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Identifying features of common trees in Duchess Wood English Oak Quercus Robur (Pedunculate Oak) Shape: Heavy, spreading and twisting branches make a broad crown. Foliage in ‘clusters’. Height: to 38 m Bark: Grey; short, deep, knobbly ridges. Shoots: Grey Buds: Orange-brown oval buds; alternate along the shoot with a cluster of buds at the shoot-tip. Leaves: irregular deep lobes with 2 tiny lobes at the base (auricles) flank the short (4 to 10 mm) stalk. Small veins extend towards the deep, narrow sinuses between each lobe. Flowers: Curtains of yellow male catkins as orange leaves unfold. Female flowers are very tiny and grow along the shoot. Fruit: acorns often paired on a 5 to 12 mm stalk (peduncle) – acorns not produced every year in an effort to limit populations of acorn-predators. Where does not like to grow: marshy, chalky, or very light soils. General information: Supports a greater variety of leaf-eating insects than any other tree. Sessile Oak (Quercus petracea) Shape: cleaner and less twiggy that an English Oak; larger, glossier leaves that are evenly spread. Height: Often taller (up to 42 m) than English Oak. Bark: As English Oak; can be more shallowly scaly. Shoots: As English Oak. Buds: Tend to have more scales than English Oak. Leaves: with regular, rather shallow lobes; main veins hairy underneath at first and generally only running to lobe tips. Base broadly tapered (only sometimes and faintly showing the backward-pointing auricles of the English Oak); on a 12 to 20 mm stalk. Flowers: As English Oak. Fruit: acorns sit on the twigs with short stalks or none (sessile). Where does not like to grow: avoids heavy/alkaline soils. Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) Shape: A huge heavy dome, twisting short twigs on straight limbs Height: to 38 m Bark: pinkish-grey, stout Shoots: Greenish grey-pink, stout. Buds: Big and green; in opposite pairs with a single bud at the end of the shoot. Leaves: Large (to 18 x 26 cm on young trees) 5 different sized pointed lobes with many coarse, round-tipped teeth; dull-dark green; orange-brown in autumn; often blackened by Tar-spot fungus. Flowers: Yellow-green, on 6 to 12 cm tails; the keys hang from a central stem. Fruit: the classic paired, winged ‘helicopters’ or otherwise known as keys. Likes to grow: rich, heavy soils General information: supports a high insect biomass, but the dense canopy prevents much growing on the ground beneath. Common ash (Fraxinus excelsior) Shape: very open; slender, cleanly curving limbs on an often long bole (main stem of the tree). The silvery shoots may droop then curl up like branches of a chandelier. Height: to 30 m. Bark: Pale grey, developing a usually regular network of shallow criss-cross ridges. Shoots: Grey. Buds: Black, oval in opposite pairs with a single bud at the end of the shoot. Leaves: In opposite pairs; 9 to 13 irregularly shaped, serrated leaflets (the side ones stalkless), dull above and white-downy under the lower midrib, on a slightly downy main stalk; the last native tree into leaf and often the first one to go bare. Flowers: pinky-catkin-like made up of lots of small flowers. Fruit: bunches keys, ripen biscuit-brown. Where it likes to grow: anywhere but light sandy soils. General information: pioneer species. Downy Birch (Betula pubescens) Shape: twiggy; the fine branches look like a fine mesh from below, scarcely weep. Height: to 28 m. Bark: Purple-red when young, taking long than silver birch to whiten. Old trunks have bands of grey, but little sharp vertical patterning. Can have black triangular patterning. Shoots: Softly hairy Buds: alternately arranged; big, long, sharp buds. Leaves: Rounded-triangular, single-toothed on downy stalks. Flowers: Catkins (the yellow male catkin is larger than the green female catkin) Fruit: Looks like a fatter, stouter version of the male catkin (green) Where it likes to grow: abundant everywhere on poor or damp, non-chalky soils. Silver Birch (Betula pendula) Shape: Twigs soon weep, like fountains; fine branches. Height: to 30 m. Bark: orange-red when young, soon white with rough black arrows/diamonds. Shoots: Slender, hairless; purple-brown with little white warts especially in the sun. Buds: alternately arranged; big, long, sharp buds. Leaves: Hairless on hairless stalks; very triangular with double teeth up the straight sides. Flowers: Catkins (the yellow male catkin is larger than the green female catkin); male? catkins remain at the end of the shoot throughout winter. Fruit: Looks like a fatter, stouter version of the male catkin (green) Where it likes to grow: prefers sandy soils. Goat Willow (Salix caprea) Shape: domed; weak arching branches in usually a single trunk. Height: to 22 m. Bark: grey: at first banded with small diamond shaped pits; soon with rather shallow, crisscross ridges. Shoots: grey (red/yellow in sun), thicker than most willows, soon hairless. Buds: alternately arranged on shoot; rather rounded, downy. Leaves: not more than twice as long as broad with the abrupt tip bent sideways; dark, wrinkly, a very fine grey-green felt beneath; few or no teeth. Flowers: precede the leaves. Male ‘pussies’ are gold; female flowers are silver and quickly shed fluffy seeds. Where it likes to grow: abundant except on the lightest soils. Grey Sallow (Salix cinerea) Shape: bushy, seldom long trunked. Height: to 15 m. Bark: Grows darker, shallower ridges than goat willow. Shoots: minutely hairy for a year; 2-year twigs ridged under their bark. Buds: alternately arranged on shoot; minutely hairy for a year. Leaves: Usually much smaller than goat willow; 2 to 3 times long as broad and broadest half-way up; a fine felt beneath plus odd rusty hairs under the veins. Semi-circular stipules (appendage, usually leafy at the base of the leaf or flower stalk) are common. Flowers: starting later than goat willow, the pussies are slightly smaller. Where it likes to grow: as abundant as goat willow except on dry sites. Common Alder (Alnus glutinosa) Shape: An approximate spire when young; old trees can be broad, with twisting oak-like branches, but in woodlands retain long straight boles. Height: to 28 m. Bark: Brown – pale lenticels, then closely and deeply square-plated, the verticals predominating. Shoots: hairless Buds: alternately arranged on stalks. Mauve and club-shaped (sometimes dull and greyer). Leaves: Dark, leathery and raquet-shaped; the end never pointed and often indented. Flowers: Male catkins densely wine-red in winter. Fruit: from cones. Brown, spent cones can remain on tree in winter. Where it likes to grow: dominant in bogs and on river-banks. Common Hazel (Corylus avellana) Shape: usually mulit-stemmed. Height: old stems to 15 m. Bark: often burnished bronze when young, but harsh to the touch and finely peeling; old stems pale brown with some shallow, flat ridges. Shoots: pale green-brown with long rather harsh hairs. Buds: green, fat, oval. Leaves: soft, hairy, floppy; nearly round (to 12 cm), with a sudden sharp point; on short (1 cm) long, hairy stalks. Flowers: Yellow male catkins expand and open in late-winter. Female flowers are small and associated with bud. Fruit: nuts ripen early in autumn; sheathed in shucks about their own length. Where it likes to grow: abundant as a woodland understorey and in hedges, except on poor or water-logged soils. Common Beech (Fagus sylvatica) Shape: in a woodland, often with a long, slightly sinuous trunk but readily growing a huge dome on strong smooth limbs. Height: to 40 m. Bark: silver-grey with slight horizontal etchings; some trees develop shallow or rugged criss-crossing ridges. Shoots: slender, grey, and zig-zag. Buds: alternately arranged on shoot; torpedo-shaped, 2 cm, copper-grey colour, spreading at 60o. Leaves: to 10 cm, with odd, tiny distant teeth; oval-shaped; hair-fringed and silky all over as they unfold; 5 to 9 vein pairs. Flowers: clusters of tiny flowers. Fruit: nuts in prickly husks on 2 cm stalks. Known as beech-mast. Where it likes to grow: often dominant on mineral soils, but dislikes wet ground. Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) Shape: spire-like in plantations; open-grown trees are more rounded. Height: to 40 m. Bark: red-grey scales at first; the papery orange-pink bark intensifies with age in the top half of the tree, while the lower half grows big papery-surfaced mauve plates or sometimes rugged purple ridges. Shoots: clear green-brown; hairless. Buds: with some papery-white scales just free at their tips. Leaves: in pairs, short (5 to 7 cm), thicker and often more twisted than other 2-needle pines. Cones: slim; 5 to 8 cm.