophytes, Euryale (Euryale ferox), which has a relict locality in the Ussuri basin, is also interesting.
The water chestnut Trapa natans is a relic.
It is less thermophilic than previous species, the northern and eastern border of its modern continuous range passes through Ukraine, but outside this range, in the European and Asian parts of our country, many isolated and disconnected locations of this plant are known.
On the basis of numerous fossil finds of its characteristic fruits, it has been established that after the regression of the area under the influence of glaciation, the water chestnut again settled far to the north in one of the interglacial epochs, so that its relic areas on the territory of the USSR are not a legacy of the Tertiary, but the Quaternary period.
Thermophilic forest relics are richly represented in Transcaucasia. They are evidence of the dominance of subtropical flora in Europe with the participation of tropical elements in the first half of the Tertiary period, when the climate favored the widespread settlement of evergreen trees and shrubs. In Siberia at that time there was a warm-temperate climate, optimal for deciduous trees of the Turgai flora (oak, linden, walnut), which later expanded their ranges to Europe.
With the onset of the Ice Age, the ranges of tertiary species underwent disjunctions and, having reduced to very insignificant sizes, reached the modern era in this form.
Although the Caucasus Mountains, which rose at the beginning of the Quaternary period, were the center of local glaciation, on the southern slopes the boundary of eternal snow and ice lay high, and therefore they played the role of a reliable barrier against the cold, which spread the glacier advancing from the north. In the isolated regions of Transcaucasia, many species that became extinct to the north found refuge for themselves.
But some of them had continuous areas unaffected by glaciation outside the Soviet Union - in the Mediterranean, in Asia Minor, etc.
The Colchis relic center of Transcaucasia is interesting in that a number of evergreen plants of the Poltava flora have been preserved in it: boxwood, cherry laurel, holly, Pontic rhododendron and some creepers.
Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) - a low tree with small leathery leaves, similar to lingonberry leaves; the wood is very hard and heavy.
In the mountain gorges of some rivers, boxwood forms small groves, occurring in isolation not only in Colchis, but also to the north - near Sochi (a reserve near Khosta). The ability to bushy strongly has created boxwood fame as an excellent ornamental plant, which is widely used in the subtropical regions of our country. The main range of boxwood is located in the Mediterranean.
Laurel cherry (Laurocerasus officinalis) is also a short tree with oval evergreen leaves, forming black poisonous berries, similar to cherries and used in medicine.
The relict area is limited by Colchis.
In culture, it is distributed along the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus and Crimea.
Rhododendron ponticum (Rhododendron ponticum) and pa-oak (Ilex aquifolium) are large shrubs.
The first one is now a Caucasian endemic; it grows only in the region of Colchis, rising along the mountain slopes almost to the border of the forest. Holly in the Caucasus - a relic, but common in the Mediterranean; in the Tertiary time, the holly was widespread in Europe and Asia (in a fossil state, it is known in Siberia).
In addition to evergreens, there are many relics of thermophilic deciduous trees in Colchis.
Such are the Lapina and the Zelkva. Lapina (Pterocarya fraxinifolia) is a large tree from the walnut family with pinnate leaves, like a walnut, but the fruits form small, equipped with winged appendages, inedible. It belongs to an extinct genus, whose representatives, in addition to isolated areas in Transcaucasia (Colchis and Hyrcanus), are known in three more regions of the globe (Japan and South China). In connection with the decorativeness of this tree, which forms a beautiful, spreading, openwork crown, it is bred in culture.
Zelkva (Zelkova carpinifolia) is also a large tree (from the Ulmaceae family), widespread in the Tertiary, but only a few species of this genus have now survived on Earth in isolated locations: Colchis, Cyprus, Japan, Korea.
The Hyrcanian relic center of Transcaucasia, also called Lankaran, differs from Colchis and has its own characteristics in the composition of relics.
There are no evergreens here (laurel cherry, rhododendron, etc.), but lapina and zelkova are present.
Relic plants: types, names
Interesting iron tree, Lankaran acacia, honey locust, which are deciduous.
The iron tree (Parrotia persica from the family Hamamelida-ceae) got its name for the strength of the wood, which sinks in water. The tree grows in damp places, near streams and rivers, it is distinguished by the ability to grow together closely spaced trunks and branches, due to which dense thickets appear in the form of labyrinths.
Lankaran acacia (Albizzia julibrissin) belongs to the tropical mimosa family.
The main range of this species is in Iran, but representatives of the genus Albizzia are known in the tropics of China.
Gleditschia (Gleditschia caspia) - from the tropical family of the Caesalpipiaceae. This is a large tree with bunches of huge branched spines on the trunk and branches. In Lankoria, it is a relic, but in culture it tolerates a temperate climate, so it is grown not only in the Black Sea parks, but also in sheltered forest plantations of the steppe regions of Ukraine.
In South-East Asia, 7 species of Gledichi grow.
It is now believed that the relict Hyrcanian flora is a link between the floras of the Mediterranean and Southeast Asia, from where many tropical and subtropical species settled westward through Central Asia in the Tertiary period.
On the basis of floristic analysis, the connections of the Hyrcanian flora are clarified: 1) with Colchis, 2) with East Asia (Gleditschia. -Zelkova, Pterocarya, Albizzia), 3) with Central Asia (persimmon - Diospyros, pomegranate, walnut - Juglans regia and J.
fallax, figs - Ficus hircana u F. carica, etc.) "4) with the Mediterranean (walnut, pomegranate, figs, persimmon, etc.).
Interesting is the winter flowering of the iron tree and the dropping of leaves in December-March, which is considered as a sign of the former evergreen.
In addition to those mentioned above, many more relict species of woody, shrubby plants, lianas, and herbs grow in Transcaucasia; some of them are relict endemics.
A number of localities (depleted centers) of few relics, mostly coniferous, are scattered in the northern Caucasus. These include the Caucasian fir (Abies nordmanniana) - a large mountain tree with very dense and densely spaced needles, which gives the crown great shade.
Boxwood also grows here both in shrub form along the mountain slopes and in the form of low trees that form a relic grove in the yew-boxwood reserve near Khosta. Together with boxwood, the yew berry (Taxus baccata) is preserved here - a subtropical coniferous tree with a low powerful trunk and spreading crown.
The southern coast of Crimea, protected from the north by mountains, was also during the glaciation a refuge for thermophilic plants, which found themselves here in the position of relics.
Basically, these are Mediterranean species. From evergreen deciduous (hard-leaved) trees, strawberry tree (Arbutus andrachne) grows here, from deciduous - oriental beech (Fagus orientalis), from conifers - pallas pine (Pinus pallasiana), tree-like juniper (Juniperus excelsa), as well as other gie trees, shrubs and herbs from Mediterranean species.
Interesting, although not rich in species composition of relics, is the group of mountainous Turkestan centers, where walnut, fig, pomegranate, apple, pear, almond/pistachio grow wildly in isolated localities.
In the Tertiary time, the continuous areas of these plants extended to the north - to the southern regions of Siberia. At the end of the Tertiary period, on the plains of Central Asia, the climate became too dry for tree species, and they rose to the mountains, through which the connection with the Siberian parts of the ranges was preserved.
But these latter ceased to exist during the glaciation and, thus, isolated areas remained in the mountains of Central Asia, the re-settlement of which is prevented by the desert climate of the surrounding spaces. Of particular note among the relics of this area is the walnut, which was previously considered walnut, but is now separated into an independent species - Turkestan (Juglans fallax).
Isolated groves of this walnut on the slopes of the Ferghana Range in Kyrgyzstan occupy an area of about 50 thousand hectares and even received the name "gardens", although this tree species is found here in a wild state.
In the Southern Urals and in the mountainous regions of Siberia, tertiary forest relics have been preserved in some places in isolated areas. This is the previously mentioned linden (Ural, Kuznetsky Alatau), some shrubs and about two dozen species of herbaceous plants with relict habitats in the Urals, Altai, Khamar-Daban (the so-called "satellites" of broad-leaved, i.e.
e. oak, linden-oak forests), but forming vast areas to the west of the Urals (Asarum europaeum, Sanicula europaea, Asperula odorata, etc.).
Among the thermophilic forest relics of the Amur region, Phellodendron amurense is of interest - Amur velvet, or Amur cork tree.
This tree is from the Rutaceae family, related to citruses, has a very small area, significantly reduced due to the predatory production of cork by the local population in pre-revolutionary times. Other 7 species of this genus grow to the south - in China.
3. Glacial, or glacial, relics, as opposed to tertiary ones, are witnesses of the past cold period.
In the modern era, cold-resistant species (psychrophytes and cryophytes) are associated in their geographical distribution either with the Arctic or with high mountains - above the border of continuous forests. Isolated locations of alpine cryophytes on the steppe plains, at the foot of the mountains, i.e.
e. below the border of the forest belt, indicate the former position of the line of eternal snow in the era of glaciation, when alpine plants descended to the foothill plains.
Glacial relics are known in the southern zone of the USSR both in the European part and in Siberia. These are some shrubs and grasses, in which their protective devices against the cold of the highlands allow them to exist in the forest-steppe or steppe climate.
There are especially many glacial relics on Cretaceous deposits in the area between the former Dnieper and Don tongues of the ice sheet, as well as in Khakassia and some other places.
Steppe relics among coniferous forests are represented by herbaceous species that have their main ranges on the plains south of the coniferous forest zone, and in the north are scattered in isolated locations, indicating the former position of the boundaries of the ranges of these xerophytes during a drier climate. Some scientists attribute this period to the Middle Holocene and consider it to be warm-dry (xerothermic), while others associate it with the early post-glacial epoch, when dryness was combined with cold.
There are especially many relict localities of steppe xerophytes (feather grass, fescue, thin-legged, wormwood, etc.) in the basin of the middle Lena in Central Yakutia beyond 60 ° N. sh., but some species penetrate even further north, meeting in isolation in the lower reaches of the Indigirka, Kolyma and Olenek. The extreme continental climate of Eastern Siberia favors the survival of these xerophytes. It is interesting that some relict areas of steppe plants coincide with isolated habitats of steppe animals (baibak, ground squirrel) and the presence of residual steppe soils.
In addition to the examples given here, on the territory of the USSR there are still other relics of different age and nature, which provide convincing evidence of the enormous role of historical reasons for the formation of plant ranges.
Editor Plants and trees 8106
Many contemporaries do not even imagine that the relic trees that exist today are the surviving "dinosaurs" of the flora in our era. Relics are called the few representatives of wildlife that have survived to this day, which were common in very ancient times. Everyone knows chestnut, some types of conifers, dwarf birch, rhododendron, boxwood are echoes of bygone days.
Ginkgo biloba (Ginkgo biloba)
“Silver fruit” or “silver apricot” - this is the translation of the name of this unusually interesting type of coniferous relics, the history of which begins in the Triassic period. The crown of this deciduous tree, reaching a height of 30 meters, is more similar to the crown of a garden pear than to coniferous counterparts. In autumn, yellow-golden foliage, densely diluted with many rounded fruits (seeds), is especially attractive. True, the smell of the delicate pulp of these "fruits" leaves much to be desired.
This dioecious plant begins to bear fruit by the age of 25-30. Until then, the floor of the tree is simply impossible to determine. The female individual can independently form seeds, but the male one cannot. The way out of this situation is simple - from any representative of this family, you can make a bisexual specimen by grafting cuttings of the opposite sex to it. The lifespan of Gingko biloba is over 2,000 years. Propagation method - seeds and cuttings.
In eastern countries, the leaves and seeds of this tree have been used in medicine and cooking since ancient times. And soft warm shades of wood is considered an excellent ornamental material. The unpretentious plant is also resistant to the effects of industrially polluted air, and is not susceptible to viral and fungal diseases. And the insects avoid it. Gingko organically fits into the landscape design of a personal plot, garden or park. And for Koreans, Chinese and Japanese, it is also a sacred tree, bringing profit and prosperity to the owners.
Yew pointed (Taxus jurassica)
This inhabitant of the Jurassic period 200 million years ago was distributed over vast areas of the Northern Hemisphere. But abrupt climate changes, ice ages, and subsequently the needs of mankind have worked hard to reduce the number of this species. Now there are only rare small groves in the northeast (Khabarovsk and Primorsky Territories, Sakhalin Region, Japan, Korea, China). In the Caucasus, you can find another variety of this tree - yew berry.
These dioecious plants are pollinated mainly by wind. By the end of summer, females are decorated with ripe seeds, framed by berry-like juicy bright red or gently pinkish seedlings. This long-liver, reaching 3,000 years of age, grows only 1–1.5 m by the age of thirty. And it will take him 200 years to grow to 12 m. This plant is not afraid of frost, polluted air and lack of bright lighting.
Yew wood is dense, heavy, hard and does not rot, making it an unrivaled material for building, furniture, sculpture, musical instruments and weapons in time immemorial. However, the bark, wood, needles, shoots and seeds of this relic are highly poisonous. Our ancestors in past centuries gave cups from this tree to their best enemies and soaked arrowheads with its juice. But modern medicine uses microdoses of this poison to treat certain diseases (helminthiasis, cancerous tumors). And landscape designers easily create interesting compositions and original hedges with the help of curly haircuts.
Pitsunda pine (Pinus brutia Ten. subsp. Pityusa)
On the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus and Crimea, the most ancient representative of the flora of the Tertiary era is found - the Pitsunda pine (one of the four subspecies of the Calabrian pine). This species is so rare that it has a worthy place on the pages of the Red Book of Russia. Heat-loving beauties with a straight trunk and a pyramidal crown grow quite quickly on limestone rocks and sandy slopes and reach a height of 24 meters in natural conditions. Artificially grown plantations are much higher. And 700 meters above sea level is not an obstacle for them.
Pitsunda pine begins to bear fruit at the age of 20–25. Old trees give the most abundant harvest. This breed is undemanding to the soil, drought-resistant and sea salt does not harm it. Due to the high resin content, its wood was previously used for sheathing ships and for various crafts. Today, artificially grown pine looks decent in gardens and parks.
Metasequoia glyptostroboides (Metasequoia glyptostroboides)
Living representatives of this truly fossil relic were found in the mountains of central China only in the early forties of the last century. Prior to this, the metasequoia was considered extinct and only its fossilized remains were found in excavations. The result of a comparative genetic analysis of ancient and living plants came as a surprise to the Russian scientists who conducted it. For 55 million years, there have been almost no changes or mutations of the metasequoia, which proves the extraordinary stability of its genome.
The slender trunk of this tree, 30-50 meters high, is surrounded by a narrow cone-shaped crown. The needles form compound leaves. These relic unique trees belong to deciduous species. And the uniqueness of this relic subspecies of cypress is that for the winter period it sheds not only bronze-golden needles, but also a decent part of the branches. Nowadays, there are already many nurseries in Europe, America and the southern regions of the CIS countries that grow this photophilous, but resistant to climatic conditions plant. It is perfect for landscaping ponds, alleys, personal plots.
Welwitschia amazing (Welwitschia mirabilis)
This plant relic miracle of arid deserts was named so for a reason. By its peculiar appearance, it is difficult to understand what it is - a tree, a bush, grass, or someone's violent fantasy. An adult dwarf tree (up to 50 cm tall) is covered with a riot of huge leaves (up to 2 m wide), cut into long ribbons that absorb moisture from the atmosphere or seaside fogs.
Velvichia grows extremely slowly, but can live up to 2,000 years. It is frost-tolerant, needs well-drained soil, dry climate, direct sunlight and a daily temperature of 10 to 23 degrees Celsius. Grow it as an exclusively original indoor or greenhouse plant.
Common juniper (Juniperus communis)
This genus of coniferous evergreen relics consists of more than six dozen subspecies of elfins, shrubs and trees, which are still widely distributed in the mountainous regions of almost the entire planet. A drought-resistant, bright-light-loving, frost-hardy plant with strong roots, able to extract food and water from the most mineral-poor soil. Trees that live for several hundred years grow up to 5–15 meters.
Juniper has unsurpassed bactericidal and healing properties. Evaporation of phytoncides from a small grove of these plants can disinfect the atmosphere of any metropolis. All parts of it are used in medicine. Yes, and culinary experts appreciated the specific taste and smell of juniper fruits and needles. And crafts made from branches and wood retain their aroma for centuries.
The era of dinosaurs has long passed, and huge lizards can only be found in museums and cinemas. Some representatives of flora and fauna from distant historical times have survived to this day. They are called relics.
relics
Millions of years ago, our world looked very different. Plants and animals have changed significantly since then. Relics are called representatives of wildlife, who have not lost touch with distant ancestors. They have a number of features that have been in animals for a long time, and are not similar to modern species.
A relic animal or plant can often be called a living fossil. Out of ignorance, they are often associated with the period of the existence of dinosaurs. However, the era of dinosaurs lasted from the Triassic period (225 million years ago) to the Cretaceous period (65 million years ago), while relics may belong to later periods.
The term itself appeared in 1885, thanks to Oscar Peschel, an anthropologist and geologist from Germany. Relics are sometimes called not only living beings, but also landscapes and minerals. For example, the typical Siberian tundra-steppe landscape is considered to be a relic. It existed back in the days of rhinoceroses, tours, therefore it is often referred to as mammoth prairies.
Classification
Relics are divided into groups, depending on the era in which their species began to exist. They can be tertiary or quaternary. Neogene, or tertiary, are species that have retained their characteristics at least since the Pliocene period. These include Colchis chestnut, holly, blueberry, wintergreen, boxwood.
The division also occurs according to climatic conditions. There are glacial relics. They have lived on earth since the Ice Age and are found in caves, rocks. The common viper is a typical glacial relic animal, like the gadfly, some dragonflies. Plants include blueberries and cranberries.
There are other classifications that separate the relics in terms of plant formations (formational), as well as in terms of the geomorphological conditions in which they lived (edaphic). Research helps to determine how the climate has changed in their habitats, what changes have occurred in soil, water, etc.
relic animals
Examples of living fossils living in our time can be taken without difficulty. Most of them are paleoendemic. Their habitat is not too wide and isolated enough, which allowed them to keep many features unchanged.
The unexplored nature of many parts of our planet suggests that not all prehistoric species are known. For example, the relic animal coelacanth represents a detachment of coelacanths, which has long been considered extinct. In 1938, the curator of a museum in South Africa accidentally discovered the fish among the fishermen's catch. It turned out that this is the only species that has survived to this day.
Living fossils are well-known crocodiles. This relic animal lived on the planet as early as 85 million years ago, although their ancestors, crocodilomorphs, appeared about 250 million years ago. Their sizes reached 15 meters in length. Most of the ancient species became extinct before the Cenozoic.
Habitual habitats of crocodiles have not changed much since antiquity. Therefore, semi-aquatic reptiles did not have to adapt to new conditions and managed to maintain their appearance as it was millions of years ago.
Relic animals: list
Below is an approximate list of modern relics that live in different parts of our Earth.
Name of the species or order | Habitat | Years of appearance |
Dipnoi | Africa, Australia, South America | 419.2 million liters n. |
Tuatara | New Zealand | 95 million liters n. |
Mudfish | North America | 250 million liters n. |
purple frog | India (Western Ghats) | 134 million liters n. |
horseshoe crabs | Southeast Asia, Atlantic coast of North America | |
crocodiles | South America, Central America, Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia | 85 million liters n. |
Laotian rock rat | South East Asia, Laos | 44 million liters n. |
Coelacanth | Indian Ocean | More than 65 million liters. n. |
single pass | New Guinea, Australia, Tasmania | 217-160 million years n. |
Europe, Southeast Asia, North America | 500 million liters n. |
Conclusion
Relics are animals, plants, fungi, landscapes, and even minerals that have not changed or have changed to a small extent since the appearance of their species. In the modern world, there are a fairly large number of living fossils that appeared several million years ago.
The conservation of these species was facilitated by stable climatic conditions, as well as isolation. Who knows, maybe their list is much larger than what is known to mankind now.
Relic plants are living fossils. They have come down to us from ancient eras without significant changes over the past millions of years and bear the features of those plants of the Mesozoic era that man has long found in the layers of the earth and geological rocks in the form of fossils or imprints.
The most ancient plants
Among the most ancient plants are blue-green algae, traces of which are found in sediments that are 3 billion years old. Blue-green algae are primitive asexual organisms, they grow in our time in salt and fresh waters, in wet places between rocks and even in hot springs. After all, they can withstand temperatures up to + 85ºС.More than 300 million years ago, the planet was covered with huge forest thickets, which consisted of ferns, horsetails and huge lycopsids. All large representatives of the flora as a result of climate change have now turned into coal seams in the depths of the earth. Relic plant species have gradually learned to adapt to changes. They were able to live up to our times.
Examples of relic plants
Here are some well-known plants that grew 200 million years ago:- Selaginella selago-shaped is an algae growing in the moss swamps of Northern Russia. Horsetails originated in the Carboniferous period and inhabited almost all continents of the world, have a stem with nodes and internodes, instead of leaves they have scales, reproduce by spores and roots. Club mosses are evergreen grasses, originated in the Carboniferous period, have reached our time, only changing in size. They have creeping stems, from which branches grow upward, have a root system, reproduce by spores and vegetatively (roots, nodules, branches). Magnolia is an archaic flowering plant. The genus Magnolia, ancient in origin, appeared when bees did not yet exist, so its flowers are pollinated by beetles. It grows in the south in the cities of the Crimea and the Caucasus, where you can find entire streets planted with these beautiful flowering trees.
Relics from America
In North and South America, some tree species and relic plants that have come down to us from the Tertiary period also grow:- Taxodium is a summer-green deciduous tree, widespread 20 million years ago. This is confirmed by the fossilized leaves in the deposits of brown coal, the source of which they became over time. Long-lived tree: one copy in the vicinity of Mexico City has 5 thousand years, it is called the giant from Thule. Their longevity is explained by the wood's resistance to decay and good resistance to pests developed over millions of years. The trunk is cracked, ribbed, thinning upwards. One of the types of taxodiuam is the swamp cypress, which can grow in water, as it has pneumatophores (above-ground outgrowths).
- Araucaria Chilean - a coniferous tree growing in South American countries (Chile and Argentina), in nature reaches 60 m, the branches are located almost horizontally, the needles are thick and stiff, can be stored for up to 15 years. This is a very hardy ancient plant.
ancient healing tree
Ginkgo biloba is a gymnosperm plant, a relict tree up to 40 m tall with fan-like leaves. Grows in forests in a limited area of East China.Ginkgo Biloba is translated from Latin as "silver apricot". The tree has a powerful trunk with rough bark, turning into a spreading crown. The leaves of this relic are amazing: pale green with wavy edges, divided into 2 lobes, they are located on thin petioles. The plant is also a unique long-liver: some trees growing in Japan and China are about 4 thousand years old.
The Dutch scientist E. Kaempfer brought the seeds and fruits of this tree to Europe in the 18th century. The tree turned out to be cold-resistant and undemanding to the soil, resistant to diseases, due to which it became widespread in Europe and America. It was planted in parks and squares.
Even ancient Chinese manuscripts dating back to 3000 BC. e., describe its unique medicinal properties. In oriental medicine, it was used to treat diseases of the lungs, liver, heal wounds and burns, and used it as a means for longevity.
Its leaves have medicinal properties, containing many biologically active substances, which are now widely used in modern medicine to improve blood circulation and stimulate memory, treat migraines and dizziness, hemorrhoids, male impotence, etc.
Fern: interesting facts
Ferns are ancient relict plants that appeared 350 million years ago, during the time of the dinosaurs. There are 10 thousand species. They are interesting in that they reproduce not by seeds, but by spores, so they never bloom. The fern is widely distributed on all continents of the world, grows in forests (lower and upper tiers) and on tree trunks, in swamps, in rocks, in water (rivers and lakes), etc.On the territory of Russia, one of the types of ferns grows - female kochedyzhnik, which can vary greatly in size and shape of leaves.
The male fern also grows in the forest, which belongs to the genus of shields. It is with him that the ancient Slavic rites and beliefs are associated, according to which you need to look for the mythical fern flower. If you find it, then it will reveal to its owner all the secrets, give the gift of clairvoyance and power over otherworldly forces. According to Slavic beliefs, it blooms once a year on the eve of the holiday of Ivan Kupala (July 7).
The female kochedyzhnik also has its own meaning: since ancient times, it has been considered a reliable witch root, with which you can put a curse on a person.
Relics of Russia
Ancient plant species preserved from the Tertiary period (2-65 million years ago):- Pontic rhododendron is an evergreen ornamental shrub 1.5 m high, which still grows in some areas of the Caucasian Primorye. It has a characteristic leaf color: green with a creamy white edging. It blooms from April to June with purple-pink flowers.
- The iron tree, which forms entire forests in the mountainous regions of Azerbaijan, is a relict deciduous tree with very strong and heavy wood (artistic products and machine parts are made from it). Amur velvet (Amur cork tree) is a very common tree in Primorye up to 25 m high lives up to 300 years. Berries have healing properties.
Relics of Primorye
The nature of the Primorsky Territory has developed under the influence of large climatic changes and the proximity of the ocean and has the following surviving relict plants:- The calopanax (white walnut) tree has a black trunk studded with sharp thorns, for which it got its name "devil's tree". Its height is up to 30 m, it lives up to 150 years, the wood is used for the manufacture of musical instruments, because it has high resonant properties. Rhododendron is a “pink tree” that loves mountain wet slopes; form flowering rhododendrons. Rhodiola rosea ("golden root") is an ancient medicinal plant, the root of which was hunted by ancient Chinese emperors, sending expeditions to Altai. Komarov's lotus is the most beautiful aquatic relic plant of tertiary flora, growing in the south of the Russian Far East, the most cold-loving of lotus family.
- The spiky yew is the ancestor of the yew, which grew in the Jurassic period in the era of dinosaurs, grows in Primorye and the Khabarovsk Territory, Sakhalin.
Relics of the Caucasus and the Black Sea coast
The mountains of the Caucasus during the ice age turned out to be a natural barrier that prevented the cold from penetrating the Black Sea coast.Relic plants of the Krasnodar Territory have been preserved due to the unique climate of this region and in spite of human economic activity, which is gradually replacing forest land and using it for its own needs. These plants include:
- Evergreen boxwood is the slowest growing shrub (1 mm per year), lives up to 500 years, is presented both in the form of a tree and a shrub. It is often used in landscaping park areas in cities and garden plots, where various green figures are created with the help of boxwood shrubs. High juniper is an evergreen coniferous tree with a cone-shaped crown that lives up to 600 years. Height - up to 12-16 m. Preserved only on the Black Sea coast, between Anapa and Gelendzhik. Propagated by seeds dispersed by birds, drought-resistant and can grow on rocky or limestone mountain slopes, in crevasses, belongs to ornamental and essential oil plants.
- Yew berry is an evergreen coniferous tree that appeared many million years ago. Its advantages are the lack of resin in the wood and the dark red color, which is why it is very popular in the manufacture of valuable furniture. It also has bactericidal properties. One of the long-lived trees (the maximum age is 1500 years). It grows in the Caucasus, near Anapa and Novorossiysk, and then spreads east to the Caspian Sea. The Pitsunda pine is one of the subspecies of the Calabrian pine, a relict tree of the Tertiary period of the Black Sea coast, listed in the Red Book of Russia. It is undemanding to soil and moisture, it grows quite quickly. It has light green soft needles up to 15 cm long, in the mountains it reaches a height of 400 m. The main area is located near Gelendzhik, as well as Tuapse, Anapa, Dagomys, etc.