Garden Notes - Sweet Chestnut to Common Elm

Sweet or Spanish Chestnut
Castanea sativa

Probably introduced by the Romans. Chiefly grown in pleasure grounds, where its lofty, stout trunk sometimes reaches 60-80 feet. Bark: grayish, deeply and often spirally furrowed. Branches: have a horizontal and downward habit of growth. Leaves: elliptical in shape, 9 in. to 10 in. in length. Glossy, edges toothed, color a rich green in summer changing to light yellow and golden brown in autumn. Flowers: arranged in cylindrical yellow catkins, about 6 in. long. Fruit: two or three glossy brown nuts enclosed in hedgehog-like case. In spite of the resemblance of their fruits, this tree is not related to the Horse Chestnut.

Lawson's Cypress
Cupressus Lawsoniana

Introduced from N. America in 1854, this Cypress is the one most commonly met with in parks, pleasure grounds and churchyards. Lowest branches near ground, horizontal and drooping, rather short, so that the shape of the tree is a tall spire. Leaves: little evergreen scales which overlap and completely hide the small branches on which they grow; foliage arranged in flattened sprays. Stamen-bearing flowers bright red; Pistil-bearing flowers steely blue, after pollination ripening into small globular cones, about 1/3 in. in diameter. As cone ripens, its eight scales open and allow seeds to escape.

Dogwood, or Cornel
Cornus sanguinea

A common hedgerow bush, which sometimes forms a tree about 15 ft. high. Wood: tough and horny, formerly used for making skewers or dags (hence the probable origin of the name Dagwood, or Dogwood). Young branches remarkable for their bright red coloring. Leaves: pointed oval in shape, dark green in summer, and in autumn varying from rich orange and yellow to deep crimson. Flowers: arranged in dense stalked, rounded clusters, creamy white; their characteristic rather unpleasant odor makes them attractive to flies. Fruit: small round green berries, which turn purple-black about September.

Common Elder
Sambucus nigra

Usually seen as a bush of about 10 feet high, but occasionally reaches a height of 20 feet. Bark: corky, brownish-gray. Several branches rise from the base, and usually bend over at the tips; general habit of growth straggling. Leaves: divided into 2-5 pairs of leaflets with a single terminal one, oval and pointed, margins toothed. Flowers: small, grouped in large flattened creamy-white clusters, about 6 in. in diameter; five petals. Fruit: small globular berries, green at first, changing to dull red, and finally to shining black; used by country folk for making Elderberry wine.

Common Elm
Ulmus campestris

Probably introduced into Britain by Romans. Usually met with as a hedgerow tree, its growth and shade not being injurious to grass and other vegetation. Its straight trunk is sometimes 120 feet high when well grown, with a girth of about 20 feet. Roots throw up numerous suckers. Bark: furrowed, gray-brown. Leaves: vary in size, pointed oval, edges toothed, base of leaf uneven. Flowers: precede leaves, small, purplish-red, in clusters. Fruit: in hanging clusters, each fruit flattened, egg-shaped, winged all round, with seed near center. In this country Elms usually propagated by slips and suckers, seldom by seeds.