Hey Blog! This post is about trees.
Trees – well, they’re tall, woody plants: excellent for use in building and crafting due to their strong wood; amazing for climbing and building treehouses in; and vital for all life because they absorb CO2 and release O2 as part of photosynthesis. They have been a part of people’s lives ever since our ancestors became primates, and before, so it is no wonder we have a deep affinity with them. I was inspired to write about them today for three reasons: I was helping in a woodland before the weekend, a tree I care for in our garden was coming into leaf, and we were watching a programme about restoring a woodland. However, enough about trees in general – what about specific (British, as I live there) trees?
Let’s start with the ‘King of Trees’ – the Oak. A tall broadleaf, it has lobed leaves and its nuts are called acorns. This name comes from Aik (Oak) Corn (nut). There are two types – Pedunculate and Sessile. The acorns of the former have long stalks, the leaves have short stalks – but for the latter, it’s the other way round! Prized throughout history for its hard wood, it has been used in almost every circumstance from tool handles to timbers for buildings and dugout boats. It is exceptionally hard, which makes it difficult to work with, but lives a very long time – “three hundred years to grow, three hundred years to live, and three hundred years to die” is a saying describing the life of an Oak, and if you trim it and work the wood cut from a growing tree, it can last for thousands of years and still be relatively strong.
Ash is very different to Oak, but at first glance the shape of the tree is similar. With a pliable, smooth-grained pale wood, it is commonly used in toolmaking, and provides a hard yet easily worked, finely finished surface. The buds are black; and the leaves are arranged in pairs along a stem, with a single leaf pointing out at the tip; they are smooth, and look quite like the generic ‘leaf’ shape. There is a saying “if the Ash is out before the Oak, then you shall expect a soak; if the Oak is out before the Ash, then you shall expect a splash” – referring to the rainfall level determined by which tree comes into leaf first. This year, it looks like we shall expect a splash!
Beech is a strong wood, with a straight grain and is very beautiful if well finished, but I don’t think it lasts well in water. The trees are mostly very tall, and the thick limbs are arranged in the perfect position for treehouses, if you can reach them. Beech leaves are normally green and shiny-smooth, turning brown/gold in autumn, though copper beeches are always a coppery red. The sound of walking under a beech wood in windy weather or autumn is wonderful, as the leaves blow in the branches or crunch on the floor.
Hazel grows well when coppiced – cut back to the ground after a few years of growth to encourage multiple shoots/trunks to grow. The straight stems are perfect for fences, hurdles, and children’s bows and arrows. I have a staff made from hazel, carved and painted when I was ten. Thought of as the tree of intelligence, it is said hazel nuts from the tree of intelligence were eaten by a fish, which was then inadvertently eaten by a boy who became a god of wisdom – or something like that. However, even if you don’t get to be the god of wisdom, the nuts are delicious! Hazel has fluffy leaves and sometimes slightly peeling bark, and lovely greeny-yellow catkins in spring.
Holly is an evergreen – the first on the list – and has dark green leaves all year round. The leaves are very spiky, so don’t blunder into them – you can get scratched! However, far from being an evil tree that scratches you, Holly is seen as a tree of protection, from dark magic and also lightning. Amazingly, it’s true – the spines on the leaves act as tiny electrical conductors, so having a Holly near your house may just help against lightning strikes. The wood of this tree is very pale, almost white, and quite easy to carve.
Yew is another evergreen, this time a conifer – a tree with needles rather than flat leaves. It has a reddish bark, and shadows seem to cling under the tree sometimes. Very common in churchyards, it is sometimes seen as quite a dark tree, full of evil – it is after all highly poisonous and pretty much all of it is deadly, so DO NOT EAT – but it is also a healing tree, as some medicines can be made out of it. The most famous use for Yew is longbows, and the most powerful non-composite bows are still made from this wood. This is because of the remarkable difference in properties between Yew’s heartwood and sapwood – the former resists stretching, and the latter resists compression, so together they form the fierce spring backwards which propels the arrow forwards. It is also a beautiful wood for turning on a lathe – it cuts so smoothly, and sands so prettily, it’s probably my favourite wood to turn!
Elder is more of a shrub than a tree, sometimes – but when it grows into a tree, it is recognisable by deeply grooved, almost cracked-looking bark, and its smooth green leaves which grow in a similar fashion to Ash. The branches are normally hollow, with a pithy inside rather than a woody core, which makes it less useful for substantial working but very useful for breathing tubes if you want to stay hidden underwater (never tried it, but that’s the theory) and musical instruments such as whistles and recorders – even though I never managed to make one sound. Associated with protection and neutral magic, it’s said you must ask the tree three times if you may take a branch before cutting one!
Alder, just to confuse you, is a completely different tree to Elder. Alder grows near water, often with the roots literally in the stream, and has small cones. I’ve never actually used alder wood, but I’ll have to find some to test soon – it reportedly becomes stone hard if submerged in water, which is understandable if it grows around streams!
Willow is another tree that grows near water. There are several species of willow, including Crack Willow, Pussy Willow, and Weeping Willow. Scientifically, there are over 350 different varieties! All willows have long, thin leaves, and some are quite brittle. The best-known application of Willow is in cricket bats, which are traditionally handmade of English willow. Willow bark is also a painkiller, as it contains a similar chemical to aspirin. Willow bark was used for this long before modern painkillers were developed.
Hawthorn is also known as the May Tree. It is a small tree, but has very large thorns, making it hard to push through. They are very knotted trees, but when carved they look beautiful. They are believed to be a fairy tree, under fairy protection, and it is unlucky to cut one down. It’s apparently unlucky to cut them at all, unless you do it on May Day, which is why they’re known as the May Tree. The berries, however, are freely gatherable, and make a delicious hawthorn jelly/jam. Don’t take too many, though – they’re a vital winter food source for birds and other animals!
Apple is a fruit tree, but also has a nice wood. Along with Oak, it is a tree which grows mistletoe, though some others do too. Apple is widely cultivated for its fruit, which are extremely tasty! “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” might not be foolproof, but is a good reminder of how good fruit is for you, and if you eat fruit early in life you might not need to go to the doctor so much later in life.
Cherry, like Apple, is a fruit tree – but the wood is very different. It is a reddish wood, like the fruits; and when polished produces a wonderful, coloured effect. There is no “a cherry a day keeps the doctor away” – but maybe just eating fruit in general will help!
Sycamore is a relatively new tree to Britain, and some particularly zealous conservationists believe it a non-native weed wood. However, it is not invasive, and has become part of the ecosystem to some extent. The wood is frequently spalted – has a fungus in which produces amazing speckly patterns – and is a wood of choice for bowl carvers and spoon carvers – many of my mice have also come from this wood. It is a broadleaf tree, which grows leaves with five pointed lobes, very like maple; and is recognisable by its quite smooth trunk of grey bark and green leaves which turn brown with black spots in autumn.
Here ends part one – look out for part two next post!