Wayside and Woodland Trees Part 10

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pl. 132._ Box Trees.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pl. 133._ Bole of Box.]

The Box (_Buxus sempervirens_).

Though frequently to be met with in parks and ornamental grounds, there are only a few places in this country where the Box is really indigenous. These are in the counties of Surrey, Kent, Buckingham, and Gloucester. On the famous Box Hill, near Dorking, in Surrey, it may be seen attaining its proper proportions as a small tree, and in sufficient abundance to form groves covering a considerable area. It grows to a height of fifteen or twenty feet, with a girth of about twenty inches.

Its slender branches are clothed with small, oblong, leathery leaves, which give out a peculiar and distinctive odour. They are about an inch in length, polished on the upper side, evergreen, and opposite.

The flowers may be looked for from January to May, and will be found cl.u.s.tered between the leaf and the stem. These are quite small and inconspicuous, of a whitish-green colour, and the s.e.xes are in separate flowers. The uppermost one in the centre of each cl.u.s.ter is a female flower; the others are males. The males consist of four petals, enclosing a rudimentary ovary, from beneath which spring four stamens.

The sepals of the female flower vary in number, from four to twelve, and enclose a rounded ovary with three styles, which are ripe and protruded before the males open. This develops into the three-celled capsule with three diverging beaks, which correspond with the styles, and in each cell there are one or two black seeds.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Box. A, male flowers; B, female flower.]

The growth of the tree is very slow, and, in consequence, the grain of its wood is very fine. It is also very hard, and so heavy that alone among native woods it will not float in water. On account of its fine grain and hardness, it is in request by the turner and mathematical instrument maker, and was formerly largely used by the wood-engraver for "woodcuts." Since the introduction of the photographic "process"

blocks, the industry of preparing Box-wood for the engraver must have become all but extinct, and for that reason Box plantations must be less valuable a.s.sets than formerly. It is on record that when the Box Hill trees were cut in 1815, the "fall" realized nearly 10,000. Box Hill is in no sense a plantation; its slopes and summit are clothed with a natural mixed wood of Box, Oak, Beech, and Yew. Beneath every Box-tree will be found hundreds of seedlings of various ages. Some of these may be seen in our photograph, which depicts naturally grown Box-trees on the famous hill. It will be noted that their "habit" is widely different from that of the more bush-like forms so familiar in gardens.

PART II.

EXOTIC TREES AND SHRUBS.

We have already given descriptions and ill.u.s.trations of several exotic species in Part I., where it seemed more advantageous to the reader to include them with British species of the same genus; those now to be dealt with are in all cases members of genera not represented in our native Flora.

The Plane (_Plata.n.u.s orientalis_).

In spite of the fact that the Plane is an exotic of comparatively recent introduction, it seems in a fair way of being a.s.sociated in the future with London. It has taken with great kindness to London life, in spite of the drawbacks of smoke, fog, flagstones, and asphalt. Its leaves get thickly coated with soot, which also turns its light-grey bark to black; but as the upper surface of the leaves is smooth and firm, a shower of rain washes them clean, and the rigid outer layer of bark is thrown off by the expansion of the softer bark beneath. This is not thrown off all at once, but in large and small flakes, which leave a smooth yellow patch behind, temporarily free from soot contamination. A variety of trees has been tried for street-planting, but none has stood the trying conditions of London so well as the Plane, and therefore before many years the capital will be the city of Planes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pl. 134._ Plane Tree--summer.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pl. 135._ Bole of Plane Tree.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Oriental Plane.]

Two species are recognized--the Oriental Plane (_Plata.n.u.s orientalis_) and the Western Plane (_P. occidentalis_); but it would probably be more accurate to regard them as geographical varieties of one species, the points in which they differ being small and not very important. Thus the leaves of the Oriental Plane are described as being so much more deeply lobed than those of the Western Plane that the former are botanically described as palmate; but the two forms of leaf may often be found on the same individual. The Western Plane, too, does not shed its bark in small flakes like the Oriental Plane, but in large sheets.

Planes normally rise to a height of something between seventy and ninety feet, and the trunk attains a circ.u.mference of from nine to twelve feet; but there is a record of a portly Plane whose waist measurement was forty feet! Many persons imagine because the leaves of the Plane resemble those of the Sycamore that the two are closely related; but this is not so, and a comparison of the flowers and fruit will show that they are not. The catkins of the Plane take the form of b.a.l.l.s, in which male _or_ female flowers are pressed together; and the fruits, instead of being winged samaras, are the rough b.a.l.l.s that so closely resemble an old-fas.h.i.+oned form of b.u.t.ton, that the tree is known in some parts of the United States as the b.u.t.ton-wood. (It is also known there as Sycamore and Cotton-tree.)

The Plane is supposed to have got its name _Plata.n.u.s_ from the Greek word _platus_ (broad), in double allusion to the broad leaves and the ample shadow which the tree throws. These leaves are five-lobed, and, as already indicated, those of the Oriental species are much more deeply cut. Further distinction is found in the colour of the petiole or leaf-stalk, which is green in _P. orientalis_, and purplish-red in _P.

occidentalis_, and in the larger and smoother seed-b.u.t.tons of the latter. Instead of the leaves being attached to the stem in pairs, as we saw in the Sycamore, those of the Plane are alternate--that is to say, leaf number two of a series will be halfway between one and three, but on the opposite side of the shoot.

The outline of the tree is not so regular as in most others, the leaves being gathered in heavy ma.s.ses, with broad s.p.a.ces between, rather than equally distributed over the head. This is, of course, due to the freedom with which the crooked arms are flung about. The pale-brown wood is fine-grained, tough, and hard, and is extensively used by pianoforte-makers, coach-builders, and cabinet-makers, but is not highly esteemed for other purposes to which timber is put in this country.

The Oriental Plane is popularly supposed to have been introduced to England from the Levant by Francis Bacon, but if Loudon's statement that it was "in British gardens before 1548" rests on good evidence, Bacon's claim is dismissed, for _he_ was not "introduced" until 1561. It was nearly a hundred years later (1640) that the Occidental Plane was first brought from Virginia by the younger Tradescant, and planted in that remarkable garden of his father's in South Lambeth Road. The form that has done so well in London, and of which many fine examples are to be seen in the parks and squares, is a variety of the Oriental Plane, with leaves less deeply divided than those of the type, and therefore more nearly approaching the Occidental Plane in this respect. It is distinguished by the name of the Maple-leaved Plane (_Plata.n.u.s orientalis_, var. _acerifolia_). It is this variety we have chosen as the subject for our photograph.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pl. 136._ Plane Tree--winter.]

The Walnut (_Juglans regia_).

In the Golden Age, when man lived happily on a handful of acorns, the G.o.ds fed upon walnuts, and so their name was _Jovis glans_--the nuts of Jupiter--since contracted into _Juglans_. Those who delight in obvious interpretations by appealing to the modern meanings of words similar in construction may be pardoned for supposing that Walnut-trees were formerly trained against walls; but, like many other obvious interpretations, this is wide of the mark. Some have gone back to the Anglo-Saxons for help, and though the result arrived at is in all probability the correct one, it is almost certain that the Anglo-Saxons knew nothing of the matter, and would scarcely trouble to give a name to something they had never seen. The Walnut is a native of the Himalayas, the Hindu Kuh, Persia, Lebanon, and Asia Minor to Greece. The learned Roman, Varro, who was born B.C. 116, and died B.C. 28, mentions it as existing in Italy in his day; and Pliny tells us it was brought thence from Persia. The date of its introduction to Britain is usually set down as about the middle of the sixteenth century, but it was probably at least a century earlier, for Gerarde, writing at the close of the sixteenth century, describes it as a tree commonly to be seen in orchards, and in fields near the highways, where a very new importation was not likely to be found. But to return to the name: there can be little doubt that it is a contraction of Walsh-nut (in modern spelling, Welsh-nut), meaning foreign. This is German, and while the modern sons of the Vaterland write it Wallnuss (occasionally Walshenuss), the Dutch form is Wallnoot. That this is the true derivation is made pretty certain by Gerarde, who calls it "Walnut, and of some Walsh-nut."

That the new importation was fully appreciated in Europe for its fruit may be judged by the extent to which its cultivation had spread in Evelyn's day, for he tells us the trees abounded in Burgundy, where they stood in the midst of goodly wheat-lands. He says: "In several places betwixt Hanau and Frankfort in Germany no young farmer is permitted to marry a wife till he bring proof that he hath planted and is a father of such a stated number of [Walnut] trees, and the law is inviolably observed to this day, for the extraordinary benefit the tree affords the inhabitants."

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pl. 137._ Walnut--summer.]

The Walnut is a handsome tree, growing to a height of forty to sixty feet, with a bole twenty feet or more in circ.u.mference, and a huge spreading head. The bark is of a cool grey colour, smooth when young, but as the tree matures deep longitudinal furrows form, and it becomes very rugged. The twisted branches take a direction more upward than horizontal, but in early summer they are almost completely hidden by the ma.s.ses of large and handsome leaves of warm green colour and spicy aroma. I once rejoiced in the occupation of a garden that held two Walnut-trees, and though they had not attained to the fruiting age, their possession was a delight to me; but then I am one of those who enjoy their fragrance, which is unbearable to some persons. The large leaves are formed after the fas.h.i.+on of the Ash-leaf--broken up into a variable number of lance-shaped leaflets with scarcely perceptible teeth.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Walnut. A, female flowers; B, male flowers.]

The flowering of the Walnut is much on the plan of the Oak and the Hazel, the s.e.xes being in different flowers, but borne by one tree; the males forming a long drooping catkin of slender cylindrical form, the females being solitary, or a few grouped at the end of a shoot.

Separated from the catkin, the males will each be seen to consist of a calyx of five greenish scales, enclosing a large number of stamens. The calyx of the female closely invests the ovary, which has two or three fleshy stigmas. The flowering takes place in early spring, before the leaf-buds have burst. The fruit is a plum-like drupe, only the enveloping green flesh becomes brown, and, splitting irregularly, discloses the "stone," which in this species takes the form of a hard but thin-sh.e.l.led nut--the well-known Walnut, with its wrinkled kernel of crisp white flesh, from which a fine oil is obtained. The ripening of these nuts--which is accomplished by the beginning of October--can only be relied upon in the southern half of Britain, and even there the crop is often spoiled by late frosts in spring. Its chief value in Europe is as a fruit-tree, though the light but tough wood is much esteemed for the manufacture of furniture. Owing to its rapid growth, the grain is coa.r.s.e, but the dark-brown colour is esteemed, especially as it is relieved by streaks and veins of lighter tints and black. It is easily worked, and bears a high polish. The wood of young trees is white, gradually deepening to brown as maturity is approached. All the juices of the tree, whether from wood, bark, leaves, or green fruit, are rich in the brown pigment to which the hue of the timber is due. The combined lightness and toughness of the wood led to its adoption as the favourite material for making the stocks of guns and rifles. It is said that so great was the demand for this purpose during the Peninsular War, that a single Walnut-tree realized 600 for its timber, and this created a boom that led to the cutting down of all our finest Walnut-trees. Some of these were doubtless the very trees referred to by Evelyn, who tells us the Walnut was extensively planted at Leatherhead in Surrey, also at Ca.s.saulton (Carshalton) and G.o.dstone in the same county, where the rambler may come across fine Walnut-trees to this day, and occasionally to young ones growing wild in hedgerows and wastes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pl. 138._ Fruit of Walnut.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pl. 139._ Walnut--winter.]

The old doggerel adage, "A dog and a wife and a walnut-tree, the more they are beaten the better they be," has reference to the manner of harvesting the ripe fruit. Evelyn says: "In Italy they arm the tops of long poles with nails and iron for the purpose [of loosening the fruit], and believe the beating improves the tree; which I no more believe than I do that discipline would reform a shrew." He expresses no opinion on the question of beating dogs.

Sweet Chestnut (_Castanea sativa_).

Until about the middle of the last century the Chestnut was generally regarded as a genuine native of these islands. It is true that botanists felt that so large and longevous a tree, if native, should be found in the natural forests of this country, or even forming pure forest. These things they did not find, but, on the other hand, they were shown beams in ancient buildings, including Westminster Abbey, which were believed to be Chestnut-wood, and this evidence seemed to point to the fact that Chestnut timber was grown much more plentifully in this country at the period when these old buildings were erected. Dr. Lindley, however, set the matter at rest by examination of the reputed Chestnut beams in the roof of Westminster Abbey, and proved that they were of Durmast Oak. A similar examination of the timbers of the old Louvre in Paris, which were also reputed to be Chestnut, gave a similar result. A comparison of sections across the grain of Oak and Chestnut allows of no possibility of mistake, and it is now known that whilst the wood of young Chestnuts is tough and durable, that from old trees is brittle and comparatively worthless, except for firewood, which is exactly the opposite of Oak-wood. It is now generally agreed that its real home is in Asia Minor and Greece, whence it was introduced to Italy in very remote times, and has since spread over most of temperate Europe, its seeds ripening and sowing themselves wherever the vine flourishes. We appear to be indebted to our friends the Romans for its introduction to Britain, who no doubt hoped to utilize the fruit for food, as at home--a hope that must have been disappointed, for its crops, even in the South of England, are very fitful, and the nuts quite small.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pl. 140._ Sweet Chestnut--summer.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pl. 141._ Bole of Sweet Chestnut.]

In suitable situations the Chestnut is of larger proportions and greater length of life even than the Oak. In the South of England it will attain a height of from sixty to eighty feet in fifty or sixty years, and if growing in deep porous loam, free from carbonate of lime, and sheltered from strong winds and frosts, it builds up an erect ma.s.sive column.

Hamerton has said of such a tree: "His expression is that of st.u.r.dy strength; his trunk and limbs are built, not like those of Apollo, but like the trunk and limbs of Hercules." Under less suitable conditions the undivided trunk is little more than ten feet long; then it divides off into several huge limbs, and so the general character of the tree is altered, and it presents much the appearance of having been pollarded.

The branches have a horizontal and downward habit of growth, the extremities of the lowest ones often being but little above the earth.

The fine elliptical leaves are nine or ten inches in length, of a rich green, that is enhanced by the polished surface, which "brings up" the colour. Their edges are cut into long pointed teeth. Towards autumn they pale to light yellow, and then deepen into gold on their way to the final brown of the fallen leaf, which, by the way, is a great enricher of the soil where the Chestnut is grown.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sweet Chestnut. A, fruit.]

The flowers, though individually small and inconspicuous, are rather striking, from their a.s.sociation in cylindrical yellow catkins, about six inches long, which hang from the axils of the leaves. The upper part of this catkin consists of male flowers, each with a number of stamens enclosed in a perianth or calyx of five or six green leaves. The female flowers, on the lower part of the catkin, are two or three together, in a p.r.i.c.kly four-lobed "cupule," or involucre, and consist each of a calyx closely investing a tapering ovary, whose summit bears from five to eight radiating stigmas, the number corresponding with the cells into which the ovary is divided. Each cell contains two seed-eggs, but as a rule only one in each flower develops. As development of the ovary and seeds progresses, the cupule also grows, and ultimately entirely surrounds the cl.u.s.ter with the hedgehog-like coat in which the nuts are contained when ripe. Then it splits open and discloses the two or three glossy brown nuts. The Chestnut is in flower from May to July, and the nuts drop in October. They form an important article of food in South Europe, where they are produced in abundance, and there can be little doubt that the importers of the tree to this country believed it would prove equally valuable here. Evelyn had this in mind when he recommended the nut as "a l.u.s.ty and masculine food for rustics at all times, and of better nourishment for husbandmen than cole and rusty bacon." Well, there is plenty of Chestnut grown around Evelyn's estate at Wootton to-day, but it is chiefly as coppice, to provide hop-poles, and hoops for barrels, for which purpose the long straight shoots are split in two. Grown as coppice, the Chestnut also provides fine cover for pheasants and other game. The trees begin to bear when about twenty-five years old, and from thence on to the fiftieth or sixtieth year the timber is at its best, but later it develops the defect known as "ring shake," and becomes of little use. That is probably why one meets with so many hollow wrecks of what were once n.o.ble Chestnuts.

The young wood is covered with smooth brown bark, but later this becomes grey, and its surface splits into longitudinal fissures, which give a very distinctive character to the trunk. In older trees the fissures and the alternating ridges have a slight spiral twist, which gives the tree the appearance (shown in our third photo) of having been wrenched round by some mighty force. The average age of the Chestnut is about five hundred years, but there have been in this country many old trees that were much older, if any reliance could be placed in local tradition.

There was--we fear there is little of it still remaining--the great Tortworth Chestnut in Lord Ducies' park at Tortworth Court. In 1820 it was found to have a girth of fifty-two feet. Evelyn refers to it in his "Sylva," and tells us that in the reign of King Stephen it already bore the t.i.tle of the Great Chestnut of Tortworth.

The name Chestnut appears to be a modification of the old Latin name _Castanea_, through the French form _Chataigner_. The Latin is said to be derived from Kastanum, a town in Thessaly, but it is more likely that the presence of Chestnut-trees gave a name to the town, as has happened so many times in our own country with various trees, the Chestnut included.

Horse Chestnut (_aesculus hippocastanum_).