Trees Gallery - St Andrews Botanic Gardens. Page 1

Fife, Scotland

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St Andrews Botanic Garden covers 18 acres of woodland walks, meadows, ponds and living laboratories in the university town of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. It is located on the banks of the wooded Kinness Burn in Canongate on the southern edge of the town. The gardens are supported by the University of St Andrews and Fife Council. It contains more than 8000 species of native and exotic plants, laid out in zones of woodland, meadow, shrubbery, herbaceous bedding, sand dunes, a large rockery and a series of ponds. There are also vegetable and herb gardens, and two large greenhouses. The gardens were founded in 1889 on a different location, the current site developing from the 1960s.

October 2024

Abies Koreana abies - from L. abeo - to rise, to go up, koreana - from Korea

Korean fir

Compact evergreen conical tree to 18 m, native to the higher mountains of S Korea, with thick dark green needles, slightly notched at the tip, with white bands of stomata beneath. The cones are cylindrical blue or purple cones, some with protruding green or yellow bracts, often borne on young trees. .

October 2024

Acer campestre acer - Latin name for the maple; campestre - of the fields.

Field maple

Britain's only native maple, it is found growing in woods, scrub and hedgerows, and on chalk lowland. It is widely planted in gardens and parks due to its compact habit, tolerance of pollution and rich autumn colours. The flowers are , the seeds are , paired horizontally. [Woodland Trust]'.

October 2024

Acer cissifolium acer - maple; cissifolium - resembling the leaves of cissus, a genus in the vine family

Ivy-leaved maple

A fairly small deciduous tree growing to 10 m, native to mountainous areas of Japan. Initial growth is upright oval, with age it becomes distinctly mushroom-like with a wide-spreading, globose form. In spring long catkins appear and are followed by two winged samaras spreading at an acute angle. It is . The leaves turn a modest yellow to red in autumn. The bark is smooth and grey.

October 2024

Acer davidii acer - maple; davidii after Armand David (Père David, 1826 - 1900), who documented the tree on his travels through China.

Snake bark maple

A.k.a. Père David's maple, a small deciduous tree native to China, with arching branches, growing 10–15 m tall with a trunk up to 40 cm in diameter, though often with multiple trunks. The small yellow flowers have five sepals and petals about 4 mm long, produced on arching 7–12 cm racemes in late spring, with male and female flowers on different racemes. "George Forrest" is perhaps the most common form, a fine, vigorous, often multistemmed tree with spreading branches and large leaves up to 20 cm long. These emerge red, the blades turning green later, with distinctively red petioles.

October 2024

Acer griseum acer - maple; griseum from L. griseus - grey, referring to the undersides of the leaves

Paper bark maple

A.k.a. blood-bark maple, a small to medium-sized, deciduous, oval rounded tree reaching 6–9 m, with slender upright branching, native to mixed forests in C China. The yellow flowers are , produced in small pendent corymbs in spring, the fruit being a paired samara with two winged seeds about 1cm long with a 3cm wing.

October 2024

October 2024

Acer palmatum acer - maple; lancea Latin for lance or spear, folium, meaning leafdissectum

Japanese maple

A slow growing, mound forming shrub or small tree, prized for its deeply dissected leaves which can almost look as if they have been shredded. Varieties can have deep purple foliage (purpureum) or deep red (garnet) or many colours in between.

October 2024

October 2024

Acer platanoides acer - from Latin for maple; platanoides - resembling the plane tree (platanus). Drummondii after Thomas Drummond (1790 - 1855) Drummondii

Variegated Norway maple

A maple cultivar with creamy white edged variegated leaves, turning orange in autumn. Masses of bright yellow flowers in spring. Named after Scottish botanist Thomas Drummond (1790 - 1855).

October 2024

Actinidia deliciosa - from Greek aktis, meaning ray or star, referring to the radiating styles of the plant's flowers; and Latin "deliciosa", delicious - referring to the fruit.

Kiwi fruit

A.k.a. Chinese gooseberry. A fruiting vine native to China. It is one of some 40 related species of the genus actinidia, with a. chinensis the origin of most commercial varieties of kiwifruit. Fruit colour may vary from green through brown to gold, depending on cultivar.

October 2024

Alnus glutinosa old Latin name for alder; glutinosa for, Latin for 'sticky', referring to the young twigs, buds, and leaves which are coated in a resinous gum.

Alder

A.k.a. common alder, black alder, European alder, a medium-sized, short-lived tree growing to a height of up to 30 m, native to most of Europe, SW Asia and N Africa. It thrives in wet locations where its association with the bacterium Frankia alni enables it to grow in poor quality soils. It is a pioneer species, colonising vacant land and forming mixed forests. Eventually it dies out of woodlands because the seedlings need more light than is available on the forest floor. Its more usual habitat is forest edges, swamps and riverside corridors. The timber has been used in underwater foundations and for manufacture of paper and fibreboard, for smoking foods, for joinery, turnery and carving.

November 2023

November 2023

Alnus rubra old Latin name for alder; rubra red, referring to the catkins.

Red alder

A deciduous broadleaf tree native to western North America, the largest species of alder in North America and one of the largest in the world, reaching heights of 20 to 30 metres. The leaves are , a diagnostic character which distinguishes it from all other alders. Rather than turning yellow in autumn, its leaves darken in colour and wither before they are shed. The male flowers are dangling reddish catkins 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6 in) long in early spring. Female catkins are erect during , but otherwise pendant. They develop into small, woody, superficially cone-like oval dry fruit. The seeds develop between the woody bracts of the 'cones' and are shed in late autumn and winter. Seeds have a membranous winged margin that allows long-distance dispersal. [Wikipedia].

October 2024

Alnus viridis - alnus is the Latin word for alder; viridis means green; sinuata means curving or wavy. Therefore, the name describes a green alder with wavy leaves. sinuata

Sitka alder

A.k.a. alnus alnobetula, a large shrub or small tree growing to 12 m, common across much of Europe, Asia, and North America.Catkins appear late in spring after the leaves emerge (unlike other alders which flower before leafing out); the male catkins are pendulous, 4–8 cm long, the female catkins are 1 cm long when mature in late autumn, in clusters of 3–10 on a branched stem. The roots have nitrogen-fixing nodules.

October 2024

Arbutus unedo arbutus - Latin name for the tree, unedo - translates as eat only one, probably referring to the bitter taste of the fruits.

Strawberry tree

The noticeboard by the tree says: Native to the Mediterranean, N Africa, and Ireland (possibly linked to bronze age miners' migration). It flowers in autumn, usually as last year’s fruits are ripening. It sprouts easily from the stump, a useful adaptation in areas prone to fires. Despite the Latin name, the fruits are widely consumed across Europe, made into jams and puddings, and a Portuguese liquer called aguardente de medronhos.

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