Economic Importance of Gymnosperms:-

Q. Describe the economic importance of Gymnosperms in detail?

Economic Importance of Gymnosperms:-

The Gymnosperms are an economically important group of plants spread all over the globe, primarily in the temperate regions and at higher elevations in the  tropics. The trees are used for landscaping, timber, building construction, resin and for the manufacture of paper and board.

Wood:-

·       The wood of Abies alba, an important timber tree of Europe is used in general carpentry. It is white or yellowish white, light, soft with distinct annual rings. It finds use in the sound boards of musical instruments, carving, wood wool, boxes , paper pulp , planks and boards. After treatment with preservatives or copper sulphate, it can be used as telephone and telegraph poles.

·       A.balsamea is distributed mainly in North America and Canada. The wood is light, weak, and knotty and is used for ordinary buildings and box-making. It is increasingly being used with spruce , as pulp –wood for paper making. A. amabilis (in Alaska) , A. grandis (Canada ), A. concolor (Western N. America ) and A. procera (America) wood is used for interior furnishing , box making , building purposes and general carpentry.

·       Agathis australis, Kauri pine‘the chief timber tree of New Zealand with its extremely tall, without taper cylindrical bole, ranks amongst the largest timber producing trees of the world. The wood is fine and even textured with a silky, lustrous surface. It is useful in building construction, boats, and vats and wooden machinery.

·        Araucaria angustifolia occurs mainly in Brazil yielding a non- durable, heavy and uniformly textured wood, useful in making doors , bus chassis , plywood and in joinery work.

·       A. bidwillie and A .cunninghamii are important timber trees for plywood manufacture in Australia. The wood is white or green colored and straight grained and easily worked. It is used for indoor finish, furniture, general house fittings, box wood , carving etc.

·       Cedrus atlantica (Algeria, Moroco) ,  C. deodara (India) and C. libani (Lebanon ) are much valued among conifers. The wood of Cedrus is in great demand as it is very durable , oily sweet scented and generally without resin ducts. C . deodara , the deodar , is one of the most important timbers of North India. The seasonal wood is resistant to the insect attack due to the presence of oil. It is used for making doors , poles , furniture  , beams , ceilings , columns , carriages , wagons , boats , flooring and wood carving. It was even used as battery separators and railway sleepers.

·       The wood of Chamaecyparis formosensis has a very smooth surface. It is used for making sound boards of musical instrumens.  C. lawsoniana , widely distributed in America , furnishes timber that is light , fine and even textured, moderately strong , very durable with fragrant and spicy odour. It is mainly employed for ship building , railway sleepers and fence posts , match sticks , furniture , organ pipes and internal finish of houses and flooring. It keeps away moths and insects.

·       Cryptomeria japonica yields a coarse-grained , fragrant , strong , durable , easy to work wood. It is one of the most utilized timbers of Japan. The bark is carefully stripped from trees and is used for roofing of houses. The wood is employed for building construction , paneling , furniture and joinery.

·       The wood of Phyllocladus rhomboidalis (Tasmania) is used for making masts of small vessels, flooring and building purposes. P. trichomanoides in New Zealand yields a strong , dense , heavy wood that finds use in building work , mine , timbers , marine pebs and sleepers

Resins:-

·       Resins are plant exudates which make the wood resistant to decay. Conifers are amongst the major resin yielders of the world. The resins are insoluble in water but soluble in organic solvents.

·       The superior grade resin is used in paper sizing , varnishes , enamels , plasters , medicines and ointments.

·       The pine oleoresin was used to smear mummies by ancient Egyptians. An oleroresin (also called pine gum, pine pitch or turpentine) is the mixture of rosin and essential oil. A pine tree yields only oleoresins from which rosin could be separated by distillation. The residue after the distillation of oleoresin is called the gum rosin or colophony. Rosin is also obtained by solvent extraction of old stumps. Such rosin is called wood rosin.

Copal:-

·       Copal belongs to the group hard resins which contain only a little essential oil. These are much valued in the varnish industry because of their high melting point and hardness.

·       Of the Copals, the most important and most valued is the kauri resin, also called ‗Kauri gum‘ or ‗Kauri copal ‗ obtained from the kauri pine. (Agathis australis). It occurs underground in fossilized form. The copal resin is used for interior work and enamels and in preparation of spirit varnishes , lacquers , linoleum , plastics , oil cloth, water proofing compounds , printing inks and as sizing material.

Canada balsam:-

·       The resin obtained from Abies balsamea has a very high refractive index nearing that of glass. This makes Canada balsam as the most preferred mounting medium for microscopic objects and cement for lenses in optical work.

Amber :-

·       It is a fossil resin secreted by the now extinct pine, Pinus succinifera. It occurs in blue earth near the eastern shore of the Baltic , Sicily, Madagascar and Myanmar (Burma).

·       It is used in medicine and x-ray therapy. It is reported that blood does not coagulate when kept in amber containers. It is also used for beads , carving and other ornaments , cigarette and cigar holders and mouth pieces of smoking pipes.

Essential oils:-

·       Picea abies yields spruce oil , that is pleasant and refreshing and is used in room sprays , bath salts and deodorants.

·       Abies sibirica, yields the Siberian fir needle oil, and is used in scenting of soaps (both toilet and shaving) , bath preparations , room sprays , deodorants and disinfectants.

·       The oil extracted from Cedrus deodara is used in perfumery and scenting soaps. It is also recommended for clearing tissues in histological work and for use with oil immersion lens of the microscope.

·        Cedrus atlantica yields an oil with medicinal properties. It is used against bronchitis , tuberculosis , skin diseases and gonorrhoe. 

·       The Cedar wood oil, obtained from Juniperus mexicana, finds its use in scenting soaps , room sprays , deodorants , insecticides , moth proofing , floor polishes , lubricating greases etc.

Fatty oils :-

·       Many Gymnosperms seeds contain fatty oils. Tall oil ( fatty acids : 20 to 60% , resin acid : 10 – 60 %  unsaponifiable material : 5-24%) which is obtained as a by-product during sulphate process of cooking , conifer wood for making craft paper, is used in paints , soaps , linoleum , emulsifiers , organic coaling industry etc.

·       The fatty oil obtained from the seeds of Ceplatoaxus drupacea is used as an illuminant in Japan, whereas the oil from Pinus cembra seeds is used for food and paints. 

Paper:-

·       Superior quality of writing and printing paper is manufactured from the wood of Picea , Tsuga and Abies. , whereas craft paper is obtained from Pinus . Most paper manufacturers consider that spruce is king.‘

Food:-

·       In many parts of the world Cycads are used as a source of starch- either from the seed kernels or from stem pith. The stem starch is more popularly known as ‘sago‘ and is mainly obtained from Cycas circinalis , C. rumphii and C. revoluta and also form Zamia and Macrozamia. 

·       The pith of Encephalartos stem is used in Africa to make ‘Kaffir bread‘.

·       The young unfolded succulent leaves of Cycas circinalis , C. pectinata ,C. rumphii and Cycas siamensis are cooked and eaten in the Malay Peninsula , Phillipines , India , Indonesia etc. 

·       Macrozamia spiralis and M.reidlei are an important source of stem starch in Australia . M. reidlei starch has been used for laundry. M spiralis starch has been exploited for conversion into power alcohol.

·       The cycads have long been known to be poisonous in nature. Eating seed  kernels can be an acute irritant and an intake of cycad leaves can affect nerves. The poisonous principle is inactivated by heating.

·       Pine seeds , have long been have been used as a food item for a long time. Pinus gerardiana , the Chilgoza pine, are grows in the Himalayas and its seeds are considered an important food item from Tibet to Afghanistan.

·       The best known edible pine in Europe is P. pinea. The cones are exposed to sun to expand the scales. The seeds are mechanically released to expose the kernels. The nuts are In Italy , used in soups, as dessert and in the preparation of a much valued sweetmeat. 

Tannins:-

·       Small quantities of tannins are obtained from the bark of Tsuga canadensis , Sequoia sempervirens, Larix decidua, Picea alba , Phyllocladus trichomanoides, Araucaria and Dacrydium cupressinum.

·       Tannins are mainly used in the leather and petroleum industry, in medicine and for dyeing purposes.

Drugs:-

·       The alkaloid ephedrine is extracted from the green branches of Ephedra sinica, E. equisetina and E. gerardiana .

·       Ephedrine is an important ingredient in the cough mixtures because of its action in dilating the bronchial tube. It also contracts mucous membranes and is used in nasal drops and inhalents.

·       An extract of leaves of Ginkgo biloba is useful in the treatment of cerebral insufficiency and Vertigo.

·       The leaves of Taxus baccata are used in asthma , bronchitis , hiccough, epilepsy and for indigestion. Taxol (from Taxus brevifolia ) has been shown to be effective against ovarian cancer ; breast cancer , non-small –cell cancer , melanoma and colon cancer.

·        The juice of young leaves of C. revoluta finds use for flatulence and vomiting blood. 

Decoration :-

·       The one single item that heightens the beauty of any hill resort / forest is the Conifers, be it a pine, cedar, fir, spruce, juniper or hemlock. They are a pride possession of any horticulturist or garden lover.

·        Picea and Abies are ceremoniously used as Christmas trees. Gymnosperms offer a good source material for developing ‘Bonsai‘plants.

·       The art of dwarfing trees originated in Japan and is now fancied the  world over. Juniperous chinensis,  Pinus parviflora, Pinus thunbergii, Pinus densiflora , P. nigra and P .mugo are some of the conifers used for this purpose. 

·       Cupressus junebris is generally planted around tombs and religious buildings.

·       Taxus and Ginkgo plants are used as ornamentals.

Other uses :-

·       Wood wool and leaf wool are obtained by longitudinally cutting wood chips or leaves of conifers into small pieces.

·       The wool is used for stuffing pillows, cushions etc. Wool from essential oil- yielding conifers is in demand as it emits a very faint and pleasant pine smell.

·       The bark from several trees such as Picea abies, Pinus sylvestris, Pinus contorta , P. ponderosa and Tsuga heterophylla is added to wood in making commercial boards of standard quality.

·       The bark and wood flour ( saw mill waste) are used for making linoleum , plastics , artificial wood, composition flooring , insulating bricks and as an absorbent in the manufacture of dynamite .

·       Malco-pimaric acid , obtained from crude pine – pitch , is used in printers , ink, paper sizing and photographic chemicals.

Source of Information and study:-

Gymnosperms – page 403 BY. S. P . Bhatnagar

The Gymnosperms BY.  B. M. Johri