CHRONOBIOLOGY OF TREES: SYNTHESIS OF TRADITIONAL PHYTOPRACTICES AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, AS A TOOL OF FUTURE FORESTRY
Ernst Zürcher
Introduction
The subject presented here is linked to the fact that most organic processes and the structures which result from them have a
rhythmic character. In the plant world in temperate latitudes, it is immediately obvious that the germination, growth,
maturation and perennial structure formation in trees are marked by an alternation between active and resting phases. This
alternation is materialized in the morphology of the shoot or in the architecture of the tree, and on an anatomical level, in the
succession and the internal structure of the growth rings.
This rhythmical characteristic of plants has always had to be taken into account by man, a heterotrophic being, for his
subsistence.