Spring, beginning of oak vegetation

The growing season for non-evergreen trees such as oak is the time of year, from leaf emergence in the spring to fall yellowing. This period is marked by a strong activity of trees (growth, fruiting).

The growing season for non-evergreen trees such as oak is the time of year, from leaf emergence in the spring to fall yellowing. This period is marked by a strong activity of trees (growth, fruiting). It lasts 192 days on average and starts in early April for pedunculate oak and sessile oak.

From spring, when it blooms from its bud until the beginning of autumn, the leaf is green. Throughout the growth period, its cells are indeed full of a pigment essential to extract energy from sunlight, via photosynthesis: chlorophyll, which means “green leaf” in Greek. This energy is used to make molecules of sugars from water drawn from the soil, by the roots and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, captured by the leaves. The sugars produced by photosynthesis are then distributed throughout the oak.

Thanks to photosynthesis, oaks play an irreplaceable role. Trees and green plants are indeed, with some groups of bacteria, the only living beings capable of developing organic substances from mineral elements. It is estimated that each year 20 billion tonnes of carbon are fixed by terrestrial plants, from the carbon dioxide of the atmosphere. Green plants are the essential primary producers, the first link in the food chain. Non-chlorophyllous plants and herbivorous and carnivorous animals (including humans) are entirely dependent to photosynthesis.