180/366 Poplar fluff

28 Sunday Jun 2020

Tags

British trees, fluffy seeds, Hybrid black-poplar, poplar fluff, poplar seeds, poplar trees

I’m not good at tree identification but I think this is most likely a Hybrid Black-poplar (Populus x Canadensis agg). It’s growing in a local park alongside the river – they like wet landscapes, and are frequently planted in parks and gardens but have also become naturalised in much of Britain.

200628 hybrid black-poplar (1)

What caught my attention with this tree was not the leaves or the bark or the shape but its seed fluff, which is so abundant at the moment that it’s covering the nearby path like snow in summer.

Poplar trees are dioecious, meaning there are separate male and female trees, and you can tell this one is a female because it’s producing the seeds, with all that fabulous white fluff attached.

112/366 The May tree

21 Tuesday Apr 2020

Posted by sconzani in nature, trees

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

British trees, Hawthorn, Hawthorn blossom, May-tree, Spring blossom

It’s that time of year again, when the Hawthorn blossom scents the air with its distinctive perfume and carpets the ground with its snow-like blossom.

204021 hawthorn (1)

My Flora Britannica reminds me that Hawthorn, also known as the May tree, was ‘the ancestor of the Maypole, the source of May Day garlands … and one of the models for the foliage which wreathes the faces of Green Men carved in churches and inns.’

204021 hawthorn (2)

For lots more fascinating information on the Hawthorn, check out my previous post here.

204021 hawthorn (3)

93/366 Cat’s-paw

02 Thursday Apr 2020

Posted by sconzani in nature, spring, trees

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British trees, catkins, Pussy willow, willow, willow catkins

By sheer coincidence, author Robert Macfarlane’s ‘word of the day’ today on Twitter is cat’s-paw.

200402 cats paw (1)

He writes about them: ‘nickname for catkins of the smaller willows/sallows (Goat willow, pussy willow, grey willow); among the earliest signs of spring; first grey & silky, then growing a glowing aura of tiny flowers. Often brought into houses at Easter/on Palm Sunday.’

200402 cats paw (2)

I had already decided that today’s post would be on this same topic so here are the photos I’ve been collecting over the past week or so. These are of different trees so it’s quite likely they are not all the same species of willow (and I’m useless at working out which is which), but I love the way the catkins develop from soft furriness to beautiful bursts of yellow, and the insects love them too.

200402 cats paw (3)

347/365 Early catkins

13 Friday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in nature, trees, winter

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

British trees, female Hazel flowers, Hazel, Hazel catkins, Hazel flowers

As I always do when I need to be ‘soothed and healed’, I went for a long walk with Nature as soon as I could get away today. There was a bitterly cold wind blowing but I was well wrapped up and, to my delight, I found a few wildflowers still in bloom, fed sunflower hearts to the hungry small birds, and then, much to my surprise, found some Hazel catkins out already – and not just the male catkins, but several of the tiny pink female flowers, which seems quite early.

191213 hazel catkins

69/365 The sex life of Hazels

10 Sunday Mar 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, nature, trees

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

British trees, catkins, Corylus avellana, Hazel, Hazel catkins, Hazel female flowers, Hazel male flowers

The catkins of the Hazel tree (Corylus avellana) have almost finished now, which is shame as they are such lovely things, such a pretty symbol of springtime. The catkins, often known as ‘lambs’ tails’, are the male flowers, shedding their pollen as a fine yellow dust as they blow in the wind. The female flowers are less conspicuous, tiny compared to the catkins but also very pretty, a bright lipstick pink. Although the Hazel is monoecious, which means both male and female flowers can be found on the same tree, the female flowers must be pollinated by pollen from a different tree if they are to go on and produce Hazel nuts.