Deciduous Forest Plants

Forests play an essential role in maintaining the balance of the ecosystem. One third area of the Earth is covered with many types of forests like temperate forests, sub tropical forests, dry tropical forests, moist tropical forests, alpine forests and sub alpine forests. The deciduous forest falls under the category of sub-tropical forests. These trees are found in the deciduous forest biome in Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia and the United States.

The name deciduous is taken from the Latin word decidere, which means to fall off. This term is used in the context of trees that tend to shed their leaves during a particular season, especially autumn, every year. The leaves change their colors and fall off in autumn and grow again when spring arrives. The rate of activity is hence reduced during the winter. In this way, these plants become dormant or go into a sleeping phase in winter and bloom again in spring. Plants in the deciduous forests grow in layers like in 3 or 4 layers. Some forests even have up to 5 layers of plants;

• The top layer or canopy consists of tall deciduous trees with a thick foliage. Though the leaves are thick, they allow sunlight to pass through, encouraging the other layers of plants to grow.
• Shorter trees and saplings grow in the second layer. This layer consists of trees like redbud, flowering dogwood and sassafras.
• Shrubs grow in a dense thicket, in the third or understory layer. These shrubs tend to grow up to a height of 2 meters above the ground level.
• The next layer is where herbs like wildflowers, ferns and berries grow. These herbs develop and grow quickly before the leaves on the trees develop in spring, when there is ample sunlight available.
• The last and final layer is where lichens and mosses grow. These grow on tree trunks or close to the ground.

Deciduous Plants and Their Adaptations

It is very interesting to note that even plants adapt themselves to the changing climate. Given below are a few adaptations of temperate deciduous forest vegetation

• In the summer, the leaves of the forest plants become broad to capture maximum sunlight and convert it into food by the process of photosynthesis. Only the required amount of food is used and the rest is stored for the winter, in the roots.
• When the days become short and the weather turns cooler, the green pigment, called chlorophyll, starts to decompose and turns into bright hues like yellow, red and orange.
• When the winter sets in, the deciduous forest plants go into a state of dormancy. They shed their leaves and form a protective shield, called a leaf scar, on the place where the leaves used to be. If the leaves are not shed, the water in the leaves would freeze and damage the leaves, making the plant vulnerable to fungi or bacterial growth. In order to prevent water in their stems from freezing, the plants make a concentrated sugar solution.
• When the weather starts to turn warmer, the trees grow new leaves and start the process of photosynthesis again.

Deciduous Plants Names

There are many types of temperate deciduous forest shrubs. The characteristic feature of the plants is their thick bark, usually gray colored. In the winter months, the trees shed their leaves, which grow back in the spring. Given below are a few names of the trees and shrubs that grow in deciduous forests.

List of Deciduous Shrubs

Mentioned below is a list of shrubs that grow in the deciduous forests alongside the trees. These shrubs can also be used for landscaping to add a stunning effect to your garden.

• Annabelle Hydrangea
• Azalea
• Alpine currant
• Ash Leaf Spirea
• Bumald Spirea
• Buffaloberry
• Butterfly bush
• Bailey Compact American Cranberrybush
• Cranberry cotoneaster
• Common (French Hybrid) Lilac
• Common chokecherry
• Double Flowering Plum
• Double Flowering Plum (Rose Tree of China)
• Dwarf Ninebark
• Japanese Barberry
• Kelsey Dogwood
• Purpleleaf Sandcherry (Prunus cistena)
• Pussywillow
• Wayfaring-tree Viburnum
• Tamarisk

List of Deciduous Trees

Though there is not much vegetation in the forests, there are many species of trees which produce large boughs of attractive flowers. These trees also provide shelter to the animals dwelling in this biome.

• Acer buergerianum
• Acer griseum
• Albizia julibrissin
• American Hornbeam
• Amur Maple (Pyrus calleryana)
• Betula jacquemontii
• Carpinus betulus
• Cercis canadensis
• Catalpa bignonioides 'Aurea'
• Common Persimmon
• Dogwood
• Fagus sylvatica
• Freeman Maple
• Henry Maple
• Heritage River Birch
• Japanese Maple Cult
• Japanese Whitespire Birch
• Magnolia
• Norway Maple
• Nyssa sylvatica
• Oxydendrum arboreum
• Pistacia chinensis
• Red Maple
• Southern Sugar Maple
• Trident Maple
• Tatarian Maple
• Three Flower Maple
• 'Winter King' Hawthorn
• Purpleleaf European Beech
• Yellow Wood

These were the plants that are found in deciduous forests across the globe. These plants adapt themselves to the environment they are planted in. You can even find some species of deciduous plants in gardens and nurseries.