Native trees
Hardwoods:
Alder,
Ash,
Elm,
Hornbeam,
Maple,
Oak;
Cherry,
Rowan,
Spindle
Tanning Dyeing:
Softwood:
Pine (paper),
Poplar (paper)
other:
Beech,
Birch,
Hawthorn,
Holly,
Willow,
Dogwood,
Yew,
Alders
Alder (Alnus glutinosa)
Alnus glutinosa is a tree that thrives in moist soils, and grows under favourable circumstances to a height of 20–30 m, exceptionally up to 37 m, though often less.
It is important as coppice-wood on marshy ground. The wood is soft, white when first cut and turning to pale red; the knots are beautifully mottled. Under water the wood is very durable, and it is therefore used for piles. It is also the traditional wood burnt to produce smoked fish and other smoked foods, though in some areas other woods are more often used now. Furniture is sometimes made from the wood, as were clogs, and it supplies excellent charcoal for gunpowder.
The bark is astringent; it is used for tanning and dyeing.
Apples
Crab Apple (Malus sylvestris)
Ashes
Common Ash (Fraxinus excelsior)
The wood is hard (a hardwood), dense (710 kg/m³ for Fraxinus excelsior), tough and very strong but elastic, extensively used for making bows, tool handles, quality wooden cricket bats, baseball bats, hurleys and other uses demanding high strength and resilience. Ash is not used extensively outdoors due to the heartwood having a low durability to ground contact. It also makes excellent firewood.
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Beeches [introduced]
European Beech, Common Beech
The wood of the European Beech is used in the manufacture of numerous objects and implements. Its fine and short grain makes it an easy wood to work with, easy to soak, dye (except its heartwood), varnish and glue. Steaming makes the wood even easier to machine. It has an excellent finish and is resistant to compression and splitting. Milling is sometimes difficult due to cracking and it is stiff when flexed. The density of the wood is 720 kg per cubic meter.[5] It is particularly well suited for minor carpentry, particularly furniture. From chairs to parquetry (flooring) and staircases, the European Beech can do almost anything other than heavy structural support, so long as it is not left outdoors. Its hardness make it ideal for making wooden mallets and workbench tops. The wood of the European Beech rots easily if it is not protected by a tar based on a distillate of its own bark (as used in railway sleepers). It is better for paper pulp than many other broadleaved trees though is only sometimes used for this. The code for its use in Europe is FASY (like FAgus SYlvatica).
Common beech is also considered one of the best fire woods for fireplaces. Beech wood is an excellent firewood, easily split and burning for many hours with bright but calm flames.
The fruit of the beech, also called "Beechnuts" and "mast", are found in the small burrs that drop from tree in autumn. They are small, triangular, and edible, with a bitter, astringent taste.
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Birches
Silver Birch (Betula pendula)
Downy Birch (Betula pubescens)
Birch is used as firewood due to its high calorific value per unit weight and unit volume. It burns well, without popping, even when frozen and freshly hewn. The bark will burn very well even when wet because of the oils it contains. With care, it can be split into very thin sheets that will ignite from even the smallest of sparks
Extracts of birch are used for flavoring or leather oil, and in cosmetics such as soap or shampoo. Birch tar or Russian Oil extracted from birch bark is thermoplastic and waterproof; it was used as a glue on, for example, arrows, and also for medicinal purposes
Ground birch bark, fermented in sea water, is used for seasoning the woolen, hemp or linen sails and hemp rope of traditional Norwegian boats.
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Box
Box (Buxus sempervirens; southern England only)
Owing to its fine grain it is a good wood for fine wood carving, although this is limited by the small sizes available.
Cherries and Plums
Wild Cherry (Prunus avium)
Wild cherries have been an item of human food for several thousands of years. The stones have been found in deposits at bronze age settlements throughout Europe, including in Britain.
The hard, reddish-brown wood (cherry wood) is valued as a hardwood for woodturning, and making cabinets and musical instruments.
A green dye can also be prepared from the plant.
Bird Cherry (Prunus padus)
It was used medicinally during the Middle Ages, and the bark, placed at the door, was supposed to ward off plague.
Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)
The shrub, with its savage thorns, is traditional in Northern Europe and Britain in making a hedge proof against cattle. The fruit is similar to a small damson or plum, suitable for preserves, but rather tart and astringent for eating, unless it is picked after the first few days of autumnly frost. This effect can not be reproduced by freezing harvested sloes, but is the result of the plant withdrawing tannins from the sloes in freezing weather. In rural Britain so-called sloe gin is made from them, though this is not a true gin but an infusion of vodka, gin, or neutral spirits with the fruit to produce a liqueur.
Sloes can also be made into jam and, if preserved in vinegar, are similar in taste to Japanese umeboshi. The juice of the berries dyes linen a reddish color that washes out to a durable pale blue.
Straight blackthorn stems have traditionally been made into a walking stick or club.
A "sloe-thorn worm" used as fishing bait is mentioned in the 15th century work, The Treatyse of Fishing with an Angle, by Juliana Berners.
Blackthorn is a good fire wood that burns with a good heat and little smoke.
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Elms
Carpentry
Elm wood was valued for its interlocking grain, and consequent resistance to splitting, with significant uses in wagon wheel hubs, chair seats and coffins. The often long, straight, trunks were favoured as a source of timber for keels in ship construction.
The density of the wood varies due to differences between species, but averages around 560 kg per cubic metre.
The wood is also resistant to decay when permanently wet, and hollowed trunks were widely used as water pipes during the medieval period in Europe. Elm was also used as piers in the construction of the original London Bridge. However this resistance to decay in water does not extend to ground contact.
Elms also have a long history of cultivation for fodder, with the leafy branches cut for livestock.
Elm bark, cut into strips and boiled, sustained much of the rural population of Norway during the great famine of 1812. The seeds are particularly nutritious, comprising 45% crude protein, and
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Hawthorns
The Common Hawthorn is extensively used in Europe as a hedge plant. Several cultivars of the Midland Hawthorn C. laevigata have been selected for their pink or red flowers. Hawthorns are among the trees most recommended for water conservation landscapes.
Hawthorn can also be used as a rootstock in the practice of grafting. It is graft-compatible with Mespilus (medlar), and with pear, and makes a hardier rootstock than quince, but the thorny suckering habit of the hawthorn can be problematic.
Haws are important for wildlife in winter, particularly thrushes and waxwings; these birds eat the haws and disperse the seeds in their droppings.
Common Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)
Midland Hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata; southern Great Britain only)
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Hazels
Common Hazel (Corylus avellana)
Hazelnuts
Common Hazel is cultivated for its nuts in commercial orchards in Europe, Turkey, Iran and Caucasus. The name "hazelnut" applies to the nuts of any of the species of the genus Corylus. This hazelnut, the kernel of the seed, is edible and used raw or roasted, or ground into a paste. The seed has a thin, dark brown skin which has a bitter flavour and is sometimes removed before cooking.
Hazelnut has a significant place among the types of dried nut in terms of nutrition and health because of the special composition of fats (primarily oleic acid), protein, carbohydrates, vitamins (vitamin E), minerals, dietary fibres, phytosterol (beta-cytosterol) and antioxidant phenolics such as flavan-3-ols. The nutritional and sensory properties of hazelnut make it a unique and ideal material for food products. Hazelnuts are a good source of energy with their 60.5% fat content.
Hornbeams
European Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus; southern Great Britain only)
The common English name of "hornbeam" derives from the hardness of the wood (likened to horn) and the Old English beam, a tree (cognate with German "baum").
Hornbeams yield a very hard timber, giving rise to the name ironwood. Dried heartwood billets are nearly white and are suitable for decorative use. For general carpentry, hornbeam is rarely used, partly due to the difficulty of working it. Its hardness has however lent it to use for carving boards, tool handles, handplane soles, coach wheels, piano actions and other situations where a very tough, hard wood is required, perhaps most interestingly as gear pegs in simple machines, including traditional windmills. It is sometimes coppiced to provide hardwood poles. It is also used in parquet flooring.
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Hollies
European Holly (Ilex aquifolium)
In many western cultures, holly is a traditional Christmas decoration, used especially in wreaths. The wood is heavy, hard and whitish; one traditional use is for chess pieces, with holly for the white pieces, and ebony for the black. Other uses include turnery, inlay work and as firewood. Looms in the 1800s used holly for the spinning rod. Because holly is dense and can be sanded very smooth, the rod was less likely than other woods to snag threads being used to make cloth.
Between the thirteenth and eighteenth century, before the introduction of turnips, holly was cultivated for use as winter fodder for cattle and sheep. Less spiny varieties of holly were preferred, and in practice the leaves growing near the top of the tree have far fewer spines making them more suitable for fodder.
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Junipers
Common Juniper (Juniperus communis)
Juniper berries are a spice used in a wide variety of culinary dishes and best known for the primary flavoring in gin (and responsible for gin's name, which is a shortening of the Dutch word for juniper, genever). Juniper berries are also used as the primary flavor in the liquor Jenever and sahti-style of beers. Juniper berry sauce is often a popular flavoring choice for quail, pheasant, veal, rabbit, venison and other meat dishes.
(Its astringent blue-black seed cones, commonly known as "Juniper berries", are too bitter to eat raw and are usually sold dried and used to flavour meats, sauces, and stuffings. They are generally crushed before use to release their flavour. The cones are used to flavour gin. In fact, the word 'gin' is derived from the French word for juniper berry, genièvre, which is the name for gin in France. The Slovak national alcoholic beverage Borovička is also flavoured with juniper berry extract.
Since juniper berries have a strong taste, they should be used sparingly. They are generally used to enhance meat with a strong flavour, such as game, including game birds, or tongue.)
Juniper berries are steam distilled to produce an essential oil that may vary from colorless to yellow or pale green. Some of its chemical components are alpha pinene, cadinene, camphene and terpineol.
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Lindens (Limes)
Small-leaved Linden/Lime (Tilia cordata; southern Great Britain only)
Large-leaved Linden/Lime (Tilia platyphyllos; southern Great Britain only)
Although Tilia cordata is listed as the preferred medicinal species, T. platyphyllos is also used medicinally and somewhat interchangeably. The dried flowers are mildly sweet and sticky, and the fruit is somewhat sweet and mucilaginous. Linden tea has a pleasing taste, due to the aromatic volatile oil found in the flowers. The flowers, leaves, wood, and charcoal (obtained from the wood) are used for medicinal purposes. Active ingredients in the linden flowers include flavonoids (which act as antioxidants), volatile oils, and mucilaginous constituents (which soothe and reduce inflammation). The plant also contains tannins that can act as an astringent.
Linden flowers are used in colds, cough, fever, infections, inflammation, high blood pressure, headache (particularly migraine), as a diuretic (increases urine production), antispasmodic (reduces smooth muscle spasm along the digestive tract), and sedative. The flowers were added to baths to quell hysteria, and steeped as a tea to relieve anxiety-related indigestion, irregular heartbeat, and vomiting. The leaves are used to promote sweating to reduce fevers. The wood is used for liver and gallbladder disorders and cellulitis (inflammation of the skin and surrounding soft tissue). That wood burned to charcoal is ingested to treat intestinal disorders and used topically to treat edema or infection, such as cellulitis or ulcers of the lower leg
Maples
Field Maple (Acer campestre; southern Great Britain only)
Field Maple is widely grown as an ornamental tree in parks and large gardens. The wood is white, hard and strong, and used for furniture, flooring, wood turning and musical instruments, though the small size of the tree and its relatively slow growth make it an unimportant wood.
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Oaks
Pedunculate Oak (Quercus robur)[English Oak]
It is a long-lived tree, with a large widespreading crown of rugged branches. While it may naturally live to an age of a few centuries, many of the oldest trees are pollarded or coppiced, both pruning techniques that extend the tree's potential lifespan, if not its health.
Quercus robur' is planted for forestry, and produces a long-lasting and durable heartwood, much in demand for interior and furniture work. The wood is characterised by its distinct (often wide) dark and light brown growth rings. The timber is around 720 kg per cubic meter in density.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Marble_gall
Sessile Oak (Quercus petraea)
The wood is important, used for construction purposes (particularly timber framing), shipbuilding, and for making oak barrels for wine.
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Pines
Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris)
Scots Pine is an important tree in forestry. The wood is used for pulp and sawn timber products. A seedling stand can be created by planting, sowing or natural regeneration.
In Finland and the Scandinavian countries, Scots Pine were used for making tar in the pre-industrial age. There are still some active tar producers, but mostly the industry has ceased to exist.[7][8] It have also been used as a source of rosin and turpentine.
The wood is pale brown to red-brown, and used for general construction work. It has a dry density of around 470 kg/m3 (varying with growth conditions)
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Poplars
Poplar is widely used for the manufacture of paper.
Poplar wood has exceptional flexibility. Poplar wood, particularly when seasoned, makes a good hearth for a bow drill.
Due to its high tannic acid content, the bark has been used in Europe for tanning leather
Aspen (Populus tremula)
Black Poplar (Populus nigra; southern Great Britain only)
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Rowans and Whitebeams
The wood is dense and used for carving and turning and for tool handles and walking sticks. Rowan berries are a traditional source of tannins for mordanting vegetable dyes.
The fruit of European Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) can be made into a slightly bitter jelly which in Britain is traditionally eaten as an accompaniment to game, and into jams and other preserves, on their own, or with other fruits. Rowan berries are usually too astringent to be palatable when raw. Collecting them after first frost reduces the bitter taste.
The density of the rowan wood makes it very usable for walking sticks.
European Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia)
Common Whitebeam (Sorbus aria) and several related apomictic microspecies
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Service Tree (Sorbus domestica; recently discovered growing wild on a cliff in south Wales)
The fruit is a component of a cider-like drink which is still made in parts of Europe. Picked straight off the tree, it is highly astringent and gritty; however, when left to blet (over-ripen) it sweetens and becomes pleasant to eat.
Wild Service Tree (Sorbus torminalis)
It is relatively rare and in Britain is now usually confined to pockets of ancient woodland, although it can also be found growing in hedgerows. It can often be found associated with oak and ash woods, preferring clay and lime based soils.
The fruit, sometimes called "chequers", are edible and taste similar to dates, although they are now rarely collected for food. They are usually too astringent to eat until they are over-ripe and bletted. They were traditionally known as a herbal remedy for colic; the tree's Latin name, torminalis means 'good for colic'. Before the introduction of hops, the fruit were used to flavour beer.
Strawberry Tree
Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo; Ireland only)
Willows (Salix spp.; several species)
Willow wood is also used in the manufacture of boxes, brooms, cradle boards, chairs and other furniture, dolls, flutes, poles, toys, turnery, tool handles, veneer, wands and whistles.
In addition tannin, fibre, paper, rope and string, can be produced from the wood. Willows are also popular for wicker (often from osiers), which is used in basket weaving, fish traps, wattle fences and wattle and daub.
Willow bark contains auxins (plant growth hormones), especially those used for rooting new cuttings. The bark can even be used to make a simple extract that will promote cutting growth.
Willows produce a modest amount of nectar that bees can make honey from, and are especially valued as a source of early pollen for bees.
Willow is grown for biomass or biofuel, in energy forestry systems, as a consequence of its high energy in-energy out ratio, large carbon mitigation potential and fast growth.
The leaves and bark of the willow tree have been mentioned in ancient texts as a remedy for aches and fever, and the Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates wrote about its medicinal properties in the 5th century BC. It contains salicylic acid, the precursor to aspirin.
Bay Willow (Salix pentandra)
Crack Willow (Salix fragilis)
White Willow (Salix alba)
Almond-leaved Willow (Salix triandra)
Apis - Bee evolution, distribution ⇝
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Yews
European Yew (Taxus baccata)
Yew is also associated with Wales and England because of the longbow, an early weapon of war developed in northern Europe, and as the English longbow the basis for a medieval tactical system. Yew is the wood of choice for longbow making; the bows are constructed so that the heartwood of yew is on the inside of the bow while the sapwood is on the outside. This takes advantage of the natural properties of yew wood since the heartwood resists compression while the sapwood resists stretching. This increased the strength and efficiency of the bow. Much yew is knotty and twisted, so unsuitable for bowmaking; most trunks do not give good staves and even in a good trunk much wood has to be discarded.
The trade of yew wood to England for longbows was such that it depleted the stocks of good-quality, mature yew over a vast area. The first documented import of yew bowstaves to England was in 1294. In 1350 there was a serious shortage, and Henry IV of England ordered his royal bowyer to enter private land and cut yew and other woods. In 1470 compulsory archery practice was renewed, and hazel, ash, and laburnum were specifically allowed for practice bows. Supplies still proved insufficient, until by the Statute of Westminster in 1472, every ship coming to an English port had to bring four bowstaves for every tun. Richard III of England increased this to ten for every tun. This stimulated a vast network of extraction and supply, which formed part of royal monopolies in southern Germany and Austria. In 1483, the price of bowstaves rose from two to eight pounds per hundred, and in 1510 the Venetians would only sell a hundred for sixteen pounds. In 1507 the Holy Roman Emperor asked the Duke of Bavaria to stop cutting yew, but the trade was profitable, and in 1532 the royal monopoly was granted for the usual quantity "if there are that many." In 1562, the Bavarian government sent a long plea to the Holy Roman Emperor asking him to stop the cutting of yew, and outlining the damage done to the forests by its selective extraction, which broke the canopy and allowed wind to destroy neighbouring trees. In 1568, despite a request from Saxony, no royal monopoly was granted because there was no yew to cut, and the next year Bavaria and Austria similarly failed to produce enough yew to justify a royal monopoly. Forestry records in this area in the 17th century do not mention yew, and it seems that no mature trees were to be had. The English tried to obtain supplies from the Baltic, but at this period bows were being replaced by guns in any case.
In 1021, Avicenna introduced the medicinal use of T. baccata for phytotherapy in The Canon of Medicine. He named this herbal drug as "Zarnab" and used it as a cardiac remedy. This was the first known use of a calcium channel blocker drug, which were not in wide use in the Western world until the 1960s.
The leaves are highly poisonous. The seeds are extremely poisonous and bitter, but are opened and eaten by some bird species including Hawfinches and Great Tits. The aril is not poisonous, and is gelatinous and very sweet tasting.
An aril (or arillus) is any specialized outgrowth from the funiculus (attachment point of the seed) (or hilum) that covers or is attached to the seed. European yew (Taxus baccata) below, the aril starts out as a small, green band at the base of the seed, then turns brown to red as it enlarges and surrounds the seed, eventually becoming fleshy and scarlet in color at maturity. The aril is attractive to fruit-eating birds and is non-toxic (all other parts of the yew are toxic), serving therefore to promote dispersal of the yew seed by birds, which digest the fleshy aril as a food source, and pass the seed out in their droppings.
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Native large shrubs
These larger shrubs occasionally reach tree size:
Alder Buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula)
Galen, a Greek physician of the 2nd century A.D., knew of Alder Buckthorn, although he did not distinguish clearly in his writings between it and other closely related species. All of these plants though, were credited with the power to protect against witchcraft, demons, poisons, and headaches.
The bark (and to a lesser extent the fruit) has been used as a laxative, due to its 3 - 7% anthraquinone content. Bark for medicinal use is dried and stored for a year before use, as fresh bark is violently purgative; even dried bark can be dangerous if taken in excess.
Purging Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica)
The bark and fruit were used as a purgative in the past, though their potentially dangerous violent action and side effects means they are now rarely used.
Elder (Sambucus nigra)
The dark blue/purple berries can be eaten when fully ripe but are mildly poisonous in their unripe state. . All green parts of the plant are poisonous, containing cyanogenic glycosides (Vedel & Lange 1960). The berries are edible after cooking and can be used to make jam, jelly, chutney and Pontack sauce. Also when cooked they go well with blackberries and with apples in pies. Both flowers and berries can be made into elderberry wine.
This plant is traditionally used as a medicinal plant by many native peoples and herbalists alike. The flowers can be used to make an herbal tea as a remedy for inflammation caused by colds and fever.
The strong-smelling foliage was used in the past, tied to a horse's mane, to keep flies away while riding. The stem can be used to make a whistle, after the pith has been removed.
Common Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea)
The plant is thus often grown in organic gardening and permaculture to prevent harm to orchard crops, while benefitting from the fact that even frugivorous birds will hunt pest insects during the breeding season, as their young require much protein to grow.
The straight woody shoots produced by the plant which can be used as prods, skewers or arrows. The prehistoric archer known as Ötzi the Iceman, discovered on the border between Italy and Austria in 1991 was carrying arrows made from dogwood.
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(Common) Sea-buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides)
Usually found near the coast forming thickets on fixed dunes and sea cliffs.
It is a non-legume nitrogen fixer. Overall the berries have proven to be among the most nutritious fruits known. A high-quality medical oil is produced from the fruit of sea buckthorn and used in the treatment of cardiac disorders.
Spindle (Euonymus europaeus)
European Spindle wood is very hard, and can be cut to a very sharp point; it was used in the past for making spindles for spinning wool.
The fruit is poisonous, containing amongst other substances, the alkaloids theobromine and caffeine, as well as an extremely bitter terpene.
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Sallow, Goat Willow (Salix caprea)
Both tannin and salicin can be extracted from Goat Willow bark. The tree is not considered a good source of timber as its wood is both brittle and known to crackle violently if burned.
Grey Willow (Salix cinerea)
All woods are composed of 60% cellulose and 28% lignin. These substances make up the fibrous and woody cell walls of plants and trees and are held together by cementing properties. The individual consistencies and colors are the elements remaining of about 12%. Other characteristics are due to the way that the wood is sawed and cured. There are hardwoods from deciduous trees and softwoods from coniferous trees.
The following are species, their characteristics and best uses taken from Readers Digest.
HARDWOODS
Walnut: Fine textured, strong, easy to work with and resists shrinking and warping and finishes well. Best used for gunstocks, solid and veneered furniture, novelties, cabinetry and wall paneling.
Oak: Strong with good bending qualities. Is durable and finishes well and resists moisture absorption. Used for furniture, trimming, boat framing, desks and flooring.
Maple: Fine textured and is fine textures. It is strong and hard. Has moderate shrinkage and machines well. Best used in flooring, fine furniture and woodenware such as bowling alleys
Cherry: Close-grained and resists warping and shrinking. It will redden when exposed to sunlight and ages well. Used in cabinet making, boat trim, novelties, solid furniture handles and turned projects.
SOFTWOODS
Pine: It has uniform texture, works easy and finishes well. It resists shrinkage, swelling and warping. Used in house construction, paneling and trim. Also used for furniture, molding and boxes.
