Description: Medium sized tree with hugely domed, usually much branched crown and tall, straight, cylindrical bole, though young trees slender, conic, rather gaunt, and variants common on chalklands with stiff ascending branches or long arched branches.

Height: 25-40 m

Diameter: 1.5-2.5 m

Leaves: To 10 × 7 cm oval or obovate, slightly oblique at cuneate base, with wavy margin and short teeth at te end of each of the 6-7 veins each side; acute at tip. Fresh green and silky-white hairy at first, then dark, shiny green above, pale and shiny beneath with long hairs on larger veins and in axils. Petiole 1-1.5 cm, hairy. Autumn colour starts with pale yellows in early October, leaves rich orange-brown to rufous in early November, often retained all winter, especially on young trees.

Bark: Smooth, silvery grey, often slightly roughened and less often with rippled patches or a fine network of ridges.

Shoots: Dull purple-brown, lenticelled and slightly zig-zag. Bud slender, long-pointed, 2cm, many scales, each red-brown at base, the rest light brown.

Flowers: Emerge with the leaves in early May. Males pale yellowish globose bunch of stamens on 2cm stalk, shed in vast numbers to xarpet ground in mid-May. Female on a short, stiff, hairy stalk; green globose head of fine white filaments.

Fruit: Triangular in section, often concave sides, shiny deep brown, two in four-lobed involucre, pale brown outside, with prickles, whitish, hairy inside, 2.5 cm long, opening widely. Heavy "mast" years usually follow hot summer of previous year.

Habitat: Dominant and climax tree on chalk and some other well-drained land. Lowland woods in the north, and up to 1400-1800m in south of range. Likes an oceanic, temperate climate with average annual temperatures of 6-10°C, and minimum rainfall of 700-1000mm. Susceptible to late frosts and high winds.

Range: Western, Central and Southern Europe from SE England and northern Spain to the Black Sea.

Information: Mitchell (1978), MacDonald (1983)

Source: Weasdale Nurseries, Newbiggin-on-Lune, Cumbria.

Purchased: 1993.11.22, by us, ten forest-grade transplants at 24"

Planted: All heeled in before Christmas 1993. Six of these planted at north end of our native trees area at E1B, E0D, E0E, E0F, E0G, E2G, on 1994.03.30.

Progress: This was a very shady area (high shade from an old Ash tree to the SW, and closed in by dense hedges west and north, with a large old Hawthorn to the east), and also a bit prone to get overgrown with weeds as it is very hard to cut. The tree with the best site was the one at E1B, but this was right next to the public footpath, and unfortunately got broken, and was later strimmed while clearing nettles from the path. The others have all made slow progress and look healthy, but are still small.

However, two weed ash saplings had to be removed from just to the north in autumn 1998, and this involved cutting out quite a lot of the rather tatty Symphoticarpos hedge. As this was quite out of character with other plantings, it was later removed completely, and the bank turned over for use as a fern bed with initially eight species of native ferns. Quite a lot of weed clearance is being carried out, and althogether this should let quite a bit more light in and reduce the competition, so better progress should be forthcoming for these five trees.

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