Fruit-bearing wild forest trees are of great importance among the creatures living in the forest. It is very important for the animals living in the forest to eat and not starve. The greatest contribution of fruit-bearing trees is for the protection of wildlife. These trees should not be cut and necessary care should be taken.
Which Forest Trees Give Fruit?
- Pyrus elaeagrifolia
The fruit is a lying fruit, 3-4 cm in diameter, globose pear-shaped and juicy, at first green and hairy. when mature it is yellow-brown and hairless. There is a short window. Even if the taste is bitter and the fruit tree is sandy, it can be eaten.
- Mespilus germanica
It is walnut-sized, spherical and brown. It has 5 cores. When immature, the edible part of the fruit is hard and acrid. When ripe, the inside of the fruit becomes puree and has a sweet aroma.
- Prunus domestica
It is a tree that grows up to 10 meters and grows between 20-2000 meters. It grows in all parts of Turkey except the high plateau region of Eastern Anatolia and arid and very hot parts of Southeastern Anatolia. Wild plum (P. domestica), which begins to mature in August, can be eaten until October. The thin skin of the fruits of different shapes and sizes of the plum ripening in different periods are in green, yellow, red and purple colors depending on the species.
- Malus sylvestris
It is a broad-topped tree 8-12 m tall, deciduous in winter. In old trees, the trunk bark is cracked in large layers. Buds, young shoots, both sides of fresh leaves and stems are hairy. The leaves are 4 cm long, 1.2-2 cm wide, elliptical-egg-shaped, and the leaf margin is finely toothed. The flowers that open in May are pink-white in color and 3-6 flowers are found in clusters. The spherical fruit, which is green-yellow in color, 3-5 cm in diameter, matures in September-October and is sour. It is found almost everywhere in Turkey, in clearings in forests, at water heads. Its small fruits are important to wildlife. It is the rootstock of many of the cultivated apples in Europe and Western Asia.
- Prunus avium L.
It can reach 20-25 meters in length, It is a very valuable forest tree that grows in humid and semi-humid areas of our country between 50-1800 meters. Wild cherry (Prunus avium L.) with wide ecological scales is a fast growing deciduous forest tree species naturally found in Europe, North Africa, West Asia and therefore our country.
- Sorbus Sp
Rowan genus; It includes forest trees of different heights (3-25 m.), belonging to the Rosaceae family, deciduous in winter. The flowers are in the form of compound pseudo-umbrellas and the male and female organs are in the same flower.
- Crataegus sp
It is a deciduous tree, mostly tall shrub or 8-10 m tall. Young shoots of brown, green-red color are bare or hairy when fresh. The thorns that give the tree its name are not curved, but straight and singly. The buds are small, roundish. The leaves are 4-5 cm long and have deep 3-7 lobes. The ends of these lobes are bare or double toothed. The upper surface is dark green, the lower surface is blue-green and hairy. The white flowers that open in May form umbrella-like clusters.
- Cornus mas L.
The 1-2 cm long egg-shaped fruit is green at first and bright red when ripe. It has a hard core. The taste is sour and delicious.