A Tree-spotter's Guide to Conifer Cones: 2

It's not easy to get your hands on intact cedar of Lebanon Cedrus libani cones because they tend to remain firmly attached to the tree and, at the end of their three year ripening period, break up without falling to the ground. This cone has reached the stage where it is about to disintegrate and is about 8 cm. long. The best way to obtain a cedar of Lebanon cone is to check out trees after gales - a broken branch will often have cones attached. Young cones have a lovely cedar fragrance. The tree has been grown in Britain since 1638  but most date from after 1740 when a famously severe frost killed many of the young trees - so the oldest specimens here are still quite youthful, compared with trees in their native Lebanon that are speculated to be up to 2500 years old. The tree is portrayed on the Lebanese flag and is protected in its native country, where only ten small natural populations remain.

This is a ripe Sitka spruce Picea sitchenis cone, which has thin scales that have a crinkly edge. It comes from the North West coast of North America and, like the Douglas fir, it was discovered by Archibald Menzies and introduced into Britain by David Douglas in 1831. It has been an extremely successful plantation tree in upland Britain and cones prolifically, but sadly closely-spaced plantation trees can never display the full majesty of this species, which can grow to 60m. tall and become very handsome as an isolated specimen. This cone is about 8cm. long.


More pictures of cones here


For more posts on this blog on tree ID - buds, bark, flowers or fruits - click here

Sloe gin

Frost and snow lately has finally softened the sloes on blackthorns in Teesdale and Weardale and there's a real temptation to taste a ripe one - a temptation to be resisted. I did once - and only once - and it was so breathtakingly sour that I'll never do it again. There's only one way to consume these - as sloe gin, marinaded in gin and sugar for a few months. 

Elder and Lichens

Lichens are just about the most colourful objects in the landscape hereabouts at this time of year. This one is a Xanthoria species - Xanthoria parietina I think - growing on an elder twig. The little orange discs are apothecia, which produce the spores from the fungal component of the symbiotic relationship between the alga and fungus that constitutes a lichen.

Old elders (is that a tautology?) are often smothered with this yellow lichen, bringing the whole tree to life when it's lit by winter sunshine. X.parietina thrives in sites where there is plenty of nitrogen in the substrate, such as tree branches where birds have perched and left droppings.