标签森林下的文章

森林中的结香花，日本 Mitsumata (aka paperbush) in a forest in Japan (© nattya3714/Getty Images)

是金色的花朵？还是造纸的灵魂？ Golden flowers, paper banknotes?

Mitsumata blossoms

Stress seems to melt away when you gaze at this serene forest protecting the mitsumata blossoms below. While the flowering buds are beautiful in their natural state, the mitsumata shrub (Edgeworthia chrysantha) has so much more to offer. Originally brought from China to Japan by monks, the green plant is now a staple of Japanese papermaking and one of three principle ingredients in washi, traditional Japanese paper. No wonder, then, that it's also known as the Oriental paperbush. Mitsumata washi is dense and holds ink well—it's a favorite of artists and calligraphers—and sheets of mitsumata paper are also used in traditional shoji screens.

It's this very versatility and strength that made mitsumata a natural candidate for Japanese banknotes. The dense, short fiber from the inner layer of bark helps create sturdy currency that can withstand millions of grubby hands and transactions. Mitsumata made its Japanese banknote debut in 1879, and it's still used in currency there today.

Want to see mitsumata in bloom? Spring's the time to catch the golden flowers, and gardeners note that you'll smell the heady, almost spicy fragrance before you see the bush itself. After the flowers fade, the leaves take on a bluish, silvery hue, and in autumn they turn golden themselves.

三宅多花

当你凝视这片宁静的森林，保护着下面的三缄花时，压力似乎消失了。虽然花蕾在自然状态下是美丽的，但三宅田灌木（Edgeworthia chrysantha）还有很多可以提供的。这种绿色植物最初是由僧侣从中国带到日本的，现在是日本造纸的主要原料，也是日本传统纸张“和纸”的三大主要成分之一。难怪它也被称为东方纸丛。三宅和美是一种密度高、墨迹好的纸张，是艺术家和书法家的最爱，传统的幕布也使用三宅和美的纸张。

正是这种多才多艺和强大的实力，使三田成为日本纸币的天然候选。树皮内层密集的短纤维有助于创造出坚固的货币，可以承受数百万肮脏的手和交易。三濑于1879年首次发行日本纸币，至今仍在日本使用。

想看三浦田盛开吗？春天是捕捉金花的时候，园丁们注意到，在你看到灌木之前，你会闻到令人陶醉的、几乎是辛辣的香味。花凋谢后，叶子呈现出蓝色、银色的色调，到了秋天，它们自己也变成了金色。

奥卡拉国家森林中的杜松泉，美国佛罗里达州 Juniper Springs in Ocala National Forest, Florida (© Michael Warren/Getty Images)

全年均可在此畅游 You can take a refreshing dip here any day of the year

Juniper Springs, Florida

Yes, the water here is as inviting as it looks: clear as glass, the shade of a precious gem, and a perfect 73 degrees every day of the year. Set within a subtropical forest, it is a veritable Garden of Eden. Long before Disney arrived in the Sunshine State, natural springs like this one were what visitors flocked to. Juniper Springs, seen here, is one of Florida's oldest and best-known recreation areas, established in the 1930s as a place to camp, hike, paddle, and, of course, swim.

Florida is home to the largest concentration of freshwater springs in the world, with more than 1,000 of them scattered mostly across the upper part of the state, where the massive Floridan aquifer breaks through the surface. This underground reservoir hides beneath the entire state and parts of neighboring states. Under constant pressure, the water sometimes reaches voids in the surface, and a spring is created. This aquifer provides Florida with almost all its drinking water.

Like so many of our natural resources, Florida's springs are under threat. Overextraction and pollution from fertilizers and septic systems have put some springs in peril. Luckily for anyone visiting Juniper Springs, these jewel-toned waters are protected by the Ocala National Forest, so it's likely to look like this for a long time.

佛罗里达州杜松斯普林斯

是的，这里的水和它看起来一样诱人：清澈如玻璃，宝石般的阴影，一年中每天都有完美的73度。它坐落在亚热带森林中，是名副其实的伊甸园。早在迪士尼抵达阳光之州之前，像这样的天然泉水就是游客们蜂拥而来的地方。这里所见的刺柏泉是佛罗里达州最古老、最著名的休闲区之一，建于20世纪30年代，是露营、徒步旅行、划桨，当然还有游泳的地方。

佛罗里达州是世界上淡水泉最集中的地方，其中1000多处主要分布在佛罗里达州的上半部分，那里巨大的弗洛里丹含水层穿透地表。这个地下水库隐藏在整个州和邻近州的部分地区之下。在恒定的压力下，水有时会到达表面的空隙，从而产生一个弹簧。该含水层为佛罗里达州提供了几乎所有的饮用水。

和我们的许多自然资源一样，佛罗里达州的泉水也受到威胁。肥料和化粪池系统的过度抽取和污染已经使一些泉水处于危险之中。幸运的是，对于任何参观Juniper Springs的人来说，这些宝石色的水域都受到奥卡拉国家森林的保护，所以很可能很长一段时间都是这样。

西西伯利亚森林中的阳光，俄罗斯拉杜日内市附近 Sunlight in the forest of Western Siberia, near the city of Raduzhny, Russia (© Leonid Ikan/Shutterstock)

Winter solstice

The whole Northern Hemisphere will experience the winter solstice today, but the farther north you get, the more obvious it'll be. In high-latitude areas like here in Siberia, the sun's arc cuts especially low across the sky as winter sets in. Today, this spot near the city of Raduzhny will barely get 5 hours' daylight.

Of course, even in the hotter climes of Earth's northern half, today is the shortest day of the year. So, while you wait for the long night to set in, make those daylight hours count!

冬至

今天整个北半球都将经历冬至，但你越往北走，冬至就越明显。在西伯利亚这样的高纬度地区，冬天来临时，太阳的弧线划破天空的距离特别低。今天，拉杜兹尼市附近的这一地区几乎没有5小时的日照。

当然，即使在地球北半球的炎热气候中，今天也是一年中最短的一天。所以，当你等待漫漫长夜来临的时候，让那些白天变得有意义！

Invergarry村庄附近的森林，苏格兰 Forest near the village of Invergarry, Scotland (© Matt Anderson Photography/Getty Images)

The Great Glen

Was this photo taken in a peppermint forest? This rare and delicate hoarfrost may look like a confectioner's coating, but it's just the ice that forms when the Scottish Highlands' fog mixes perfectly with a sharp cold snap.

We're in a storied section of Scotland—sort of a lowland of the Highlands—called the Great Glen. This deep valley runs 62 miles coast to coast—from a North Sea inlet on the east to Loch Linnhe on the west. The Great Glen's gentle slopes enclose fairytale forests like these as well as quaint villages and lochs—including nearby Invergarry and Loch Oich, respectively.

大峡谷

这张照片是在薄荷林里拍的吗？这种罕见而微妙的白霜看起来像糖果店的外衣，但它只是当苏格兰高地的雾与刺骨的寒流完美混合时形成的冰。

我们在苏格兰的一个历史悠久的地区，有点像高地的低地，叫做大峡谷。这个深谷从东到西从北海的一个海湾到林河湖，沿海岸延伸62英里。大峡谷的缓坡环绕着童话般的森林，还有古雅的村庄和湖泊，包括附近的因弗加里湖和奥奇湖。

马德拉岛的法纳尔森林，葡萄牙 The Fanal Forest on Madeira Island, Portugal (© Val Thoermer/Alamy)

These laurels are hardy

Go back 15 million years and you'll find most of Southern Europe looking like this fantasy forest: thick, scrubby underbrush canopied by wizened laurel trees. An epoch or two of human agricultural advances cleared those ancient woods, but patches persist on a few temperate Atlantic islands—Especially here on Madeira, a Portuguese-held island off northwest Africa.

The Fanal Forest, at almost 60 square miles, is the largest surviving laurel forest in the world. Ninety percent of the forest's growth remains uncut, and some of these long-in-the-root laurels have stood for 500 years.

这些桂冠很耐寒

追溯到1500万年前，你会发现欧洲南部的大部分地区都像是一片梦幻森林：茂密的灌木丛中覆盖着干枯的月桂树。人类农业的进步使这些古老的森林消失了一两个世纪，但在一些温带大西洋岛屿上，特别是在非洲西北部葡萄牙控制的马德拉岛上，仍然存在着一些斑块。

法纳尔森林面积近60平方英里，是世界上现存最大的月桂林。森林生长的百分之九十没有被砍伐，其中一些长根月桂已经存在了500年。

华卡雷瓦雷瓦森林的红木纪念树林，新西兰北岛 Redwood Memorial Grove in Whakarewarewa Forest, North Island, New Zealand (© Michael Breitung/Huber/eStock Photo)

A walk among the giants

On the New Zealand's North Island, Whakarewarewa Forest is home to a diverse range of native plants and animals. There's also a series of lakes as well as hot springs, bubbling mud pools, and even active geysers. But Whakarewarewa Forest features something that no other forest in New Zealand can claim: a grove of majestic redwood trees called the Redwood Memorial Grove. The trees in the grove were introduced from their native California at the beginning of the 20th century.

Today, the Redwood Memorial Grove is a popular hotspot for tourists hoping to walk among the giants, with an elevated walkway that winds through the roughly 600 acres of redwoods. Some of the trees have grown as high as 230-feet in the century since they were planted. These California transplants seem to have taken to their new home quite well.

在巨人之间散步

在新西兰北岛，Whakarewarewa森林是多种本地动植物的家园。这里还有一系列湖泊、温泉、冒着气泡的泥浆池，甚至还有活跃的间歇泉。但Whakarewarwa森林的特色是新西兰其他森林所不能声称的：一片雄伟的红杉林，称为红杉纪念林。树林中的树木是20世纪初从他们的家乡加利福尼亚州引进的。

今天，红杉纪念林是希望在巨人中漫步的游客的热门景点，它有一条高架人行道蜿蜒穿过大约600英亩的红杉林。自种植以来，其中一些树木在本世纪已高达230英尺。这些加利福尼亚州的移植物似乎很好地适应了他们的新家。

A storied trail marks a century

This is but a tiny portion of what's often called the longest hiking-only trail in the world. Today we're in Stokes State Forest along the top edge of New Jersey and those tell-tale two-by-six-inch white blazes tell us that we're on the famous Appalachian Trail (the 'AT' to those in the know). And what a day to be here, for July 8, 2021, is the trail's 100th birthday.

It was 100 years ago today that the trail was first conceived by a Connecticut forester named Benton MacKaye. MacKaye wanted to connect a series of farms and wilderness study camps across many states, and he liked the idea that the trail would be accessible to many via the towns and roads it would pass by. After more than a decade of work, the AT was completed in 1937 and currently stretches 2,190 miles (give or take a few) from Georgia to Maine and 12 states in between. Today we raise a birthday toast to 100 years of hiking and the millions of people from all over the world who have trekked at least a portion of these trails. Cheers!

一条传说中的小径标志着一个世纪

这只是世界上最长的徒步旅行路线的一小部分。今天，我们来到了位于新泽西州顶端边缘的斯托克斯州立森林，那些2×6英寸的白色火焰告诉我们，我们在著名的阿巴拉契亚小径上（对知情者来说是“AT”）。2021年7月8日是小径的100岁生日，这是多么美好的一天啊。

100年前的今天，康涅狄格州一位名叫本顿·麦凯的森林学家首次构思了这条小径。麦凯想把许多州的一系列农场和荒野研究营地连接起来，他喜欢这样的想法，即这条小径可以通过它经过的城镇和道路让很多人都能到达。经过十多年的努力，AT于1937年完工，目前从乔治亚州到缅因州以及其间的12个州绵延2190英里（大概几英里）。今天，我们为100年的徒步旅行和来自世界各地的数百万人举杯祝酒，他们至少跋涉过这些小径的一部分。干杯！

飘落的杜鹃花瓣铺在Grassy Ridge Bald山的小径上，北卡罗莱纳州皮斯加国家森林 Fallen rhododendron petals line a trail on Grassy Ridge Bald, Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina (© aheflin/Getty Images Plus)

A path lain with petals

Pisgah National Forest, in western North Carolina, is primarily a hardwood forest boasting 500,000 acres of mountainous peaks and cascading waterfalls that attract hikers, anglers, mountain bikers, and more. But from mid-May to mid-June, the crowds flock here to hike trails that lead to incredible views: acres of native Catawba rhododendrons in full blossom.

The trail pictured here leads to Grassy Ridge Bald and to the 'rhodies.' Grassy Ridge Bald is one of several treeless, grassy ridges found in Pisgah's Roan Mountains, which straddle the Tennessee and North Carolina border. The area boasts not just Catawba rhododendrons, but also huge swaths of orange flame azaleas and wildflowers. If you're lucky, you may even spot the rare Gray's Lily, which was first discovered on Roan Mountain.

铺满花瓣的小路

皮斯加国家森林位于北卡罗来纳州西部，主要是一片硬木森林，拥有50万英亩的山峰和瀑布，吸引着远足者、钓鱼者、山地自行车手等等。但从5月中旬到6月中旬，人们蜂拥到这里徒步旅行，这里可以看到令人难以置信的景色：成片的当地卡塔巴杜鹃花盛开。

图中的这条小径通向“草岭秃顶”和“罗地亚”。草岭秃顶是在横跨田纳西州和北卡罗来纳州边界的皮斯加罗恩山脉发现的几种无树、长满草的山脊之一。这个地区不仅拥有卡塔巴杜鹃，还有大片的橙色火焰杜鹃花和野花。如果你幸运的话，你甚至可以发现罕见的灰百合，这是最早在罗安山发现的。

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