| 1 |
Quercus petraea
Sessile or Durmast Oak |
This oak is generally a taller, straighter and perhaps finer looking tree than the English oak (Quercus robur), but seldom achieves the gnarled picturesque qualities that characterise English oaks of advanced years. The sessile oak is more tolerant of cooler and moister conditions, being found at up to 500m in Britain, and is predominant in the west and north.
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| 2 |
Nothofagus antarctica
Antarctic southern beech,Nirre |
This elegant, fast-growing tree comes from Chile and was originally introduced to Britain in 1830. It is found in the highest, coldest and very wet places, on mountain ranges from Molina in the north, down to Cape Horn on Tierra del Fuego. Its small, heart-shaped leaves, which produce attractive autumn colours, are carried on tiers of fan-shaped leaves. |
| 3 |
Quercus semecarpifolia |
This lovely, Chinese evergreen oak is very rarely seen in Britain. Its lustrous green, leathery leaves have a conspicuous midrib and are often clothed in golden felt beneath when young. The species ranges across the Himalayas from Afghanistan to W. China as a component of mixed forests, reaching 30m in habitat, but seldom so tall in cultivation. |
| 4 |
Picea orientalis
Oriental Spruce |
The small-needled branches of this spruce are very distinctive and give the tree a finer appearance than the related European Christmas tree, Picea abies.
It is distributed in southern Russia, the Caucasus Mountains and north eastern Turkey. The separate male and female flowers of spruces are usually borne high on the trees in spring. The male flowers of this spruce are a very eye-catching red.
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| 5 |
Betula austrosinensis |
This large birch from southern China was not thought to be hardy in mainland Britain. It was thus with great pleasure that this plant, and another in Ray Wood, were seen to prosper in North Yorkshire. The seed was collected on an expedition to an isolated mountain (Fanjing Shan) in the north east of the Chinese province of Guizhou by Jim Russell, John Simmons and Hans Fliegner in 1985. This is the first introduction of this species from this province. |
| 6 |
Sorbus caloneura |
The seed for this plant was collected on an expedition to an isolated mountain (Fanjing Shan) in the NE of the Chinese province of Guizhou by Jim Russell, John Simmons and Hans Fliegner in 1985. This species was previously cultivated in Britain as an introduction by Ernest Wilson in 1904, but this form from Fanjing Shan has many advantages - an attractive spreading form and pink- or red-flushed young leaves that, although they emerge very early in the year, appear to be very hardy. Leaf emergence is followed by crowded clusters of white, hawthorn-like flowers that give rise, in autumn, to pear-shaped, golden brown fruits, densely pitted with white lenticels. |
| 7 |
Quercus castaneifolia
‘Green Spire’ |
This columnar, hybrid oak was raised at the Hillier Nurseries in 1948. It is thought to be a hybrid between the chestnut-leaved oak, q. castanifolia, and the Lebanese oak, Q. libani (Short Tree Trail No 8). The chestnut-leaved oak comes from the Caucasus and the Elburz mountains of northern Iran. It grows very large in cultivation - over 30m - and there is a massive specimen (c.1840 planting) growing near the Water Lily House at Kew. Sadly, due to felling, such large trees are not readily found in the Elburz today. |
| 8 |
Quercus libani
Lebanon Oak
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This elegant, slender-leaved oak with attractive foliage and large acorns occurs in Syria and Asia Minor. It was originally introduced in 1874.
The wind-pollinated oaks are not only promiscuous in cultivation, but in the Zagros mountains of Iran, near the Iraqi border in Kurdistan, this species occurs with two other oaks and all three appear to interbreed freely in the relict areas of what were once extensive oak forests.
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| 9 |
Hippophae rhamnoides
Sea Buckthorn
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A tall shrub found in the temperate areas of Eurasia with excellent resistance to exposure to maritime winds. It is attractive in summer with its slender, silvery leaves and in winter with its orange-yellow berries. The berries are avoided by most birds since they contain an immensely acrid juice but are sometimes eaten by pheasants.
In recent years several selections have been made in Russia and eastern Germany for the high vitamin C content of their fruit.
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| 10 |
Cedrus deodara
Deodar cedar |
The Deodar cedar takes its name from the Sanskrit word for the tree, which translated means “Tree of the Gods”. This cedar comes from the western Himalaya, where it grows at altitudes between 1100 and 4000m, making a very large tree up to 50m. It is distinguished from other cedars by its soft leaves and pendulous branches. The resilient, rot-resistant wood is much prized for building, including the construction of temples (hence its Sanskrit name); the ancient Egyptians used a related cedar to make sarcophagi for mummies. It was introduced to Britain in 1831, but does not produce such high quality wood in the climate of most of Britain, although some Scottish foresters believe that trials are worthwhile in the wetter, higher altitude regions of Scotland. |
| 11 |
Acer cappodocicum
Cappodocian maple |
The Cappodocian maple is widely distributed from the Caucasus and western Asia to the Himalayas, with one variety extending into China.
It makes a fine tree and is relatively fast growing and popular in gardens; there are a number of forms. Its broad, 5-7 lobed ‘maple’ leaves are quite distinctive, particularly in autumn, when they turn a rich butter-yellow; as a genus Acer is remarkable for the number of species that display highly ornamental autumn tints.
These young trees were raised from seed collected by a Kew field team in Pakistan, and it will be interesting to see how plants from this part of the species’ range perform in cultivation. The Chinese forms have proved a little tender, the Iranian forms quite hardy, but this is a new provenance.
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| 12 |
Alnus orientalis
Oriental Alder |
This small-leaved alder was collected by a Kew field team in Turkey, north of Alonya, in 1998, where it was growing at around 790m. It is not as fast-growing as other alders and makes a medium-sized tree. It is characterised by its ovate leaves and sticky buds and produces its catkins, which are also sticky at first, in March. It also occurs in Syria and Cyprus but the latter provenance, collected on a previous field visit, did not prove hardy at either Kew or Castle Howard. |
