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Oldfern woodland and parklands gallery - Scampston page 4
Ryedale, North Yorkshire
Morus nigra Morus Latin for mulberry; nigra - Latin for black, referencing the dark purple or black color of the mulberry fruit.
Black mulberry
A native of SW Asia, it has been cultivated in the UK since the 16th century, and is a neophyte a plant not native to a region, introduced and escaped into the wild in recent history (after 1500) , with escapes mainly in southern England. If allowed this bush could develop into a medium sized tree - 12m tall, 15m wide.
April 2026
April 2026
Paeonia delavayi paeonia - from Greek mythology, where Paeon, a student of Asclepius (the god of medicine), used a peony root to heal Pluto, prompting Asclepius to try and kill him out of jealousy. Zeus saved Paeon by turning him into the peony flower; delavayi - after Father Jean Marie Delavay, a missionary based in China.
Maroon peony
A deciduous, woody shrub or subshrub native to China, growing to 1.8m tall with a spreading habit. It is characterized by deeply divided, dark green, leathery leaves (often with a reddish tinge) and, from late spring to early summer, nodding, saucer-shaped flowers, which are typically a deep red, maroon, or yellow about 5-8 cm wide.
April 2026
April 2026
Paeonia suffruticosa paeonia - from Greek mythology, where Paeon, a student of Asclepius (the god of medicine), used a peony root to heal Pluto, prompting Asclepius to try and kill him out of jealousy. Zeus saved Paeon by turning him into the peony flower; suffruticosa - from Latin sub, under and fruticosus, shrub-like..
Moutan peony
A perennial deciduous shrub with stems up to 2 m; the branches are short and thick. Leaves are usually green, pale green, sometimes white, about 5 - 11 cm long. Flowers have petals of reddish purple, pink to white. Flowering occurs in May; fruiting in June.
October 2023
Parrotia persica - named after Georg Friedrich Parrot (1767 - 1852), a German naturalist; and persica refers to the tree's native habitat, Iran (i.e. Persia).
Persian ironwood
A native to Iran, it can grow quite quickly to 30m. Widely planted in gardens and parkland for its brilliant show of colour as the leaves turn in autumn, and for its smooth exfoliating loss of skin (bark) bark.
October 2023
Phellodendron - from Greek phellos - cork, dendron - tree; chinensis - from China chinense
Chinese cork tree
A group of four phellodendrons form the centre of the molinia grass garden. A deciduous tree growing to 10m, native to C China, with young shoots at first thinly downy, brown and glabrous the second year. Flowers are small, yellowish green, crowded on a short, very downy panicle, followed by black, globose, aromatic fruits. It is known as Huang Bai in China, as is the bark, a fundamental herb in traditional Chinese medicine.
October 2025
October 2025
Picea abies picea- from Latin pix - pitch, meaning pitch pine, abies - from the Latin for fir tree, referring to the tree's original classification or similarity to a fir
Norway spruce
A fast-growing evergreen conifer which can reach 40m and live for up to 1,000 years. They are tall and straight and of a triangular appearance, with a pointed crown. This tree is exhibiting what I believe is a sport a part of a plant such as a branch, leaf, or fruit—that shows distinct genetic mutations, causing it to look different from the rest of the plant, a dense clump on one side of the tree. The kind of material that could create a new cultivar?
August 2023
August 2023
August 2023
Pinus nigraPinus - from Latin for pine tree; nigra - black, referring to the very dark, deeply fissured bark of the species; maritima - of the sea or maritime, referring to the subspecies' natural range in coastal or lower-elevation Mediterranean regions (such as Corsica and southern Italy). maritima.
Corsican pine
A subspecies of the black pine, with good resistance to coastal weather. Less branched than its close relative the Austrian pine (subspecies austriaca). Native to the mediterranean island of Corsica, it has been planted across Europe for ornament and for timber, having a straight trunk and horizontal branches.
October 2025
October 2025
Pinus patula pinus- Latin for pine patula - from Latin meaning wid open, spreading, or lax .
Mexican weeping pine
This is probably pinus patula, also known as jelecote pine, spreading pine or patula pine, a native to the highlands of Mexico. It can grow to 30m tall. It has been widely planted as a forestry tree in many parts of the world, but is becoming an invasive species in countries such as New Zealand, South Africa and Hawaii. Female cones are stalkless, and are 6 - 10 cm long. As with other pines, clusters of small orange coloured male cones appear in spring.
August 2021
August 2021
Pinus sylvestris pinus- Latin for pine silva - woodland or forest, reflecting the tree's habitat.
Scots pine
The only native UK pine, and one of only 3 native conifers. It can grow to 35m, and live for 700 years. This one at Scampston has lots of holes in the bark, probably made by woodpeckers. The main specimen grows near the lake, and always seems to have plenty of cones on the ground (for collecting!)
October 2021
PlatanusPlatanus - from Greek platanos or platys meaning flat or broad, referring to the tree's wide, flat leaves; acerifolia - from Latin Acer, maple tree; folia, leaves, so maple-leaved plane tree acerifolia
London Plane
Contorted twisting branches silhouetted through the relatively sparse covering of leaves on this London plane tree. At its base is a circle of bluebells (some of which are white). A later visit in August found another London Plane. Glossy leaves with the typical five point acer family shape. A tight, scaly bark on a trunk has a tall stand before branching out. This particular tree does not show the more typical scaly, flaky bark common to plane trees, perhaps because of a slower growth rate.
August 2025
August 2025