Are ginkgo trees conifers or broadleaf trees?
Hello! This is Tomo from Nakayoshi Library!
In my last blog, "What are conifers and broad-leaved trees? ", I wrote about ginkgo trees. Did you all Google them?
The answer is ... conifers !
You might think that because the leaves are so wide, it must be a broadleaf tree, but it is actually a conifer.
When I searched, I found angiosperms... or gymnosperms...
However, this is something that middle school students learn in science, so the easiest way to figure this out is to
Ginkgo trees have trunks that grow straight !
A straight trunk is a characteristic of conifers. They often grow in shrines and temples, so please take a look.
When you think of ginkgo, you think of the distinctive smell of ginkgo, and when it is made into a board and used as a material, it also has this smell. Some people like it and some don't.
Find a conifer that is close to you
There are many coniferous trees in Japan, but they are very few in number compared to broad-leaved trees.
Let's look for some conifers that are close to us.
If you live in a house rather than an apartment, your home probably has a lot of structural materials, such as pillars, made of wood.
Conifers, which have straight trunks and are easy to work with, are often used for housing.
Typical examples include cedar , cypress , and pine .
The characteristics of wood are taken into consideration when building houses: cypress, which is resistant to water and insects, is used for the foundation, while pine, which is strong and resilient, is used for beams.
Cypress in particular is used in shrines and temples, and is often featured on television and other media, so many people are probably familiar with it.
The cypress trees at Horyuji Temple are famous. They have been supporting the building for over 1000 years.
So, you may be naively thinking that Hinoki is a luxury item.
When building a house, you might choose pine wood simply because cypress is expensive.
Next time we'll take a deeper look at cypress!
In the next installment of our Wood Blog, we will introduce you to the charms of cypress .
I hope to be able to convey not only the good points of cypress , but also its weak points.
I wonder if it's okay to mention the weaknesses of cypress furniture, but as someone who works with wood and as a maker, I would be very happy if customers would consider purchasing our products after fully understanding the nature of wood.
See you in the next blog!!
I will continue to write about trees on my blog, so let's learn together♪
If you find any mistakes or corrections, please send me a message. Your comments and feedback are also very motivating!
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