Garden Notes - Wild Service Tree to Common Walnut

Wild Service Tree
Pyrus Torminalis

Grows in woods and hedgerows, chiefly in the southern and midland counties of England; seldom reaches considerable size. Bark: smooth, grayish, scaly. Twigs: reddish-brown, polished, dotted with warts. Leaves: cut into tapering lobes, coarsely toothed, heart-shaped at base, downy beneath when young. Flowers: white, about ½ in. diameter, in loose large flat clusters, appearing in April and May. Fruit: oval, about 1/3 in. across, greenish-brown in color, ripening in November; hard and dry at first, but when touched by frost are edible, and are marketed in some parts of England.
 

Spindle Tree
Enonymus europaeus

Usually seen as a hedge-bush, 10-12 feet high, but occasionally grows into a tree about 20 feet in height. Bark: smooth, gray. Twigs in pairs, four-angled, green, smell most unpleasantly when bruised. Leaves: smooth surface, edges finely toothed, lance-shaped, in pairs, yellow and red in autumn. Flowers: small, greenish-white, about ½ in. in diameter, arranged in loose clusters. Fruit: unusually handsome, a four-chambered capsule, rose-pink, which splits open to show the brilliant orange seeds within. These are eagerly eaten by thrushes and blackbirds, but are poisonous to man.

Spruce Fir, or Norway Spruce
Picea excelsa

Introduced into this country about the 16th century, though fossil remains prove that at one time the Spruce was abundant in this country. In Britain usually grows about 80 feet high, with a circumference of about 9 feet; general outline pyramidal. Bark: thin, reddish-brown, scaly. Leaves: short, narrow, thick, nearly square in section. Stamen-bearing flowers appear in April or may, about 1 in. in length; covered with yellow pollen when fully ripe; Pistil-bearing flowers in cones, about 3 in. long, mauve, green, and rose-pink. Fruit: cones bright-brown, 5 in. to 7 in. long.

Sycamore, or Great Maple
Acer Pseudo-platanus

Not a native British tree. Fond of exposed situations, and grows to a large size even near the sea. When fully grown attains a height of 80 or 90 feet, with a girth of 25 feet. Lower branches: almost horizontal. Bark: ash-gray in color. Leaves: five-lobed, 4 in. to 8 in. across; in autumn these turn a rich yellow, and are usually disfigured with black tar-like blots caused by fungi. Flowers: greenish-yellow, hanging in long clusters, as summer passes these give place to the clusters of winged Fruits. Each fruit has a curved membranous wing, about 1 ½ in. long, green at first, and changing to crimson and brown in autumn.

Common Walnut
Fuglans regia

Not a native British tree, having been introduced in the 15th or 16th century. When well grown reaches a height of 40-60 feet, with a girth of 20 feet. Bark: rough, grayish, furrowed into diamond-shaped patches. Branches: smooth, gray, twisted. Leaves: about 12 in. long, divided into several pairs of pointed oval leaflets, aromatic when bruised. Stamen-bearing flowers in long drooping cylindrical catkins; Pistil-bearing flowers born at ends of shoots, usually in pairs; rather like brown buds, crowned with two white or pink stigmas. Fruit: oval, bright green at first, brown when ripe, the outer husk splitting open showing the well-known Walnut inside.