Cherry Blossom Tree

Yu Zheng 5036909 Tutors: Nico Tillie, Saskia de Wit, Frits van Loon andPierre Oska

Can you ﬁ nd the cherry blossom trees in campus without ﬂ owering?

Please ues Two Page View in Acrobat :)

From March to late April, I was surprised by the cherry blossoms blooming in the campus. Not un ll this me, I no ce that there are cherry blossom trees everywhere in the campus. However, the ﬂ owering period of the cherry blossom trees is only two weeks to a month, so what are they doing on the long days without ﬂ owers?

Cherry blossoms have been blooming all over the world for centuries. Europeans have not been interested in it for a long me because they believe that a fruit tree should yield some- thing and a decora ve cherry tree does not.

While in Japan, people sees cherry blossom as early as the ninth century AD as a means to “forge a na onal iden ty”. There are annual par es around the cherry blossom and writes poems about the beauty of the ﬂ ower.

‘It is not about the moment when the tree is in bloom, but about the moment when the petals ﬂ oat in the air between sky and earth.’

Let’s take a ﬁ eld tirp in campus... General Information

Habitat The cherry blossom trees in the college are basically species from Japan, for instance, Pruns serrulata and Prunus yedoensis. The natural habitat of Prunus Serrulata is West China, Korea, Japan and various islands such as Izu Oshima, Honshu and the island of Hokkaido. The cherry treeee growsgro well in the Netherlands, where shee is known aass JJapanseapa Sierkers. (Japanese ornamentalnamental cherry tree).

Characteristic They are small deciduous trees with short trunks and a height of about 5 to 15 meters. The bark is smooth and reddish-brown with prominent horizon-zon- tal len cels. The leaves are arranged alternately, simple, ovate-lanceolate, with a short pe ole and a serraterate or doubly serrate margin. At the end of autumn, tthehe green leaves turn yellow, red or crimson. The fl owers are produced in racemose clusters of two to fi ve together at nodes on short spurs in. They are white to pink, with fi ve petals in the wild type tree.

Patternt The overall tree shape is ﬂ at and round, the trunk is short, and the branches generally grow upward. There are many gaps between branches. The leaves and ﬂ owers are always on the long branches, giving a sense of furry. The important pa ern of branches is its prominent horizontal len cels. The obvous characteris c of leaves is the Parallel veins Please ues Two Page View in Acrobat :) From March to April - Fast Growth

This short time is the ﬂ owering period of the cherry blossom tree and its busiest time. It must take advantage of its most attractive time to attract more bees, butterﬂ ies and birds to help it pollinate.

Birds may trim excess blossoms which helps aid the tree in Bright colored petals at- preventing disease.. tract insects to assist with reproduction.

Honey bees, wasps, beetles, and other insects fl y or crawl to fl owers seeking and eating the protein rich pollen. Humans are attracted by the color and fragrance of fl owers.

It loves loose, fertile and well-drained sandy loam, dislike the saline-alkali soil. The earth worm can help with re- taining moisture and loose soil. As the tree... I love flower bud!

I ueses my blossoms to attract a Come on! variety of birds and insects. They sponge pollen onto their lower legs, abdomen, and mouth parts. As they fl y from fl ower to fl ower, I love nectar!nec the pollen is then transferred to different fl owers in different areas.

During my germination period, the ba- Heat bies that have been laid since the last autumn are wrapped in buds. Because Zzzzzz... thet growth temperature and sunlight sunlight required for my fl ower buds is relatively low, the fl owers of the cherry blossom tree fi rst boom before the leaves. Time to wake up! Leaves appear and its photosynthesis produces grow towards sugars which precipi- sunlight! tate my period of rapid growth. New twig growth extends towards go go go! the sun, while new wood is created to support the above- ground mass of the tree. create new wood to surpport!

more water! more nutrition! My roots are also extremely active in spring, as they grow to ﬁ nd water and absorb nutrients to support all of the met- Fe H20 abolic processes occurring Ca within the my body. N P K From May to October - Slow Growth As spring moves to summer, and daytime temperature highs increase, growth slows. This is the longest period of cherry blossom tree in a year. In the period, the tree grows slowly with the high tempreture and be ready for the leaf buds next year. Because of high temperature and good sunlight, it is also the peak period of the attack by pest.

Aphids cover the whole leaves, make Black-brown beetles them defam and feed on the young curl. buds.

In this period, pruning branches and leaves can play the biggest role in pest control.

Offer room for people to play. Provide shaded growth areas.

As the tempreture getting higher and evaporation capacity becomes larger, ground water level becomes lower. Less moisture soil is not good for its growth. AsAs tthehe ttree...re too hot to work! As spring moves to summer, and daytime tem- heat wave perature highs increase, my growth slows. My enzymes that power photosynthesis cease to function during the heat Photosynthetic of the day. Dislike the green enzyme light

i am disappearing! Of all the colors on the light spectrum, green is least Chlorophyll As summer sways to useful to plants for photo- autumn, day length synthesis. begins to shorten As chlorophyll breaks down in response to longer nights, more green is allowed to absorb into the leaf.

To be ready for next year’s growth and go through energy winter smoothly, my leaves need to absorb as much Sunlight as energy from the sun as possible and transport it to Photosynthesis the buds. Ready for next year! Warm fall days are followed by cool nights combined stretchh forfor moremoreore wwithith aadequatedequate ssoiloil mmoisture.oisture. As summer is also water! accompanied by decreased pre- cipitation and low soil moisture, my physiological processes and growth is slowed. From November to February - Dormancy Trees begin their preparation for dormancy in fall so they can survive through winter. In winter, tree begins its dormant period after falling leaves. During the dormancy, although there is no obvious growth phenomenon, the tree still carries out various life activities.

Under the action of earth- worms, the fallen leaves are decomposited into nutrients that are beneﬁ cial to the tree and can be absorbed again by the root. As the tree... I have to get off work early... To be ready for next year’s growth, my buds begin their dormancy after I feel the cold Zzzzzz... and short day senson coming. Although my buds are sleeping, my whole body is still working. Zzzzzz...

Zzzzzz...

‘scar tissue’ue’ To reduce the evaporation of see u in the soil! water, it is no longer transported to the leaves. A layer of ‘scar tissue’ is formed between the leaf for the tree! and branch attachment known as the abscission zone. Leaves are then dropped by a combi- nation of gravity and wind.

Transporting...

To create conditions for dor- fight before the mancy and growth in the coming year, the water in the tree really cold day! gradually decreases, and the concentration of cell ﬂ uid in- new clothes creases. At the same time, nuit- for winter rients are transfered to storage organs.

storage nutrients...trients... My different organs and tis- sues go into sleep in different time. My main branches and trunk get into the dormancy later, and the root is the lat- est for absorbing more nutri- I AM THE last one ents for my whole body. off duty again... What I can feel in environment Control

1. Vision When to germi- nate.. Despite lacking eyes, I have much more photoreceptor than human being’s. This means that my vision is more complex than human’s. I can feel the presence, intensity, dura- WWhen to bloom... tion, direction, and relative ratio of colors of light. In trees’ eyes...

WWhen to sprout...

!! crack* 3. Sense of smell crack* As well as being able to 4. Haptics hear approaching insects, I can either smell Another ability we share 2. Hearing them, or else smell vol- with human beings is I can respond to an atile signals released by proprioception: the “sixth ecologically-relevant neighbouring plants in sense” that enables ‘sound’ with an ecolog- response to them. (some of) us to touch ically-relevant response. By this sense, I can be type, juggle, and gener- For instance, the munch- more awareable to sur- ally know where various ing noises produced by rounding environment. bits of our body are in caterpillars caused me space. to ﬂ ood my leaves with The presence of electri- chemical defences de- cal signalling in my body signed to ward off at- help to transport the tackers. information. How can I procreate and spread around?

The cherry blossom trees want to have next generation and spread themselves more widely. It has following methods to spread through environmental factors, attracting animals and humans. ColorTaste Fragrance

The ﬂ owers are large Although the fruit of the Apart from attracting with brightly colored cherry tree is not sweet insects to help polli- corollas, with a fragrant enough, it is slightly nate, the fragrant smell smell and sweet nec- astringent, and it is not also attracts humans to tar attract insects and very attractive to hu- make better use of it, hunman beings. The mans, it can still attract thereby spreading itself, brighter the color of the more insects. such as making per- ﬂ ower, the easier it is to fume, or applying it in attract insects, thereby cooking increasing the chance of being pollinated. Ways of Reproductionp

Sow artifi cially in a suitable environ- Some specises like Prunus yedoensis, it ment, or the seeds of the cherry tree is a variety produced for ornamental are pollinated to a suitable envi- use.Because it is artifi cial breeding, it ronment by natural means When it cannot reproduce naturally and can encounters suitable conditions, such only be transplanted with cuttings. as light and humidity, let it sprout Therefore, they can bloom together spontaneously. under the same environmental conditions for people to enjoy the fl owers and observe Please ues Two Page View in Acrobat :) Where I want to grow in camus?

This area is located in the cem- The trees are planted along etery, in the open grass land of the building. The distance the entrance. Tree here can have between trees and building enough sunlight, and the environ- is about 3 meters, which ment is more natural. But there are give proper space for trees some ponds here, so the roots may to grow. suffer from too much water.

Base Map Source: www.tudelft.nl I like sunlight and warm and humid climate conditions, and have certain cold resistance. The requirements on the soil are not strict, and it should be grown on loose, fertile and well-drained sandy loam, but not saline-alkali soil. The root system has a certain resistance to cold and drought, but the resistance to smoke and wind is weak, so it is not suitable to plant coastal areas with typhoons.

The trees located at the entrance of Mekel Park, and planted random- ly in a group. Trees here can have enough sunlight and shades from other trees.

The tree lines are planted along the water, so the soil here need to be more well-drained. Because of the hard pavement here, the growth os the trees may be limited.