Forest Arabesques, or Sketches of Our Trees' Life

 

 

 

 

 

Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

Ural State Forest Engineering University

Radomska Szkoła Wyższa w Radomiu, Polska

 

 

 

 

On the occasion of

Ural State Forest Engineering University’s

85^th Anniversary

 

 

 

Vladimir Usoltsev

 

 

Forest Arabesques,

Or Sketches of Our Trees’ Life

 

 

 

 

 

 

Radom, 2019

 

UDC 581.5

Usoltsev Vladimir. Forest Arabesques, or Sketches of Our Trees’ Life. 3^rd Edition, modified. Radomska Szkoła Wyższa w Radomiu. Radom. 200 p. 2019. ISBN 978-0-359-39022-9.

DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2551187

 

Executive Editor

S. Zalesov, Doctor of Agricultural Science

 

Reviewers

E. Koltunov, Doctor of Biological Sciences

G. Terekhov, Doctor of Agricultural Science, senior staff scientist

 

Translated from Russian by Tatiana Wells

 

The monograph describes some distinctive biological and ecological features of our forest trees in layman’s terms (in a popular form).  It gives consideration to all the tree species such as larch, pine, spruce, fir, cedar, birch, aspen, oak, linden, willow; that are mostly represented in the Russian forests.

The book is intended for professionals as forest scientists, botanists, students and graduate students and for wildlife enthusiasts.

 

The research was performed under the Department of Management and Foreign Economic Activities of Companies as a part of the science topics of the Institute of Economics and Management of the Ural State Forest Engineering University.

 

On the front book cover there is a picture by Alexander Medvedev that was taken for the article “Siberian Forest”by A. Chernobylets, A. Verkhozin and D. Polin (“Expert-Siberia”Magazin, Issue 10, 2005).

On the back cover there is a photograph “Harmony of real and visual” by A. Tarko. 

 

This articles is published with Open Access. Radomska Szkoła Wyższa w Radomiu, Poska, Radom University in Radom, Poland. Open Access This articles is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.

 

Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Noncommercial — You may not use this work for commercial purposes. Share Alike — If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.

Zawartość jest objęta licencją Creative Commons Uznanie autorstwa-Użycie niekomercyjne-Na tych samych warunkach 4.0

 

Publishing House: Radomska Szkoła Wyższa w Radomiu, Radom University in Radom Str. Zubrzyckiego 2 26-600 Radom Tel.: +48 48 383 66 05 med.@rsw.edu.pl

Printing House: Radomska Szkoła Wyższa w Radomiu, Radom University in Radom Str. Zubrzyckiego 2 26-600 Radom Tel.: +48 48 383 66 05 med.@rsw.edu.pl

 

Wydawca nie ponosi odpowiedzialności za treść, formę i styl publikacji

The publisher is not responsible for the content, form and style of publication

 

ISBN 978-0-359-39022-9

DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2551187

 

200 s. Liczba znaków: 464 485 (ze streszczeniami i okładką). Liczba grafik: 335 x 1 000 znaków (ryczałt) = 335 000 znaków.

Razem: Liczba znaków: 799 485 (ze streszczeniami, okładką i grafikami) = 19,987 arkuszy wydawniczych.

200 p. Number of characters: 464 485 (with abstracts). Number of images: 335 x 1000 characters (lump sum) = 335 000 characters.

Total: Number of characters: 799 485 (with abstracts, summaries and graphics) = 19,987 sheet publications.

 

 

 

©Author, 2019

Content

Content

5

Introduction

7

1. Larch – what a mysterious genus Larix Mill…

13

2. Scots pine (the genus Pinus L.) is “Cinderella”and “The Queen” of the Russian forests

31

3. Spruce (the genus Picea Dietr.) – its geography and biology puzzles

55

4. Fir (the genus Abies Mill.) is a taiga companion of the Siberian spruce.   

83

5. Pine (the five-needle subgenus Haploxylon) –“the Russian forests tsar”

93

6. Birch (the genus Betula L.) is a poetic symbol of Russia

105

7. Putting in a work for the poor aspen (the genus Populus L.)

107

8. Oak (the genus Quercus L.) is the symbol “a mighty beauty” and longevity

139

9. Linden (the genus Tilia L.) – the nectar-bearing tree in the Russian forests

149

10. Alder (the genus Alnus Gaertn.) – a global pioneer tree.

155

11.Willow (the family Salicaceae) – our rivers guardian

159

Conclusion

163

Reference List

169

 

 

 

Introduction

The forest is a benefit, a meaning which

we will comprehend with its vanishing from the Earth.

L. Leonov «Russian Forest»

 

In the context of the ever increasing environmental and biospheric role of forests on one hand and steady growth of anthropogenic influence on them on the other hand, the main purpose of this book putting it in the words of my colleague professor N. A. Babiĉ (2006) is “the development of the attitude towards the care of every plant, even if it’s poisonous, of every animal, although it is dangerous, of every bird even if it’s a flesh-eater”. Therefore the motto of IUFRO XX World Congress (1995) “Caring for the Forest: Research in a Changing World”is placed on the book cover.

The goal of the author is to capture the attention of the readers caring about Russian nature’s uniqueness, value and even the mystery of ourwood species, keeping in mind the thinking by K. Lorenz (1970) who said,“In the end it is every scientist’s duty to popularize to general public what he works on” (p. 13). Following this thinking every specialist is caught between Scylla and Charybdis, or is on the horns of dilemma to merge two difficulty-combining courses meaning relevance and apprehensiveness for the general audience and non-trivial approach for professionals. In consideration of the aim the author, to an extent, possibly omits dendrological, forest typological and other identifications of wood species that are binding on botanists and foresters but hard taken by non-specialists. In that regard the structure of the book is played off as a combination of unique sketches, or arabesques.

The term “arabesque” has a long history and has changed its meaning. Originally it meant medieval oriental pattern (Fig. 1). According to The Brockhause and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, “Arabesques are an odd or grotesque decor of the Renaissance, in those cases when they fall into over grotesque design”. M. Yampolskiy (2007) clears “Arabesques, or grotesques, first draw attention during the opening of the Emperor Nero’s palace, The Domus Aurea in the Renaissance. Fragments of the wall painting were discovered there; abstract ornamental motifs joined with ligatures of odd lines played the main role. The vignettes that connected different figurative pieces added compositional unity between the wall paintings and the ceiling pieces (p. 347)”.

 

Fig. 1. Arabesque motif. Glazed ceramic. Turkey. (http://ec-dejavu.ru/a/arabesque_2.html).

 

In the Renaissance, arabesques fulfilled the role of “decorative fusion of pieces in whole”, and served as “an impulse to restore the unity and hence the meaning," and also as “a form of a mystic revelation of the whole and invisible links” (Yampolskiy, 2007. P. 348, 350). M. Yampolskiy associates this phenomenon with the concept of “representation”that shifts the focus from an artist’s skills to his semi-mythical ability to see images that appear in front of his internal vision of imagination (Fig. 2). Johann Wolfgang von Göthe in his article “On the arabesques” (Von Arabesken," 1789) published in “Der Teutsche Merkur” journal connects the concept of arabesques with the phenomenon of ornamental grotesque of antiquity (Dezhurov, 1993).

 

 

Fig. 2. Arabesques. Illustration from Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (1890—1907).

 

 Immanuel Kant (1966) found arabesques as the best image of “free beauty”independent from the comprehension of an object; and he used life flowers as an example. Russian writer Nikolay Gogol (1835) represented his book “Arabesques”as a mixture of miscellaneous materials such as journalism, esthetics, and prose. However M. Yampolskiy (2007) sees in the book not just heterogeneity of the pieces but “the presence of motion that is capable to form these pieces in one form," and the main role of arabesques by N. Gogol, in M. Yampolskiy’s interpretation, is “the combination of earthly and heavenly, material and ideal” (p. 352, 353). Musical pieces in arabesque genre stand out for its elegance and rich musical structure; it is a genre of an instrument theatrical piece composed predominantly for piano (i.e., Robert Schumann, Claude Debussy), generally with a complex structure, richly ornamented design and “lacy”melodic curves (Kupriyanov, 2008).

The free artists at the beginning of the 20^th century (Henri Matisse, Maurice de Vlaminck, Andre Derain and others) painted in a so-called “fauvism”style to recreate a landscape image as the arabesque of observation. This metaphorical term stood for a process of induced landscape structuring along intentionally distorted lines. The landscapes painted in the fauvism style are imbued with striving to project the intensity of life in nature.  Their decorative effect was based on an aggressive tone of big splashes of pure contrast colors pushed to the limit (Benjamin, 1993. P. 307). Nature and landscapes served them not much as an object of illustration, but rather as a cause for creating tense and expressive colorful symphonies, however keeping the connection with the seen reality (Fig. 3). The fauvists took the main color inspiration and motif from nature but enhanced and gave an edge to it, often using a color outline to divide color splashes (Duthuit, 1977; www.zavadskaya.wordpress.com).

 

 

Fig. 3a. Nude in Sunlit Landscape. Henri Matisse (1869-1954) (album.foto.ru/photos/22631)

Fig. 3b. Landscape with red trees. Maurice de Vlaminck (1876 –1958) (http://www.arteyes.ru”painting.morris-de-vlamink.vlamink.html)

 

Later foliage patterns consisted of stylized foliage, flowers, and stalks came to be called arabesques (see Fig. 4). In these latter days any glimpse sketches, “Ligature”of facts are called arabesque, while an English-Russian dictionary defines “arabesque”as “crank” (Addition to the Big English-Russian Dictionary, 1980).  A. Kupriyanov describes events and life line tangles of the great representatives of botanical science in his two books “Arabesques of botany” (2003, 2008).

Here we will study some uncommon biological and ecological features of the tree species naturally growing in forests of Russia. Unlike murderous vampire trees occurring in foreign forests (Fig. 5a, b) all our trees have infallibly peaceful features.

 

Fig. 4. Arabesgue motif on silk (http://attoptem.ucoz.ru/news/struktura_arabeski_pechat_shelkovoj_tkani_khrizan/2013-05-20-12).

 

 

 

“American Weekly”, January 4, 1925 (Menninger, 1967).

 

Fig. 5a. Man-eater trees devouring birds, monkeys and people were discovered by explores in the 19^th century in the jungle on different continents. (http://akmaya.ru/post129362912/); (http://animalspace.net/asanimals/asmythical/271-suschestva-okazavshiesya-mifom.html). “Vampires of the green world demonstrate complex types of movements, often more aggressive than most animals. They have at least hunting and digestive reflexes, lie in waiting skills, and dispose of bio-waste. Now and then it seems they have a consciousness of this, although it’s a destructive one. “Vampire”plants are one of the miraculous wonders of the nature. O. Borisov (2013) states that if human vampirism refers to the realm of legends then plant vampirism is a proven scientific fact.

 

 

 

Fig. 5b. Trees-vampires. Painters: Édouard Riou (1833-1900) (Jules Verne “Five Weeks In A Balloon”, 1863) and

Max Ernst (1891-1976) (“A week of kindness”, 1934).

 

 

Since Ancient Rus’ forest has always played the role of a man’s friend and defender from different hardships, such as so called “foreign monsters,”African and Australian dragon tree and different kinds of bottle trees (Fig. 6a,b) don’t play into the ideology and the structure of the book.

Therefore our forests stood at the origins of Russian people’s distinctive culture.  Back in the 19^th century Russian thinker-russophile, philosopher, and sociologist, Nikolay Danilevskiy (1822-1885), noted that unlike steppe nomadism, that ’indulges in laziness,’ the forest promoted a settled lifestyle of the Slavs, a development of primary culture and hence had a “strong cultural and tribal power”. The forest also had another influence, “forest with its mystic grounds and shade brings a poetic spirit to the people living in it”. I don’t think that this distinctive culture could originate without any outside influence otherwise than in the forest country” (Danilevskiy, 2011. P. 276-277).

   

 

 

Fig. 6a. Dragoon Tree. (lat. Dracaena draco). Medieval scientists considered it as a half animal and half human and the red juice as real blood. (http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/ugolieok/post255567355/).

Fig. 6b. Baobab (lat. Adansonia digitate). Tree spicy occurring in African savannah. (http://photoflowery.ru/photo/c6/c6f20844573aebbab24a53760fd308b8.jpg).

 

Perhaps the forester Boris Sergunenkov (1981) experienced that particular sensation of unity with forest, a sense of it, that distinct call of the wild while living in the forester’s office for a long time. “When I walk in the forest and look absently around and then suddenly stand there like as if I was made of stone, or listen to the noise of a pine and I can stand like that for an hour or two not moving a muscle, enjoying the sun or feeling the breeze; and I forget about the forest, people, about myself and my existence and I think to myself if I’m becoming a pine? I feel the sun and the wind is like my brother and I stand turning to stone, and any bird could nest on my top and I would not bother it. I can sense unfamiliar smells then, notice unseen tones of grass and flowers, and I am still a human being and sort of not, but a pine or an animal. The forest, trees, ground, grass are all close to me, like I was born here; I feel the connection, a nearby tree seems to be my brother, the river is indeed my sister…” (P. 346-347).

B. Sergunenkov’s book named “My forest” is a unique inspired poem to the forest. “Woods were still. They are quiet.  They make noise but soundless. Why is it so? Because forest can never be quiet. It can only aim to be quiet and still. If you let it be still it will immediately disappear, die and fade away, even when it is still it always goes forward, moves every hour, every minute with its every grass blade, waves its every leaf. The forest is meditative, it is menacing, angry and gloomy and it rejoices. It always speaks loud or under breath, or loud and quiet at the same time” (P. 341-342). One more thing, “It is hard to believe but the woods feel shy of good deeds. There is nothing more disgusting for it than to seem good. That would be clear if it was naturally shy. But it is not. As opportunity offers it can demand something and stand up for itself. This shyness of course has nothing to do with qualms of conscience after an evil deed; it has a different root. After all it doesn’t lead to disharmony or mental disorder but to a pure feeling of stability. But also this shyness puts it in so much trouble that it is ready to abandon good deeds gladly, and if it doesn’t do it it’s not because the forest doesn’t want to, but because it cannot. Here it gave water to the one who was thirsty, gave some berries to those who were hungry, showed the beauty and kept out of danger and did what it was supposed to do. “What should I be proud of?”, – the forest thinks. What did I do that I can be proud of?” I gave water to one thirsty man but how many are still thirsty? I fed a hungry one with berries but how many are still looking for food? Showed the beauty but how many are there who don’t see it, don’t feel it and don’t understand it?” (P. 34-35).