Trees Gallery - Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh (RBGE) - page 5

Liquidambar formosana

Chinese sweet gum

A large deciduous tree that grows up to 30-40m. Roots can be aggressive and branches are usually covered with corky projections. Male flowers are in catkins, female flowers form dense spherical heads, and the fruit is burr-like because of the persistent styles narrow upward extensions of the ovary, connecting it to the stigmatic papillae.

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Magnolia acuminata

Cucumber tree

A.k.a. blue magnolia, the Shining tree (after a protected area in Canada). Native to E USA, SE Canada. One of the largest magnolias. Unlike most magnolias, the flowers are not showy but small, yellow-green, and borne high in the tree from April to June. The name "cucumber tree" refers to the unripe fruit, which is green and often shaped like a small cucumber; the fruit matures to a dark red color with the individual carpels the female reproductive part of the flower splitting open to release the bright reddish orange seeds. There are 31 photos on the RBGE Garden Explorer website.

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Magnolia kobus

Japanese magnolia

Native to Japan and Korea. A deciduous tree to 20m, often multistemmed and widely branching. The bark is silvery or brownish-grey, warty and ridged on old trunks. Terminal winter buds have long, dense, silvery or yellowish hairs. The flowers emerge before the leaves in March - April, terminal, fragrant, held more or less horizontally. There are 61 photos on the RBGE Garden Explorer website

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Magnolia sargentiana

Southern magnolia

Native to SW China. A deciduous tree 8–20m tall. Large, somewhat untidy mid-pink to white flowers appear before the leaves, erect or pendulous, slightly fragrant. There are 26 photos on the RBGE Garden Explorer website.

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Malus x robusta 'Red Siberian'

Siberian crab apple

Malus × robusta is a hybrid species of crab apple, the result of a cross between M. baccata (Siberian crab apple) and M. prunifolia (plum-leaved crab apple).Red Siberian is then one of a number of cultivars of this hybrid. It forms a broad-headed, deciduous tree eventually reaching heights of up to 12m. White or pink flowers in spring are followed by small, rounded, red crab apples that persist on the tree well into winter. There are 17 photos on the RBGE Garden Explorer website.

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Malus yunnanensis

Yunnan crab apple

A small tree to 10 m, native to China and Myanmar, bearing single white hawthorn-like flowers with a light pink tint. The fruit is yellow or red with white dots, moderate texture and roundish form with narrow, upright habit. Leaves are ovate, usually tomentose densely covered with short matted woolly hairs beneath, rounded to cordate at the base and acute at the apex. Their margin is double toothed, often with 3–5 lobes on each side. There are 50 photos on the RBGE Garden Explorer website.

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Metasequoia glyptostroboides

Dawn redwood

Native to C and W China, where it is on the IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature endangered list. A vigorous, fast-growing deciduous conifer with fibrous, orange-brown bark, making a large, narrowly conical tree to 50m tall. Soft, bright green leaflets are held in two opposite ranks, giving the leaves a feathery appearance. There are 61 photos on the RBGE Garden Explorer website

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Phellodendron amurense var. lavallei

Amur cork tree

Native to NE Asia, in particular the Amur region of Manchuria. A deciduous tree to 15m, with a rugged, corky trunk and spreading branches. It bears winter-buds coated with silvery hairs; young shoots are glabrous. Small, yellow-green flowers are followed by small black fruits. It is liable to have its young shoots injured by late frosts. There are 40 photos on the RBGE Garden Explorer website.

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Picea asperata

Dragon spruce

A.k.a. Chinese spruce. Native to W China. A medium-sized evergreen conifer growing to 40 m tall, and with a trunk diameter of up to 1.5 m. Cylindrical cones start fawn-grey, changing to chestnut-brown, retained on the tree 6 months after maturing. They have stiff, bluntly pointed scales. There are 10 photos on the RBGE website

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Picea schrenkiana

Asian spruce

A.k.a. Schrenk's spruce. Native to C Asia, growing to 40–50m. with trunk diameter up to 2 meters. It has a narrow conical crown with level branches and sometimes pendulous branchlets. The cylindrical cones are up to 12cm long when young, maturing to dark brown and opening to spread seeds 5–7 months after pollination. There are 10 photos on the RBGE Garden Explorer website.

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Pinus contorta subsp. bolanderi

Beach pine

A.k.a. Bolander beach pine, Lodgepole pine, Tamarack pine, and Shore Pine. A native of W North America. It grows to 10m in the wild, larger in cultivation. The bark of mature trees is thick and roughly fissured; young shoots are often curiously twisted, as are the needles. Dark green leaves are in pairs, quite long, and persist three or more years. Cones are obliquely conical. It has become an important forestry tree in Britain, especially as a pioneer tree on poor peaty soils. In New Zealand it is listed as a serious invasive species, and it is a neophyte a plant not native to a region, introduced and escaped into the wild in recent history (after 1500) in Britain. There are 39 photos on the RBGE Garden explorer website.

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