Red Book coniferous trees as attributes of the New Year’s Eve (PHOTOS)

New Year’s Eve is just a few days away. The city is immersed in a special atmosphere: the streets are decorated with festive illuminations, people are looking for gifts and, of course, the main attribute of the holiday – the Christmas tree.

The tradition of decorating coniferous trees came to our region in the early twentieth century. At the time, however, it did not have as negative an impact on the environment as it does now. Chopped spruce or fir trees were used to heat homes or to feed animals in the countryside, and so on. Nowadays, most trees after the celebration, and the unsold ones even before the New Year’s Eve end up at the dump, and very few trees are reused. Looking at this sad picture, which repeats itself year after year, many people refuse to buy cut trees and buy artificial or pot fir trees instead. You can also buy small Canadian spruce trees, which can be kept indoors for several years and then planted in the yard. Local coniferous species can also be purchased in pots to be returned to the forests later.

In addition to the usual spruce and fir trees, there is another peculiar species of coniferous trees in the flora of our region – European yew. In the past, it was one of the forest-forming species in the Carpathians. Because of its valuable wood, it was cut down en masse everywhere. This unique tree grows very slowly and is listed in the Red Book of Ukraine. Its largest  population in Transcarpathia – over a thousand specimens – is preserved in the Uholka Beech Massif of the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve.

“What are those peculiar fir trees?” is often asked by visitors of the Transcarpathian Regional Local History Museum, who see this type of tree for the first time. Evergreen yew bushes growing in the courtyard of Uzhgorod Castle in spring and summer do not stand out from the rest. Although they are called fir trees, they look more like spruce, but the needles are light green rather than grayish. Yews become special in autumn, when, instead of usual cones, they grow bright red, round, berry-like fruits with the unusual name aril.

That’s when they get the most attention. These galbuli are formed on the branches of female speciemens, the male ones do not have them. Birds like the fruits very much. They store them for winter, so the juicy berries can often be found in the cracks of other trees in the castle park.

The yew is not afraid of smog, so it is suitable for planting in cities. Evergreen spherical or pyramidal bushes will decorate any park composition. Old trees, more than 400 years old, can be seen in Uzhgorod, and in nature they live more than 3000 years.

However, this plant should be handled with care: its needles, seeds, bark and wood contain toxic substances. Only the bright red fruits are poison free. In the past, the yew was used to make weapons. According to legend, the cannonballs used in the defense of Khust Castle were also made of yew. Its wood is extremely durable, heavy and solid, it can sink in water like stone, remain in the ground for centuries without rotting.

The rare European cedar pine grows in the Carpathian mountain forest belt. Of all the conifers, it grows the highest in the mountains. This mighty 20-25 m tall tree with a spreading crown is similar to cedar, so it is often called European cedar, although in fact there are many dissimilarities between the pine and the true cedar. The cedar pine has strong phytoncidal properties. Moths never live in cabinets made of it, so people have always been interested in the wood of this pine. Unfortunately, in the past it was also cut down en masse.

Next to the pine cedar, you can sometimes find the Polish larch. In the Red Book of Ukraine, it is listed as endangered species. In 2001, the National Bank of Ukraine issued a silver 10 hryvnia coin dedicated to the Polish larch. Both species in Ukraine occur only in Transcarpathian and Ivano-Frankivsk regions and are protected by the government.

As we can see, the main reason for the decrease in the populations of these trees is deforestation. Unfortunately, in our time, people’s attitude to nature has not changed. Each edition of the Red Book of Ukraine includes new species of herbaceous and woody plants, so is it worth to destroy so many young trees for a holiday?