Palm | Kelapa Sawit

This year's PostEurop announced the annual theme  is "Forests". Therefore the Czech Post issued the single stamp depicts the alluvial forest and its environment on May 4, 2011. This stamp was designed by Adolf Absolon.

The presence of a stream or river, or a high level of underground water leads to a lower amount of oxygen in the soil and subsequent reduction processes. The products of the processes contribute to the typical bluish colour and special smell of the so-called gley soil.

Primary trees found include poplar (Populus L.), oak (Quercus L.) , ash (Fraxinus L.) , elm (Ulmus L.) , alder (Alnus L.) , willow (Salix L.) , lime tree (Tilia L.) . Shrubs and small trees, such as cherry (Prunus serotina) , honeysuckle (Lonicera) , cornel (Cornel) , viburnum (Viburnum) , elder (Sambucus) , are present at places with more light.

The mix of plants found in alluvial forests depends on the shadow prevailing in the lower layers of the forest. Creepers, such as hop vine (Humulus lupulus) , try to penetrate into the upper layers. Other plants, such as ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea) , bramble (Rubus) , catchweed bedstraw (Galium aparine) , spread by vining stems.

Light-demanding herbs flowering before leaves bud on the surrounding trees give the forest so-called spring aspect. Spring snowflake (Leucojum vernum) , snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) , lesser celandine (Ficaria verna) , yellow star-of-Bethlehem (Gagea lutea) , starwort (Stellaria holostea) , lungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis) , early-dog violet (Viola reichenbachiana) , hollowroot (Corydalis cava) , are among the herbs most commonly encountered in spring.

A mix of grass species and other shadow-demanding herbs such as wild angelica (Angelica sylvestris) , true forget-me-not (Myosotis palustris) , yellow flag iris (Iris pseudacorus) , enchanter's-nightshade (Circaea lutetiana) , European birthwort (Aristolochia clematitis) , moneywort (Lysimachia nummularia) , creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens) , common comfrey (Symphytum officinale) , common figwort (Scrophularia nodosa) , touch-me-not balsam (Impatiens noli-tangere) , cover the ground in summer.

The patchy mossy underground tends to cover maximum 10% of the forest floor.Soil fauna in alluvial forests is relatively rare due to the high amount of water in the soil. Earthworms and harvestmen are among the most common species.

Amphibians are frequent in wet areas. Birds typical of alluvial forest include yellow throat, different species of warbler, chaffinch, whitwing, robin, starling, stork, silver and night herons, bee eater, buzzard, kite, hawk, falcon, sea eagle.(Resources from Czech Post Information)

On 16th of June 2010, the Czech Post has issued the nature stamp series depicted the Protected Landscape Area Žďárské Hills. This issue only one postage stamp.

The Protected Landscape Area Žďárské Hills is located on the border of the Pardubice and the Vysočina regions (the latter was established in 1970). 46% of the protected area, sized 70,940 ha, are forests, 44% farming land, 1.9% water areas, and the rest are built-up areas. The elevation above sea level varies from 490m to 836.3m.

 

 

The area covers the north-west culmination part of the Českomoravská Hills with the central massif of the Žďárské Hills and the related parts of the neighbouring hills. Its shallow and broad valleys, rather easy gentle slopes and round tops are typical of upland to mountainous landscapes.

This area of natural water accumulation is the location of the source of a number of Bohemian and Moravian rivers (Sázava, Chrudimka, Doubrava, Svratka and Oslava) and contains several pond systems (Velké Dářko, Veselský and Matějovský ponds among the largest ones, the Řeka and Medlov ponds among the smaller ones).

The climate is rather cold, wet, and windy. Forests, mostly artificial spruce monocultures replacing the natural fir and beech forest, cover about half of the area. The hills contain precious wetland and wet meadow communities with a significant presence of a number of protected and endangered plant species.

The Šumava Biosphere Reserve is to preserve the typical Šumava landscape and all of its traditional elements including the way of its cultivation. The biosphere reserve is located in the mountain area along the Austrian and Bavarian borders with the Czech Republic. The entire region was affected by human activities (such as gold mining, glass industry) and frequently used from as early as the 10th century. Šumava is also the last big central European area with an extensive way of using. The area abounds in ancient mountain forests, lakes of glacial origin, peat bogs, rivers and their canyons and similar values that have been preserved until the present day.

The Šumava-UNESCO Biosphere Reserve miniature sheet is the final one of the present series of six sheets featuring Czech biosphere reserves.This sheet was issued on 31. 8. 2011

The České středohoří uplands is located in the northwest Bohemia nearby the lower reach of the Labe river which is divided between two geomorphological sub-units - the Verneřické uplands on the right bank and the Milešovské uplands on the left bank.

The České středohoří uplands are the most massive sign of volcanic activity in the Czech Republic even though due to its size of 1,266 km2 it belongs only to lesser orographic units. Its characteristic features are volcanic conical hills which began rising from the sandstone seat in the late Tertiary as a Miocene formation approximately 23 million years ago
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The dominant of the České středohoří uplands is the Milešovka hill (837 m), one of the most windy hills in the Czech Republic. Passing through the region is the Litoměřice deep fault, the geological partition between the Krušné Hory and the Central Bohemian regions. Water streams exposing the solid subsurface magma and deepening valleys made the České středohoří uplands into a majestic landscape. The present volcanic rocks include the prevalent basalts and sound-stones and the less frequent trachytes. Sandstones and marls are the representatives of sediments.

In 1976 the České středohoří uplands were proclaimed a protected land area of 1,063.17 km2 and in terms of botany it seems to be the richest area in the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic has been issued  the  stamps features a view from the southern bank of the Ohře river at the Brníkov village on the early Baroque chateau in Libochovice and the basalt hill with the ruined castle Hazmburk and the surrounding hills. The stamps issued on September 2, 2009. Starting from the left they are the Solanská, the Hrádek, the Lipská, the Hazmburk, the Milešovka, the Košťál, the Kletečná and the Lovoš hills. This picturesque panorama enchanted the painter Emil Filla who in the period of 1950-52 created panoramic paintings of the České středohoří uplands.

Therefore the Czech Post to commemorate the joint project of forty countries to draw attention the protection of polar regions and glaciers as set up at the initiative of Finland and Chile by issued the miniature sheet of stamp feature the impact of global warming to the polar regions on February 11, 2009.The common symbol of all issues is a crystal designed by the Finnish graphic designer Saku Heinänen.This project is unique mainly because the initiative of the two countries found response in dozens of postal administrations in different parts of the globe who aimed to address both the peoples and governments all around the world.