VILNIAUS COLLEGE

BUIVYDISKES AGRICULTURAL STUDIES CENTRE

FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT

1st year student of accountancy department

LITHUANIAN NATURAL

Lecturer: Greta Pažėraitė

2004 Vilnius

Introduction

Some are green, some black, some blue. Some fly with one pair of wings other with more; those that cannot either fly or leap, they walk; some have longer shanks, some shorter. Some there are that sing, other are silent. And as there are many kinds of them in nature so their names were almost infinite.

Green all over- that’s aa bird eye wee of Lithuania. A third of the country is covered with green carpet of forest occupying an area of almost two million hectares; other fifth is resplendent with meadows of summer blossoms. At present, approximately 1500 species of higher plants, some 250 species of fungi grow in Lithuania. Nearly 300 endangered plant species have been includes in the Red Book and have been declared to be in need of protection. Lithuania has taken of responsibility of carrying ffor its nature not only for it self, but also for all of humanity.

The largest and strongest plants are recorded in Lithuania Book of Records. The tree with largest number of trunks-fifteen is a linden growing in Papilla; in tthe Akmene District. The country’s thickest and oldest tree is the oak of Stelmuze in the Zarasai District. Nobody knows its age for certain however, foresters maintain the giant to be more than a thousand year old. Eight man find it hard to link their hand’s around the 13,5 meter circumference. Of this meter tall oak. The part of Lithuania known as a Dzukija. The dense forest of Druskininkai and Varena some times referred to as Dainavos or Gudu wood, are the largest in area, covering some 1500 square kilometers. The forest of Dzukija has been famous for their natures bounty since olden times. Not only Lithuanians are fond of the mushrooms and berries of these ecologically clean forests. They’re ggathered, processed and sold to gourmands abroad.

For those not interested in the palate, there is a different kind of paradise in Dzukija. It is for romantics and lovers of nature, and one gut’s there along earthly roads rather than thought heaven gate. The Cepkeliai Reserve, Lithuanian’s largest, covering an area over 100 square kilometers. Charms the visitor with it’s serenity and it’s own rhythm of life giving the impression that time has stopped – Enormous marshes- with rare pplant’s are protected in this nature reserve. Towards autumn, the ground is decorated with red cranberry beads, daring the reckless to walk along the deceptively hard carpet.

A patient hiker in the Cepkeliai Marsh can count more than twenty ponds that are almost completely overgrown with vegetation. Some of these were formed thousand of years ago when the glacier receded.

The Ornithological Zuvintas Reserve, the oldest in Lithuania, is close neighbor of Cepkeliai Marsh. Zuvintas is in Alytus District with an area of some 50 square kilometers. Rare birds nest here, uncommon plant species thrive and Zuvintas, the largest marsh in Lithuania, heaves beneath your feet.

Those not fond of marshes are invited to romantic Eastern Lithuania with its shining blue eyes of lakes. The national park of Aukstaitija (Lithuanian highlands) it is pride and joy. Two thirds of the parks are covered with picturesque forests in witch over seventy species of rare plants have taken root. A celebrity of the national park, a real Tarzan figure, has built himself a strange abode under tall trees and among beautiful lakes. This middle-aged artist with a style of his own has long ago given up urban conveniences in exchange for the pleasures oof nature. He lives in the National park from spring till fall and cannot fight of his many visitors. People like to take a closer look his Tarzan’s way of life and to discuss his unusual daily routine.

TREES AS NATURE MONUMENTS

Since antiquity trees have played a very important role for man. They used to be considered the abode of the souls of the dead and were thought to have healing powers. People believed that soldiers killed in the bottle turned into trees and later rose to fight for their homeland again. Nowadays of unusual dimensions or age, or trees with strange arrangement of branches or unusual lumps, are declared ‘’nature monuments’’.

STONES AS NATURE MONUMENTS

Lithuania has many big stones that were brought from Scandinavia by glaciers. These large boulders and accumulations of them are often designated natural monuments.

THE WORD OF FLORA

Many plants because of their beauty smell or healing qualities are referred to by poetic names such as coco ovals, drop of the sun. Plants accompany man from birth to death: they heal and nourish, and provide fibbers and dyes. They colorful flowers are a feat for the eye and for the cloak, is the important for aa living organism. Plant provides animals, with shelter and food. Some groups of animals, especially insects, are related only to specific species of plant, and cannot survive without them. Compare natural meadows full of the flowers and butterflies with cultivated fields, or monotonous planted forests with old ones , and you will understand why it is so important to save the forest, marshlands, swamps, and meadows, the natural and semi natural vegetation, witch has survived in only one third of the country.

Lithuania is a small country, but its plant life is very diverse. The northern limits of the hornbeam divide the country into two parts. The spruce forests of Zemaitija, ash forests of northern Lithuania and meadows abundant in mealy primroses grow to the north; while oak forest’s, with a mixture of hornbeam and lime, and marshlands with brook thistles grow to the south of the line. In the south-east lie the dry pine forests of Dzukija, typical of Central Europe, with mountain arnica and Lithuanian catchfly. All this diversity of plant life is represented in national and regional parks where serious attentions are focused on the issue of the vegetation.

1. Antiquity – senovė

2. Arrangement – komponavimas,

sudarymas, išdėstymas

3. Green carpet – žalias kilimas

4. Linden – liepa

5. Hornbeam – skroblas

6. Loom – dunksoja

7. Semi-natural – pusiau gamtinis

8. Bounty – dosnus

9. Coco – kokoso palmė

10. Serenity – ramumas

11. Charms – žavesys, burtai

12. Rhythm – ramumas

13. Deceptively – apgaulingas

14. Glacier – ledynas

15. Nest – lizdas

16. Species – rusys

17. Marsh – pelke, liunas

18. Picturesque – vaizdingas

19. Monument – paminklas

20. Spruce forest – graziai apsirenges miskas

Naudota literatūra:

Discover Nature

Lithuania with Love.