Download Ash Beech Birch Hazel

Ash
Beech
Interesting facts:
Key identifying features:
• Up to 40m
• Bark smooth and grey when young but
rougher and darker when older
• Spring:
–
•
Purply-yellow flowers
Interesting facts:
•
Can press the nuts and get oil from them
•
True native tree
•
•
Branches curve down and up again like
a candelabra
Deer, badgers, squirrels, mice and birds like to eat
beech nuts
•
The ground beneath them is often bare so it is
easy to see old tree’s gnarled roots
•
Useful wood as it burns well and grows
quickly
•
It is a very adaptable wood – it can be
bent and is springy so can withstand
shocks, and so is used in many sporting
goods, e.g. oars, billiard cues, hockey
sticks, and also for furniture, carts and
tool handles
Summer:
–
•
Compound leaf - leaflets grow in pairs on the
leaf stalk with a single leaflet at the end
Autumn:
–
Long seeds contained in a key that spin like a
helicopter as they fall
Leaves fall off the tree when they are still
green
–
•
•
Winter:
–
–
Black buds on the twigs
Some brown keys hang on
Ash dieback disease – fungus causes
widespread damage to ash trees,
estimated losses are 60-90% in
Denmark, it has not reached Yorkshire
yet
Key identifying features:
• Up to 40m
• Smooth silver-grey bark
• Spring/summer:
– Waxy leaves
• Autumn:
– Leaves turn rusty brown
– Beech nuts grow in small
prickly cases called masts
• Winter:
– Narrow pointed buds
Birch
Story:
•
Wild woods in the wind in the willows – made up
of beech trees
•
Read a section of this chapter given in the
teacher’s pack
•
Things to think about
• How does it feel to be in the woods?
• What can you hear/see?
• What kinds of animals live in the woods? Is
there any evidence of them?
Hazel
Interesting facts:
Key identifying features:
• Up to 26m
• Bark white with pale grey
horizontal markings
• Spring:
–
•
Summer:
–
•
Brown catkins with clouds of
yellow pollen
Small tree, very fast growing
•
Compared to other trees it does not live a long
time, they often live less than 100 years
•
Paper can be made from birchwood
•
Oil from the bark can be used as an insect
repellent and the sap is a natural shampoo
Leaves turn golden yellow
Millions of small papery seeds
from the catkins float off in the
wind
Interesting facts:
Key identifying features:
• 4-7m
• Bark smooth often shiny, can
become cracked
• Spring:
–
–
Folklore:
•
Leaves are pale green and have
pointy toothed edges
Autumn:
–
–
•
•
Dangly yellow male flowers
Tiny red spiky female flowers
In ancient times brooms made of birch twigs
were commonly used to drive out the spirits of
the old year and were believed to ward off evil
•
Broomsticks made of birch have the added
benefit of these protective qualities
•
Autumn:
•
Winter:
•
Shrub or small tree
•
Seeds (hazelnuts) are edible and rich in oil
•
Squirrels bury these and help spread them
•
Wood is used for fencing and building
•
Forked sticks from hazel are used to find water
(water divining)
Summer:
–
–
–
Leaves are rounded and soft with a
pointed tip
Hazelnuts
Oval, smooth buds on hairy twigs
Folklore:
•
Is the tree of wisdom and learning
•
Wands made of this wood symbolise white
magic
Lime
Oak
Interesting facts:
Key identifying features:
• Up to 40m
• Dark grey or blackish bark
• Spring:
–
–
•
Soothing tea can be made from the
flowers, which is called tillelul
•
Flowers are very fragrant when in full
blossom in July
•
Are the noisiest of trees at this time – the
roar of bees in them can often be heard
50 yards away
Aphids like sucking the sap of the tree
which makes the tree and anything
underneath it sticky with honeydew
People carve beautiful things out of the
wood
•
Summer:
–
•
Heart shaped leaf, tapered to a
point with saw-toothed edges
Tufts of hair on underside of leaf,
make them feel furry!
•
Yellow white flowers hang from
bracts, which look like leaves and
act as sails to carry ripe fruits in
the wind
•
–
–
•
–
•
•
Tall trunk with upward pointing
branches
Male flowers called catkins
Early leaves are a brownish green
Summer:
Leaves are dense and shady with a
lobed margin
Autumn:
–
Winter:
–
Key identifying features:
• Up to 30m
• Bark on older trees is thick, greybrown and ridged
• Spring:
Acorns are green at first turning to
brown as they ripen
Winter:
–
Lots of twigs at the end of crooked
branches
Rowan
Interesting facts:
• Can live for over 700 years
• The trees roots mirror its branches and
stretch as far below ground as the
branches do above
• Look out for ‘knopper galls’ – gall wasps
lay their grubs in these trees
• Ships used to be made from oak, its wood
is still used to make furniture
Myths:
• Carrying a piece of oak with you gives you
good luck
• The largest oak tree in Britain is the Major
Oak in Sherwood Forest. Robin Hood is
said have hidden in a big hollow oak like
that one.
Sweet chestnut
Interesting facts:
Key identifying features:
• Up to 20m
• Smooth shiny-grey bark
• Spring:
–
•
Pointed, toothed leaflets
White creamy flowers in dense
clusters May-Jun
Autumn:
–
–
•
Is also called mountain ash
•
Berries are very attractive to birds and are an
important food source for migratory birds
•
Rowan berries can be made into juice, jam and
jellies.
•
The flowers strong, sweet smell attracts flies and
beetles
Summer:
–
–
•
Before the leaves appear the
young hairy twigs can be seen to
be tinged with purple
•
Leaves turn dark red
Red berries in dense bunches stay
on the branches after the leaves
have fallen
Winter:
–
Buds long and pointy
Key identifying features:
• Up to 35m
• Smooth bark
• Spring:
–
Folklore:
•
Thought to have protective powers
•
Was once widely planted by houses as a
protection against witches
Boats made of this wood were said to be
protected from storms and from going off course
Traditionally used to make spinning wheels –
could relate to the story of Sleeping Beauty.
•
•
•
Autumn:
–
–
•
Shiny, large and spiky leaves
with pointed teeth on the
edges
Leaves become golden yellow
Hedgehog-like seed cases split
open to reveal shiny, brownskinned nuts
Winter:
–
Can see how the bark grows in
spiral ridges around the trunk
Interesting facts:
• Can live for over 500 years
• Were introduced to Britain by the Romans – it is
said that the soldiers were given a porridge made
from these before going into battle
• The nuts can be eaten roasted or can be ground
to make flour
• Cakes and puddings can be made out of
sweetened chestnut puree
• The wood is very strong and so is grown for their
timber – often used as gateposts and stakes as
they last a long time
Holly
Sycamore
Key identifying features:
• Up to 35m
• Smooth bark at first, then later
scaly
• Spring:
–
–
•
Bright yellow flowers
Maple-shaped leaves
Autumn:
–
–
•
Interesting facts:
• Big and fast growing trees
• When the seeds turn brown they spin like little
helicopters to the ground and quickly take root
• Violins and floors are often made from sycamore
wood
• In the spring/summer they are covered in aphids
which attract lots of blue tits
Leaves go golden yellow
Winged fruits that look like
bunches of keys
Winter:
–
–
Interesting example of
how the bark peels off
– a good tree to take
bark rubbings from.
Key identifying features:
• Up to 15m
• Shiny smooth leaves
• Margin of leaves variable – they
usually have sharp spines but they
can be smooth
• Smooth bark which is silvery or
dark grey
• Spring/summer:
–
•
Autumn/winter:
–
Tall knobbly trunks
Green buds
Small pink flowers May-Jun
clustered in the leaf axils
Shiny red berries, often stay on
trees over winter
Pine e.g. Scots pine
Key identifying features:
• Up to 36m
• Bare trunk
• Bark is reddish-brown on the upper part
of the trunk, lower down it’s grey or
brown, rough and cracking into plates
• Needles are in pairs and are stiff and
pointed
• Spring:
–
•
Male flowers have yellow pollen and
female flowers are pine cones on the
tips on the shoots
Interesting facts:
• Cones can be used for weather
forecasting – mature cones forecast rain
by closing up to protect seeds, and open
in dry weather
• Resin which seeps through and hardens
on the outside of the trunk is a source of
antiseptic oil and is used for giving friction
to violin bows and ballet shoes
Folklore:
• Thought to have protective and healing
properties
• Placing pine branches over the bed is
thought to keep sickness away
After pollination pine cones seal up and
turn downwards. After 2 years they are
ready to fall and release the winged
seeds.
Folklore:
• Widespread belief that cutting down whole holly
trees brings bad luck
• Holly is seen as a charm against witchcraft
• It is often planted in hedgerows to prevent the
passage of witches, who were known to run on
the top of hedges
• Harry Potter’s wand is made of this wood
Yew
Interesting facts:
Key identifying features:
• Up to 25m
• Needles are wide, flat, soft and
finely pointed
• Bark is red or grey-brown and is
smooth and flaky
• Spring:
–
Summer:
–
Interesting facts:
• Commonest native evergreen
• Birds eat the berries in winter when the food is
scarce
• Bringing in boughs of holly to decorate houses is a
custom which goes back to pre-Christian times
• Male and female flowers grow on separate trees –
the female ones smell nice
•
Clouds of yellow pollen are
released when you tap the
male trees
Autumn:
–
Bright red fruits on the female
trees – sometimes called
‘snotty gogs’ or ‘snottle berries’
•
Darkest leaves of all evergreen trees
•
Are very poisonous
•
Live for a very long time, some are over 1000 years
old – some have been at Fountains Abbey since the
time when the monks lived here
•
Branches grow down to the ground and root
forming a new trunk and as a result of this unique
way of growth the yew is a symbol of death and rebirth
•
Can be planted as hedges, made into mazes or cut
into interesting shapes
Folklore:
•
Often planted over graves to protect and purify
the dead