Rose

The deciduous tree, which grows up to 35 meters tall, is easily recognized by its palmately divided leaves and the green, soft-spined capsule fruits, which contain one to three shiny braune seeds. The foliage is particularly dense, making the horse chestnut a popular shade tree. In May and June, the white flower corollas appear. Yellow sap stains at the base of the flowers indicate to bees and bumblebees that food is waiting for them here, later the sap stains are red - there is no more nectar in these flowers.

Like all bean species, the soybean belongs to the butterfly family; its inconspicuous flowers give rise to pods, each containing two to six soybeans. Most varieties reach barely one meter in height, but their root system reaches a depth of 1.5 meters. Because they can absorb nitrogen from the air via their roots, which are colonized by nodule bacteria, they also grow in nutrient-poor soils.

On James Cook's South Seas expedition of 1770, the crew is said to have missed their tea and, without further ado, learned from the Aborigines how to brew a drink from certain leaves. The traveling botanist Joseph Banks gave the plant, which grows as a tree or shrub, its name: Tea Tree. The strikingly long stamens of its white flowers give it a puffy appearance at flowering time.