Native trees of Britain

There are 60 or more trees in Britain that are native, meaning tree species, subspecies or hybrids that have established themselves without the hand of man. Yet only 35 are widespread meaning that the palette is actually quite limited, particularly when the full range of benefits from woodlands are considered, together with threats from environmental change.


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Sixty may appear a large number of tree species but only about 35 are widespread and of these only three are conifers: juniper, scots pine and yew. The following list of native British trees is taken from my book The New Sylva (Bloomsbury Publishing 2014).






Common name


Latin name



Field maple
Acer campestre


Common alder
Alnus glutinosa


Strawberry-tree
Arbutus unedo


Silver birch
Betula pendula


Downy birch
Betula pubescens


Box
Buxus sempervirens


Hornbeam
Carpinus betulus


Dogwood
Cornus sanguinea


Hazel
Corylus avellana


Midland hawthorn
Crataegus laevigata


Hawthorn
Crataegus monogyna


Spindle
Euonymus europaeus


Beech
Fagus sylvatica


Alder buckthorn
Frangula alnus


Common ash
Fraxinus excelsior


Sea buckthorn
Elaeagnus rhamnoides


Holly
Ilex aquifolium


Juniper
Juniperus communis


Crab apple
Malus sylvestris


Scots pine
Pinus sylvestris


Black poplar
Populus nigra subsp. Betulifolia


Aspen
Populus tremula


Wild cherry
Prunus avium


Bird cherry
Prunus padus


Blackthorn
Prunus spinosa


Plymouth pear
Pryrus cordata


Sessile oak
Quercus petraea


Pedunculate oak
Quercus robur


Purging buckthorn
Rhamnus cathartica


White willow
Salix alba


Goat willow
Salix caprea


Grey willow
Salix cinerea


Crack willow
Salix fragilis


Bay willow
Salix petandra


Purple osier
Salix purpurea


Almond willow
Salix triandra


Common osier
Salix viminalis


Elder
Sambucus nigra


English whitebeam
Sorbus anglica


Common whitebeam
Sorbus aria


Arran whitebeam
Sorbus arranensis


Rowan
Sorbus aucuparia


Bristol whitebeam
Sorbus bristoliensis


Devon whitebeam
Sorbus devoniensis


Service-tree
Sorbus domestica


Round-leaved whitebeam
Sorbus eminens


Irish whitebeam
Sorbus hibernica


Lancastrian whitebeam
Sorbus lancastriensis


Grey-leaved whitebeam
Sorbus porrigentiformis


Arran service-tree
Sorbus pseudofennica


Rock whitebeam
Sorbus rupicola


Somerset whitebeam
Sorbus subcuneata


Wild service-tree
Sorbus torminalis


Bloody whitebeam
Sorbus vexans


Wilmott’s whitebeam
Sorbus wilmottiana


Yew
Taxus baccata


Small-leaved lime
Tilia cordata


Large-leaved lime
Tilia platyphyllos


Wych elm
Ulmus glabra


Field elm
Ulmus minor



The timeline used to define ‘native’ is about 8,000 years ago (6,100BC), when Doggerland—the land-bridge linking Britain to mainland Europe—disappeared when a catastrophic tsunami is thought to have swept a wave up to 10m tall as far as 25 miles inland (see Smith et al. 2014 below).


The list of what is considered a native species, or indeed a separate species or not, is under constant review by botanists. For example, while 17 trees from the Sorbus genus are listed in the table above, these are only the most widespread, as there are thought to be about 17 more present in tiny populations (e.g. a single Welsh valley). Tim Rich is one of the most active botanists working to disentangle the genus (See Rich et al. 2014 below).


Our cousins in North America find the British definition of ‘native’ intriguing, the time boundary generally adopted by them being when European settlers first arrived in the sixteenth century, just 400 years ago.


Just across the English Channel in France and there are dozens more tree species considered native including silver fir (Abies alba), European larch (Larix decidua), cornelian cherry (Cornus masiiii), and Norway maple (Acer platanoides), to name a few.


Some trees introduced a long time ago to Britain are now considered ‘naturalised’. There is a specific term for species present since 1500; an ‘archaeophyte’. Such species include beech (native only to south-eastern Britain), horse chestnut, sweet chestnut, sycamore and walnut.



References

T. C. G. Rich, D. Green, L. Houston, M. Lepší, S. Ludwig, and J. Pellicer (2014). British Sorbus (Rosaceae): six new species, two hybrids and a new subgenus.

New Journal Of Botany Vol. 4 , Iss. 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/2042349714Y.0000000036


D.E. Smith, S. Shi, R.A. Cullingford, A.G. Dawson, S. Dawson, C.R. Firth, I.D.L. Foster, P.T. Fretwell, B.A. Haggart, L.K. Holloway, D. Long, (2004). The Holocene Storegga Slide tsunami in the United Kingdom, Quaternary Science Reviews, Volume 23, Issues 23–24, December 2004, Pages 2291-2321, ISSN 0277-3791, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2004.04.001.


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Published on April 01, 2017 01:40
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Gabriel Hemery

Gabriel Hemery
Welcome to my silvological blog featuring the study of trees, forests and woods.

I’m a silvologist—or forest scientist—and a published author. I’m also a keen amateur photographer with a passion for tr
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