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Trees Ring the Climate Changes
Forestation and Climate
What is happening to our Trees and Woods?
On the one hand, we are told by the Forestry Commission that millions of conifers and other non-native to the UK trees are to be felled in the next 20 years to regenerate indigenous trees in England’s woodland. Trees such as the oak, ash and beech would be encouraged to seed naturally and regenerate, because shading from conifers and over-grazing by live stock have taken their toll on ancient and native wooded areas.1 This sounds like ‘good news’ as the UK is now one of the least forested nations in Europe, which is both sad and disastrous for the nation’s health and wild habitat. Historically, woodland was the predominant habitat over much of the UK, the most common vegetation thought to be broadleaved forest with mainly trees such as oak, ash and lime. Over the past 5,000 years 90% of this natural forestry has been lost, due chiefly to human activity, from cutting down for firewood and clearance for agriculture. 2 By the time the 3rd millennium dawned, woodland was reduced to about 5% of the land area of Britain,3 and that’s discounting the distinctive pine forests of Scotland etc., in total, native woodland made up around only 2.5% of the UK land area. Forest and woodland ownership is divided between private and public. The Forestry Commission managed somewhere in the region of 35% of the country’s woodland, roughly 10% was owned by other public voluntary bodies, 20% by farmers and 35% by other private owners.4 To make matters worse, the effect of poorly targeted tax incentives, which encouraged landowners in the private sector to create ‘monoculture’ plantations of non-native trees e.g. highly productive Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) in Scotland, for fast growth, felling and profit further robbed the country of its native deciduous trees.5 In terms of water-conservation, a recent report by the Forestry Research Programme, funded by the UK government’s Department for International Development (Dfid) suggests that our native tree-planting needs support, because the planting of conifer forests led to a reduction of water yields of 20% compared with short vegetation.5A However, there is a distinction between conifers and broad-leaved trees, which are mainly deciduous, as there is between natural woodlands and industrial forestry, that affect water use. “Evergreen conifers tend to have a greater water use because high interception losses are maintained throughout the year, and particularly during the winter period when conditions are usually wettest and windiest. Studies in the UK have found that between 25%-45% annual rainfall is typically lost by interception in conifer stands, compared with 10%-25% for broadleaves. These percentages remain remarkably constant over a wide range of total rainfall. … “5B Another aspect of planting resinous pines, especially outside of their natural habitat, is that when hot summers dry out the land they are susceptible to wild-fires that spread with untameable alacrity. In February of this year, Bill Bryson, best-selling author and lover of the English countryside, launched a call to improve protection of Britain’s ancient trees and woods. In various UK locations developers can cause chaos to what is left of our ancient woodlands: For example, construction work for new homes has already put an end to Hoaks Wood, St. Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex. High Wood in Little Canfield, Essex, may disappear with the proposed expansion of Stansted Airport &c.6 The Woodland Trust and the Ancient Tree Forum say there are more than 475 cases of woods threatened by development.7 Preservation of our ancient woods is not just a matter of national pride; The Woodland Trust has estimated that Britain has more than 80% of northern Europe’s ancient trees in our custodianship. But, in 2005 only 15% of ancient woods, which cover less than 2% of the UK, have adequate protection.7 Trees and ancient woods are vitally important to biodiversity and wildlife and our cultural heritage. Not only are our diverse and beautiful landscapes a tourist attraction – you will readily understand why if you have you ever looked down from an aeroplane on England’s countryside ‘patchwork quilt’ - “Our ancient woods are quintessential features of these much loved landscapes, irreplaceable, living historic monuments, which inspire us and provide us with a sense of place and history.”8
Beech Tree in Autumn (Fagus sylvatica) East Julian Alps - Slovenia © 2005 Dr Amadej Trnkoczy On the other hand, whilst our woodlands as well as being small, fragmented, and vulnerable to pollution from farming, poor management and neglect, or loss to development, we are simultaneously being warned that our native tree species and woodlands are under threat from global warming.9 Well, not immediately perhaps, closer to 2050 than 2005, though some UK areas will and do suffer from sudden ‘heat-waves’ and lack of water right now. However, heat-waves can lose us our temperate climate fruit-tree crops. For example, in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, orchard owners regularly have to contend with frost, wind and hail but have been left wondering whether the windless “dead heat” of the recent July heat-wave, which caused the most exposed apples literally to cook on their trees, is a freak weather incident or due to a forthcoming more permanent climate change.10 Nature may compensate by making the remaining apples grow larger, but in one weekend the growers lost 15% of their crop. It has been said that in 45years time our glorious beech forests in southern Britain could disappear and the birch, poplar and willow may also have a struggle to survive in the South-East as temperatures rise, 11 and that the traditional Christmas tree forests of Norway spruce will only be found in the North. The distribution of our native trees will naturally alter. From the current forecast, it looks as if in the South-West Gulf Stream Drift area of Britain, the already warmer areas for vegetation, the native British climate might begin to more resemble a Biosphere of the warm Mediterranean climate of ‘The Eden Project’ in Cornwall.12 The prognosis is for southern Britain to have a similar climate to the Loire region of France by 2050 with vineyards and flourishing peach, fig and apricot fruit trees.13 The average summer temperatures in the South are predicted to be 30 C higher and rainfall down by 35% than now.14 On many soils in southern England, where water drains away freely, many native species would no longer be viable. However, many foreign species of trees flourish in places like London at present, such as Eucalyptus; fig trees grow happily, but their fruits do not normally fill and ripen properly. Some Agaves, palm-type plants like the Yuccas, may look a bit dusty in their urban settings, but survive quite well and flower. To keep a sense of perspective, it’s déjà vu (a feeling of we’ve been here before) in reverse. Western Europe experienced a general cooling of the climate between the years 1150AD and 1460AD, and a very cold climate between 1560AD and 1859AD. In the warmer period of the past southern England did indeed have the climate that northern France has now.15 The growing season changed by 15%-20% between the warmest and coldest times of the millennium. Indeed, “analysis of pollen demonstrated that after the year 1400AD, Beech trees, the formerly dominant warmth-loving species, were replaced first by oak and subsequently by pine.”16 If we are categorically undergoing climate-change we shall have to plan and plant accordingly and not be too hasty in felling trees without prior thought to what best species can deal with any impending climatic influence upon sustainable conditions that may apply. It may all seem a bit less strange when we look at the past etched in our landscapes. When travelling by road or rail we can easily see the remains of Roman vineyards’ terraces in the fields e.g. in Gloucestershire. The first Romano-British vineyard is said to have been discovered at Wollaston, near Northampton, in the Nene Valley. It was confirmed by the identification of Vitis pollen from decayed Roman vines and dated 2nd-3rd century AD.17 It is also stated that in 270AD restrictions on British wine production were lifted by Roman Imperial edict and that the Emperor Probus purportedly came to England to plant the first vine himself, apparently at The Vyne, in Hampshire.18 All in all, England is no stranger to the ‘vine’ (Vitis vinefera), the Venerable Bede (c.635-735) mentions vines in his ‘Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation’. And, in the Doomsday Book thirty-eight vineyards of varying size are mentioned. However, in 1152 following the marriage of Henry II to Eleanor of Aquitaine, Bordeaux wine overtook our national produce and augured the ‘doom’ of English commercial vineyards.19
Vines at Wroxeter Roman Vineyards, Shropshire Photographer: Matthew Ashton The first of our modern era of vineyards came into being in the mid-1950s, and vineyards have been increasing in momentum and number ever since. Award winning British wine is produced by ‘Wroxter Roman Vineyards’ in Shewsbury, Shropshire, which is one of the world’s most northerly vineyards; it is part of the famous Roman site of the ancient city of Viroconium Cornoviorum (Wroxeter) that even sports a flock of Roman sheep! In Kent, ‘The Garden of England’, there are three vineyards currently in production, three in East Sussex, two in Worcestershire and one each in Suffolk and Hampshire of excellent repute. So in one area of crops we have been, if not insidiously, naturally and successfully moving forward with any ‘warming’ of the climate.20
Drought Resistant Plants and Trees One of the most familiar trees of the countryside and bio-diverse urban areas is the Silver Birch (Betula pendula), a genuine native and early colonizer at the end of the Ice Age. It may cope very well with the impending warmer climate, as it tolerates a wide range of habitats, thrives on free-draining (sandy soils) and also tolerates higher altitudes than most broad-leaved species.
European Silver Birch (Betula
pendula Roth)
The Silver Birch has quite a history and possesses a wide variety of practical and medicinal uses, deserving space and special separate attention, but it has a cousin among ‘drought resistant’ species Black Birch (Betula nigra). Black Birch is well known in Russia for its medical value, as it plays host to ‘Chaga’ or ‘Clinker Polypore’ (Inonotus obligus [Fr.] pil.) or Birch canker polypore. The ‘conk’ or coke-like fungi has been shown by research to have good anti-carcinogenic21 potential and to be ‘gene’ protective, i.e. of DNA.22 We would be loath to lose our graceful, lacy, filigree-twigged deciduous Silver Birch, our very own romantic and poetic beauty, but depending upon how severe the climatic changes we may encounter become adjustments may be expected in our back-gardens or landscape. Water, without which we ourselves cannot live, or lack of it is developing into a problem worldwide and the UK is no exception. After nine months of virtually no rain and scorching summer weather, the indigenous clay is baked splitting-hard where water should be in parched sections of the depleted Weir Wood reservoir, West Sussex.23 On 26th July 2005, the British government granted the first active drought order for eight years in our ‘Green and pleasant land’.24 The most shocking aspect of the ‘drought’ development, especially in the densely populated South East of the country, is knowing that Water companies lost 802 million gallons of water every day through leakages in 2003-2004 – that’s an average of 34 gallons a day for each property served and in the case of one company 60 gallons per day per property! 25 Some rivers are at their lowest for 30 years, as well as reservoirs drying up. It may be that we shall have to use our canal network system as ‘the spine’ of a national water grid, though that would require political will rather than rhetoric and a multi-billion pound investment.26 It is obvious from the status quo that we should not wait until there’s ‘no water in the well’, but actively plan planting ahead and start taking action on an individual basis now. There is also a less obvious indirect climatic threat to our ancient forests, the grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). It is an alien introduced into Britain from North America 130 years ago. It is bigger in size and multiplies faster and more successfully to the detriment of our smaller native red ‘Squirrel Nutkin’ (Sciurus vulgaris). Mild winters of late have caused population booms.27 This year in Gloucestershire’s historic woodland, the Royal Forest of Dean, ‘the Greys’ are causing a disastrous amount of damage with their territorial mating rituals by stripping the bark of ancient oaks, beech and chestnut trees. The marauding is so severe it is killing trees.28 What do they get out of their wanton destruction? By ripping the bark a sugary substance from the sap is obtained, but it is more about a fierce form of ‘turf war’ amongst male grey squirrels to impress the females than anything else.29 It is to be hoped that the Forestry Commission will receive the outside help they need to effect a more than timely widespread ‘cull’.30 Greys have also endangered the lives of the native red squirrel population by spreading squirrel pox virus which is relatively harmless to themselves.31 In the autumn of 2004 it was estimated that there are around 2.5 million grey squirrels in the UK, but only about 160,000 reds.32
What can we do? Well, don’t start concreting over the garden, resorting to more decking and steel constructions or digging up trees in your backyard, but begin to look for ways to take off some of the strain. Along the way from now until 2050, we may be able to add to our collection of ‘drought resistant’ residential trees species, such as the Black Birch. Some ‘drought resistant’ species are already happily growing in suburban gardens, parks and other urban areas. But in some cases, on home-ground, it might be good to replace existing trees when their life-span is over, if growing conditions do deteriorate, with some other species that cause less demand upon water supplies e.g. Maple (Acer spps.), Catalapa (Catalapa bignoniodes), Cypress (Cupressus spps.), Olive (Olea europaea), Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), Hawthorn (Cratageaus spps.), Juniper (Juniperus spps.) and many others including specimen trees. Olive groves are not likely to start sprouting all over the landscape as yet, but a dusky silver-green specimen olive tree in the garden in these troubled times might serve to remind us all of the Olive leaf of ‘Peace’.
Olive Tree (Olea europaea L. spps. africana (P.Mill) P. Photographer: J.S. Peterson @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database
No citrus trees, such as Lemon (Citrus limon), which are sensitive to low temperatures, will grow outdoors except in warmer or frost-free pockets of the country. However, if you are the proud owner of a conservatory, a specimen lemon or sweet orange tree (Citrus aurantium var. sinensis) grown in a large tub can give a lot of visual and scented pleasure and be hauled onto a patio area when the weather permits. You can hear it on the Grape-vine too. I remember my father’s pride in the ownership of a vine cutting from the ‘Great Vine’ at Royal Hampton Court Palace, the oldest (234 years old now, 182 years old then!) and largest known vine in the world. Did it survive? You bet it did - with its feet firmly planted outside in it’s deep-dug earthen trough seasoned with two buckets of pig’s blood from the local abattoir and the stem up inside the greenhouses, it produced 4 bunches of grapes the first year and 40 plus the year following. We moved house and horse-racing establishment the next year; but to my adolescent consternation, my father respectfully declined to dig it up. It’s almost amusing now, but I really wanted to inherit that plant! Think ‘exotic fruits’, not solely peaches against the wall, apricots or nectarines that at present often barely ripen. When you holiday in the Med. take note of what might work for you in your garden. Historic plants such as the bewitching flowering Pomegranate tree (Punica granatum), rubies of the desert, thrive under desert conditions of both drought and extreme heat, although you would not expect best quality fruits without sufficient rain.
London has many sterile-looking Nisperos/Loquat/Japanese plum (Eriobotrya japonica) trees in suburban gardens. Originally hailing from China, their largish green leaves are contrastingly pale underneath. Once established, they are ‘drought resistant’, requiring good drainage and will even tolerate alkaline soil, responding well to good moisturizing mulch. Their fully ripened yellowy-golden fruits are a delight. Eaten raw, nisperos have a subtle taste described as a mixture of apricots, apples and plum. They make a good accompaniment to cheese and cold meats and can be used to make jams33, jellies33 and other epicurean temptations such as Spiced Loquats.34 For dessert you might like to try a ‘Loquat pie’ or ‘Crumble’ or a South African side-dish of ‘Loquat Sambal’.35 Nicole Routhier’s ‘Pork Tenderloin with Strawberry Loquat Sauce’ could be a good approach to introduce loquats into a main meat course and make guests sit up and take notice.36 Why not go the whole hog, if you can spare the Amaretto, and finish off with a drink of ‘Loquat Amaretto Freeze’! 37
Creating a ‘Dry’ Garden It is not only ‘drought resistant’ trees and more water conservative broadleaved trees such as the English Oak (Quercus robur) and others aforementioned, but flowering shrubs and plants that are needed to make a ‘dry garden’, which is not a new idea but a helpful one when water is at a premium both in availability and cost. The Lavender family (Lavandula spps.) is a given as an herb or shrub, as is Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), but there are others such as the ‘Butterfly bush’ or Buddleias, Cistus called Rockrose (Cistus skanbergii) and French or common Lilacs, as well as roses like ‘La Reine’, ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’, both the white and yellow ‘Lady Banks’ roses, the Hedge rose (Rosa rugosa) &c.38 There are many plants, herbs and bulbs to contemplate that are also more able to resist droughty conditions, e.g. varieties of Achillea, Artemisia ‘Wormwood’ (Artemisia absinthium), Asclepias, Day Lilies (Hemerocallis fulva) Hemerocallis meaning ‘beautiful for a day’, Echinacea, called the ‘Purple cone flower’ (Echinacea purpurea), Euphorbias, the Geranium family (Pelagronium spps.) from South Africa, Helychrysum (Helychrysum italicum), Irises that like their bottoms sun-baked, Nepeta ‘Cat Mint’ (Nepeta cataria), Poppies, (Papaveria spps.), Rue ‘Herb of Grace’ (Ruta graveolens), drought-tolerant Sage (Salvia officinalis), Santolina, the sunflower family (Helianthus annuus), richly scented Tobacco flowers (Nicotiana spps.) and different sweet smelling types of Thymes (Thymus spps.); and the small rock-garden low-growing plants such as colourful carpeting Aubrietias and thick, fleshy-leaved Sedums, which latter have been used to cover shed roofs.39 The more one thinks about it, the more exciting creating a ‘dry’ garden or dry area in a garden can turn out to be. Collecting rain in a water-barrel is an obvious thing to do and good for watering all plants. Water features and ponds have become very popular in recent years, but are not kind to water supply and can be expensive. Toughened ‘self-cleaning’ glass to make a ‘mirror reflector’ style illusory pond is not quite with us yet, but it is something to bear in mind. However, you might be able to make a small pseudo pond garden feature by laying silver foil under toughened glass and using other rainbow light-catchers such as iridescent glass pebbles, with a cement constituted pseudo-rocks surround that look better with weathering, adding drift-wood and a water feature statue like a sentinel metal stork standing guard to give your pseudo-pond some authenticity. Housework needs be extended to the garden for the occasional ‘mopping-up’ cleansing operation perhaps, but it could save a lot of water.
What Trees Do for Us and Our Health “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth, find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” Rachel Carson, ‘Silent Spring’. People need trees; they are important capital assets of our cities and urban areas. Lest we forget, they work for us 24/7, and not only to produce oxygen for our lungs or do battle against soil erosion, they help to counter the effects of climate change. Planting trees is still a very economical and efficient way to extract excess carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. A single mature tree can absorb 48 lbs of CO2 per year, giving back enough oxygen to support two human beings!40 They are increasingly seen as a source of renewable energy and for use as sustainable building materials. Moreover, trees can be very personal with individual appeal. People like to see trees, the hazy blue mist of woodland native bluebells drifting through them and the delicate lemon-yellow of primroses at their feet in spring, their fierce firey leaf colours of autumn; to hear the wind soughing through them, from their window, in parks and green spaces; to make use of their welcome shade in hot sunny weather, under which to tranquilly read a book or have fun sharing a picnic. Trees are an antidote to the stressful urban concrete and glass jungle in which we may live. They have often been the centre-point to a village community, where friends and neighbours meet or form a playful place for children. Trees are a part of a community’s infrastructure. It has been formally recognized Europe-wide that forests and trees contribute to human health and wellbeing.41 In fact, the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), USA, research team, from their studies give a clear tough message: “Trees have the potential to reduce social service budgets, decrease police calls for domestic violence, strengthen urban communities, and decrease the incidence of child abuse.”42 In a recent survey, in a poll of 2,000 adults, it showed that where trees grow is a natural ‘stress-buster’. About 30% of the population surveyed cited ‘stress’ as a daily problem. The morning commute, work itself and getting up to face a new day, in that order were given as ‘causes for stress’. Furthermore, 84% stated that: “being in contact with the natural elements made them feel more relaxed instantly.”43 Although the most popular ‘stress buster’ was ‘a sea view’ 42%, that is not available to all.44 However, ‘a walk in the park’ came a close second; thirdly, ‘hearing bird song’ and fourthly, ‘the smell of cut grass’ – all of which tots up to 57% and can be found in a walk in the park.45 To prove that the good-health effects of trees is not ‘all in the mind’, recent research by Professor Ulrich of Texas University suggests that even driving down a tree-lined avenue can alleviate stress, so we need to make sure and keep our ‘tree-lined avenues’ intact. He stated that, “being in a green space for just 5 minutes can have an impact on the nervous system, reducing blood pressure, relaxing muscles and lowering stress levels.” 46 In short, green spaces can help you live longer.47 But is this remarkable need to ‘commune with nature’ part of our evolutionary ingrained memory?48 Those of purely scientific persuasion may think that the psychological benefits are immeasurable and unaccountable, and solely the exercise involved in a ‘walk in the park’ is physiologically good for us. But that would be to discount our strong spiritual ties to trees, because our relationship with trees has been very evolutionary indeed and the connections incorporate and account for far more than the sum-total of our exercised parts.
Our Spiritual Connections to Trees
The ‘tree’ is used as a metaphor for Darwin’s theory of Evolution, and we all have a ‘Family Tree’ to explain our heritage, but trees appeal to our very soul. ‘The Tree of Life’ and tree worship, linked to reverence for the Sun and Earth and agriculture, are universal. They are present in many ancient and modern belief systems, which are not just mythological remnants of the past e.g. pop-star ‘Madonna’ and other celebrities follow the ancient Hebrew philosophy of the Kabbalah – The Tree of Life. The Babylonians and Assyrians and the Hebrew worship of Baal also taught of a sacred ‘Tree of Life’ connected with the spirit world. The Scandinavians held sacred ‘Yggrasil’ the great Ash tree that holds together earth, heaven, and hell by its roots and branches in Norse mythology. These customs and beliefs were widespread throughout ancient cultures. References to trees abound in the Christian Bible. The best known ‘Tree of Life’ is in the story of Adam and Eve, in the book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. Perhaps not the same tree of life, but it also appears in the New Testament in the Book of Revelation and in a relation to Lehi in the Book of Mormon. We see trees in Buddhism; Siddhartha (Buddha) was born under a tree, his enlightenment took place under a Bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa), and he died between two sal trees.49 The Jewish ‘Earth Day’, Tu B’Shevat, is the Birthday of Trees.50 In the Islamic ‘Garden of Paradise’ is the tree called Tooba, to provide shade and fruits of a taste unknown to mortals. The rivers of paradise spring from the tree, flowing with water or milk, honey and wine.51 Hinduism teaches that trees have souls, and should be honoured and cared for.52 Closer to home, the Celts started to worship trees in their own right. This is not surprising at a time when Man had a short life-span, for to a pagan people the magnificence, size and strength of a ‘tree’ with ‘sap’ like life’s blood, and basically its longevity would inform the simplest mind that ‘trees’ definitely have something special going for them. Why would not another living ‘life form’ have a spirit of its own? The Oak was sacred to Norse and Roman pagan worship. Our ‘Hearts of Oak’, a term used to describe the bravery of men who formed our yeomanry ‘men of the soil’ our early military and later with ships built of oak our sea-faring power, come directly from our pagan past. Caesar’s De Bello Gallico describes who the Druids were and how, especially in Ireland, they were doctors that held the secrets of medicinal herbs and plants via oral tradition. Even their letters of the alphabet ‘Oghams’ are associated with a tree or a plant. Trees were bridges between the realms of Land and Sky, with communicating Water between those realms, representing Earth harmony. All trees were sacred, but the Oak, ‘King of the forest’ had a special role among all other plants. Under an Oak the druids taught their lessons; it symbolized a doorway to mysteries (knowledge) and strength. In England, the name ‘gospel oak’ relates to a time when Psalms and Gospel truths were said under the shade of an oak tree. Hopefully the present attack on our honest oaks in the country by ‘sudden oak death’ does not signify or coincide with emergent untruths! Celtic Druids worshipped in groves of trees; the natural woodland sites were often centred at a meeting point of earth energies. So potent is the belief in trees’ spiritual powers, it is reported that in former Celtic groves in Brittany, Cornwall, Ireland and Wales trees are still dressed with ribbons, offerings and petitions for healing. In Ireland there are some place-names designating the veneration of trees: Magh-Bhile (Moville in Co. Donegal) meaning ‘plain of the worship of the old tree’; Derry, is derived from the name Doire or Dair meaning oak-tree; Kildare Cill-Dara, the ‘church (or cell) of the oak.’53 It is not known who first brought Christianity to Britain, but that it was during the days of the Roman Empire. The Roman invasion of Britain started 55BC in the time of Julius Caesar, but it was not until 43AD they had any measure of real success. By 50AD London was founded and they consolidated 77-400AD, leaving Britain 410AD. Missionaries were sent by Pope Gregory in 597AD led by Augustine, later to become the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In places of ‘healing’ such as sacred groves or springs with waters that cured, these early Christians simply superimposed their own saints names onto existing already well-known places of healing, but the Old Religion lived on. In our modern world, pagan Yule and Christian belief is entwined with the Christmas festival. A surviving remnant of pagan tree-worship celebrations is the Christmas tree, dressed Christmas Eve and taken down, formerly to be burned as a sacred object, Twelfth Night. Originally derived from the German mystery plays’ paradise tree, it symbolizes Eden. The use of the Christmas tree began in the early 17th Century in Strasbourg, France, thence spreading through Germany into Northern Europe and Great Britain and on to the United States.54 Christmas itself was not instituted by Christ or the Apostles or by Bible authority, it was taken from the worship of Paganism and in the fifth century when the Western Catholic Church ordered it to be celebrated as an official Christian festival on the 25th December, the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol (Sun-god) – ‘dies natalis sol invicta ‘the day of the birth of the unconquered Sun/Son’. The worship of ‘Sol’ goes back to the Egyptians. Confirmation of the ancient worship of trees and their spirits is best read about in The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer. For example: “Proofs of the prevalence of tree-worship in ancient Greece and Italy are abundant. In the sanctuary of Aesculapius at Cos, … it was forbidden to cut down the cypress-trees under a penalty of a thousand drachms.” Trees were precious then, for many reasons they are precious now. How long will it be ‘til nobody dances around the May-pole? Who knows, but one thing is certain a re-evaluation of what trees mean to us and can do for us is long overdue. We owe trees, much of our modern medicine originates from them with more to follow, but that is not a good enough reason in itself alone. Modern man is becoming desensitized by his environment, life-style and is becoming aggressive and regressive in behaviour, he would do well to recapture the ‘harmonious’ spirit of the Trees.
COMMENT: After living close to Westonbirt, Gloucestershire, for a year and seeing it in all its glorious seasons, a visit to relax, escape and take gentle exercise in the National Arboretum for a ‘Tree Tonic’ is to be recommended. Also, for the first time, this year Westonbirt is offered weekly drop-in Tai Chi classes amongst the trees. For further enquiries see website: http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-6bfktn Every city has a park, but Londoners are ultra-lucky to have the Royal Botanic Kew Gardens that are easy to get to by private or public transport. For some spring-time, high summer or autumn are best for a visit, but it is a lovely place to go to in winter too; if you are cold you can always pop into a Museum or Art gallery or warm-up in one of the huge hot-houses. It is a very special and wonderful place to escape to. There are a lot of activities and exhibitions all year-round. For further information ‘click’ on Herbsphere’s Kew Logo. Not too far from London, Burnham Beeches, near Slough, is a wood with ancient beech trees to visit and where they have an annual ‘Tree Dressing Day’ celebration. See webpage: www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/living_environment/ open_spaces/burnham.htm This winter the Tree Council’s festival is represented by ‘National Tree Week’ 23rd November – 4th December 2005, to mark the start of the tree planting season and a nationwide celebration of trees and woods. There will be opportunities across the country to take part in events, walks, talks, songs, story-telling and tree dressing. See http://www.treecouncil.org.uk/projects/ntw.htm References:
5A Forests ‘worsen water stress’. BBC Online News 3.8.2005. Report by the Forestry Research Programme funded by the UK Government’s Department for International Development (Dfid). 5B ‘Water Use by Trees’ April 2005. http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:2S9nsEdq6wIJ:www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/fcin065.pdf/%24FILE/fcin065.pdf+Conifers+evaporation+UK&hl=en ‘Impact of lowland forests in England on the water resources – application of the HYLUC model. Water Resources Research 39, Calder, IR et al. 1319-1328. Interception – Rain being caught or slowed down by objects (mainly vegetation). The interception storage capacities of the vegetation vary with the type and structure.
Antimitotic activity of aqueous extracts of Inonotus obliquus.’ Burczyk J, et al. Dept. of Pharmacognosy, Silesian Medical Academy, Sosnoweic, Poland. Boll Chim Farm. 1996 May; 135(5):306-9. . “It was concluded that Inonotus extracts at a concentration of 10mcgms/ml to 2000 mcgms/ml inhibited cancer cell growth.”
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