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English Yew Taxus and European Silver Fir
Posted on March 3, 2009, by Ashley Landon, under News and Society.
The Douglas fir is a native of North America growing from California up to British Columbia. It was introduced in Europe in 1828 and is widely cultivated today in the woods and parks of western and central, Europe because of its rapid growth and high quality wood.
It is now found in broad-leaved woods from England to Greece, eastwards to the western Himalayas and South to North Africa. It is estimated that there are about 30,000 of these trees in Germany. In France it is most abundant in the Vosges and the foothills of the Alps and in Great Britain it can be found from southern England to Scotland and in Ireland.
The common yew can attain a height up to 20 metres, but often it remains only a shrub. It grows very slowly, but may live to the age of a thousand years. It is distinguished by its reddish bark, dark leaves and bright red fruits. The leaves are generally two-ranked, and the inconspicuous flowers, borne on the underside of the twigs, bloom in March. The yew is a dioecious species, and the scarlet, fleshy fruits, which mature in late September and arc a favourite food of birds, are borne only on female trees. Today the yew is widely cultivated in parks as an ornamental, including its yellow-variegated and pyramidal form.
Silver fir is a tree growing in western. central and southern Europe. In France, it is found at mountain heights (900 to 2000 metres) in the Pyrenees, Alps, Jura and Vosges, and also in the Massif Central. In central Europe, it also grows at lower elevations in hilly country but in southern Europe only in the mountains.
The silver fir is one of the largest of European trees, reaching heights of more than 60 metres in virgin forests and living for five hundred years. Its name is derived from the smooth, silvery-grey bark. The buds are non-resinous. The needles are arranged in two opposite ranks on the twig, leaving a circular leaf scar upon falling. The yellow male flowers are clustered on the underside of the previous year’s shoots. the female flowers, resembling small green candles, are borne on the upper part of the crown. By autumn they develop into cylindrical cones that mature in late September and then disintegrate.
The Scots pine thrives in almost any climate and in poorer and drier soils. That is why it may be found on sandy or shallow soils that other more demanding trees find unsuitable. The wood is light and of good quality, the heartwood pale brown - used for columns, windows, doors, sleepers, etc. In some places its resin is used by the chemical industry.
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