Inedible Strawberries

If you're looking for a native evergreen shrub for a wildlife garden that delivers a splash of colour in mid-winter, just when we need it most, then look no further than the strawberry tree Arbutus unedo. Strictly speaking it's only native to a few counties in the south and west of Ireland but, given a bit of shelter, it can be grown in gardens throughout most of Britain as a small tree or informal evergreen flowering hedge.

The great merit of this plant is that it flowers and fruits simultaneously. The clusters of waxy bells in bloom now presumably self-pollinate, since there are few insects about to do the job, then the fruits take a whole year to develop, swelling into bright red spheres around Christmas time. Apparently the fruits are fairly unpleasant to eat (supposedly, unedo is a corruption of Pliny the Elder's description of his experience of eating the fruit - unum edo, meaning 'I eat one'), although I've never plucked up the courage to perform my own taste-test. Interestingly, it seems that grey squirrels don't much like them either. This afternoon I watched them eating yew seeds (which are poisonous to most mammals, including us) and discarding the red pulp around the seeds (which isn't poisonous) but none of them touched the tempting-looking scarlet crop on the strawberry trees next to the yews. They all scampered off from the yews when I arrived so I guess they might be lying dead now from yew poisoning, but I doubt it; grey squirrel digestive systems seem to be able to cope with just about anything, except perhaps the fruit of the strawberry tree... but I'll keep a watch on them, just in case they turn to eating these too when the going gets tougher later in the winter.

A Tree-spotter's Guide to Buds: part 2

White poplar Populus alba winter buds are covered in a dense felt of fine white hairs that, from a distance, make the twig look as though it's been dipped in white emulsion. The white hairs cover the underside of the leaves too, which flash green and white when they flutter in the breeze in spring and yellow and white when they change colour in autumn.

Alder Alnus glutinosa buds have this beautiful violet-purple sheen that intensies in spring, as the buds begin to swell

Common lime Tilia x europaea buds, which are rounded and have few bud scales, develop a deep crimson hue when they're exposed to sunlight, but on their shaded underside (right hand twig above) they remain green. The purple pigment is produced in response to bright sunlight.

Sweet chestnut Castanea sativa buds are also tinged red but the twigs are chestnut brown. Notice how the buds below the terminal bud sit on a little shelf.

... and this is rowan Sorbus aucuparia, possibly the least attractive buds amongst native species, whose hairy, pointed buds lack shiny scales.

For part 3 see http://cabinetofcuriosities-greenfingers.blogspot.com/2009/12/tree-spotters-guide-to-buds-part-3.html

For part 1 see http://cabinetofcuriosities-greenfingers.blogspot.com/2009/11/tree-spotters-guide-to-buds-part-1.html

For more posts on tree ID click here

It's Grimmia up North....

This cushion of moss, clinging to a wall top in the centre of Newcastle, is Grimmia pulvinata, also known as the grey-cushioned grimmia.

Many mosses are perplexingly similar in appearance but this one is instantly recognisable, thanks to the long hair-like extensions to the leaf tips and the spore capsules that have a coy tendency to rise upwards on their stalks and them plunge back downwards again into the cushion of leaves.

Grimmia is an amazingly tough little moss. Its hummocks, often perfectly hemispherical, freeze solid in winter and can survive prolonged periods of drought in those all-too-infrequent ‘cor-what-a-scorcher’ summers when rain fails to fall for weeks on end. They manage to survive drought thanks to droplets of dew that condense on those long hair points at night and are absorbed into the sponge-like cushion below.

If you're even only remotely interested in the miniature world of mosses, take a look at the British Bryological Society web site at http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/bbs/bbs.htm

where you'll be able to identify most of the common species in your back garden by downloading their handy guide at http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/bbs/Learning/malotag.htm

For the more ambitious bryologist, there's now a beautifully illustrated moss field guide on line at http://hosting.sleath.co.uk/bbs/ which will shortly be published in book form.