I Usually Start As a Seed. I Can Have Wings and Fly with the Wind

I usually start as a seed. I can have wings and fly with the wind.

I can have sharp points and edges and claw to the fur or feathers of animals until they shed me off.

I can be eaten by birds or animals, get digested and then dropped onto the ground.

I grow when I get enough warmth from the sun; water, usually from the rain or dew; and nutrients from the minerals in the ground. The water let me swell and then I burst open. Out of me then grows….

Long hairy tentacles. These are my roots. They suck up the moisture from the ground, as well as the minerals and nutrients. They also anchor me steady so that the wind can’t blow me away.

I use all these things to produce energy so that I can grow.

Then I need leaves. They will become the factories in which we produce a lot of energy later on.

My leaves have chlorophyll to produce energy. That is why they have a green colour.

Some of us keep our leaves throughout the year and we hardly rest. We are called evergreen trees.

Then some of our leaves turn red, yellow, orange, brown and gold during autumn and then we shed them off. Then we are bare and take a rest. We are called deciduous trees.

I have bark around my stem and branches sticking out. Branches are like my arms! The bark protects me against germs like bacteria and viruses. So please, do not peel it away and leave me wounded! And do not brake off my branches…

Caterpillars, insects and snails love to live in me and munch on my leaves.

Some mammals like buck, giraffe and elephants make a meal of my leaves.

Luckily birds use me as their home. They make their nests in my branches. Some birds may use small pieces of my leaves to put into their nests.

The woodpecker pecks a hole through the bark into my stem. He makes his nest in there.

Some people are my enemies. They hurt us, chop us down for firewood or destroy us to build big buildings.

(deforestation)

But there are also people who take care of us and are trying to conserve us for the future. They are clever, because they know we provide shelter and shade, but best of all….we provide oxygen for you to breathe!!