2017-11-01
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Text 2
Kapok tree
The leaves of the kapok tree are palmate and compound. The 5- 9 leaflets are 7-8 cm long and 1-3.5 cm wide. Flowers usually open before the leaves appear, and are clustered on small, new branches. The 5 petals of a flower are about 2.5 cm long and are a creamy white or pale pink in color. Their odor is unpleasant, but is probably meant to attract the bats that pollinate them. The brown seeds are round like peas and are found in pods. The pods are woody, smooth and pendulous, with a light green color. They will burst open while still on the tree after the leaves have fallen. Inside a whitish cotton like fiber surrounds the brown seeds. These are born away on the wind.
Most emergent trees will have wind borne seeds because they rise above the stagnant air of the rainforest and can take advantage of the breezes which blow there. Fruit bearing plants close to the forest floor rely on animals to eat and disperse their seeds, which will fall to the ground when ripe, and which are normally covered with a thick, appetizing pulp.
3.7 Match the words with their definitions:
| Acorn | a small branch on a tree or shrub that is connected to a larger branch |
| Fruit | fruit of certain trees, such as maples and elms. It has a seed and a “wing” |
| Seed | a type of fruit that contains several seeds in it. It will split open when ripe and release the seeds |
| Samara | the part of a plant that grows where a flower used to be, after the flower was pollinated and died |
| Pod | the nut of the oak tree |
| Twig | the part of a plant that can make another plant |
Read the text 1 again and say if the statements are false or true. Correct the false ones.
1. Within each seed is the soft tissue that is the basis a new tree.
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2. White or paper mulberry grows from seeds.
3. Pine grows from shoots.
4. Scientists use various names to call seeds and their coats.
6. Terminal buds are located at the very ends of the twigs.
5. Limb is a small terminal branch section that may bear leaves.
Skim the text 3 and tell what it is about.
Text 3
Leaves and Needles
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Branches connect the trunk to the leaves and transport water and minerals to the leaves. The leaves, which are held up by branches, are arranged in a way that captures maximum sunlight. The tips of branches are known as twigs and these are the growing ends of the tree. Leaves grow on the twigs and produce food for the whole tree, but can only do this in sunlight. Leaves ( figure 3.4 ) and needles ( figure 3.3 ) are the food factories in the tree’s crown. Food-making, or photosynthesis, begins when the sun’s warmth and light is trapped by green chlorophyll in the leaves. This energy is used to combine carbon dioxide from the atmosphere with water drawn from the roots to create sugar and starch. The inner bark then carriesthis food to all living partsof the tree. In turn, oxygen and water are released into the atmosphere as by-products of photosynthesis.
