Medieval

Poplars

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)

. Bark . Coppice . Dye . Fine-grain . Firewood . Flavoring . Fodder . Fruit . Hardwood . Hedgerows . Indoor use only . Marshy or moist soil . Medicinal . Moisture resistance . Paper . Piles . Seeds and Nuts . Softwood . Special Uses .

Wood and Trees - external links .

Alders . Alder buckthorn . Ash . Beech . Birches . Box . Cherries, Plums, Blackthorn . Dogwood . Elder . Elms . Hazels . Hollies . Hornbeams . Junipers . Limes . Maples . Oaks . Pines . Poplars . Purging buckthorn . Rowans and Whitebeams . Service tree . Native shrubs . Willows . Yews .

Rowans and Whitebeams

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.

Wood and Trees - external links .

Service Tree

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.

Wood and Trees - external links .

shrubs

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.

Wood and Trees - external links .

Willows

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)

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.

Osier (Salix viminalis)
Salix viminalis is a multistemmed shrub growing to between 3–6 m (rarely to 10 m) tall. It has long, erect, straight branches with greenish-grey bark.

It is commonly found by streams and other wet places. The exact native range is uncertain due to extensive historical cultivation; it is certainly native from central Europe east to western Asia, but may also be native as far west as southeastern England. As a cultivated or naturalised plant, it is widespread throughout both Britain and Ireland, but only at lower altitudes.

Along with other related willows, the flexible twigs (called "withies") are commonly used in basketry, giving rise to its alternative common name of "basket willow"

Apis - Bee evolution, distribution ⇝

Wood and Trees - external links .

Yews

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.

Wood and Trees - external links .

Pages

Poplars

Rowans and Whitebeams

Service Tree

shrubs

Willows

Yews

Wood & Trees subindex