I recently illustrated The Hidden Universe by Alexandre Antonelli.  This image of the zonation of a rocky shore ecosystem was one of the illustrations.

The timing of this illustration was an extraordinary stroke of luck.  Alex wanted a drawing that shows the different animals and seaweeds on rocky shores.  These plants and animals grow in different zones going up the shoreline.  The factors that cause these differences (also known as zonation) include physical forces such as salt levels, dehydration, physical damage from the waves.  There are also biological, or biotic factors at play, such as predation, competition for food, and competition for space.

How do I know?  Well, the week I started this project, I went on a fabulous weekend course.  All about Discovering life on rocky shores!  The course is hands on, so I took tons of photos and copious notes.  I sketched barnacle speciation, and shrieked with delight at Porcelain crabs.  I even saw my first blue-ray limpet.

My very poor photo of Blue-ray limpets

So when this illustration turned up, I was exceptionally well equipped.  Here’s the pencil rough, which I annotated so that it made a bit more sense.

Annotated rocky shores illustration

And here’s the final illustration.  Inking it up was an absolute joy, although it took a great deal longer than I would have liked!

Rocky shore line ecosystem zonation of species

In this blog, there are so many animals and plants discussed, that I’m taking the decision not to give every scientific name.  It’s just be a jumble of italicised Latin if I did. Apologies in advance to the purists among you!

Rocky shores: Splash zone

The very top of a shore is known as the splash zone.

Sea plantain Plantago maritima

The top zone has very little growing there except for the odd brave plant and Xanthora lichen.  you might get tough periwinkles, but the combination of dry and salty splashing is lethal to most organisms.

Plants that do survive here have amazing adaptations to allow them to tackle the salt.  They’re known as Halophytes, and I wrote a blog on them a while back.

Animal wise, shore flies visit, and slaters (relatives of woodlice) crawl about.  You get limpets, clinging on and anchoring themselves to the exact same spot for most of their lives.

Thrift Armeria maritima

Rocky shore Intertidal zone

Lower down, you’ve got the high tide or intertidal zone.  Animals and plants living here have to handle massive fluctuations in temperature and being out of water for 12 plus hours every day.  the crashing waves cause physical damage.  On the plus side, it’s so hard to survive here that there’s not a lot of competition.

Limpet (with mating barnacles on the side)

Chitons, whelks, winkles, and barnacles live here alongside hardy sea anemones and the toughest of all seaweeds, channelled wrack.

The whelks travel around when the tide is in, predating on mussels and other bivalves by drilling a hole through their shells and sucking out the meat.

Detail of the intertidal showing chitons, whelks, and a sea anemone

Rocky shore Mid tidal

This stretch is exposed for shorter times between tides.  There’s less wave action as a lot of the time the area is submerged.  You need to handle the changes in temperature and salt, but it’s a less extreme environment than the upper tidal or splash zone.

Mid tidal zone: Crab and Breadcrumb sponge with coral weed

More animals and plants live here.  Tons of shells like top-shells, barnacles, Perwinkles, and mussels, hang out amidst the seaweeds.   Different species of top shell and winkle favour different areas of the rocky shore.

Topshell

You can tell Periwinkle and Top-shell species apart by the shape of their operculum, the door at the bottom of their shells.  In top-shells this is invariably round.  Periwinkle operculum are tear shaped.

Detail of the mid tidal: Smooth periwinkle, Pin cushion starfish, mussels and bladderwrack

There are more sea anemones, and visiting shore crabs.  Sponges and starfish abound.

The drawback is that there are more animals surviving here, so there’s more competition for space.  Predation kicks in too, with the starfish feeding on mussels, flat periwinkles chewing seaweeds, and whelks feeding on bi-vales.  These are the biotic factors starting to kick in.

If space does become free, it’ll quickly be re-colonised.

Rocky shore Mid tidal: Barnacles

Barnacles have a good system; they can grow on top of other shellfish, and can extend their filtering arms from this substrate.  Barnacles are actually crustaceans, related to crabs and shrimp.

Free living barnacle larva land on intertidal rocks where their heads split and they establish themselves for a stationary life.  They filter food particles form the sea with their legs, which are adapted to work as sieves.

The problem with living on a shellfish is that if and when that shell dies, you get plunged to the floor where it’s every likely you will die.

Blue mussels Mytilus edulis with barnacles and bladder wrack

Rocky shore Mid tidal: Seaweeds

Seaweeds thriving in the mid-tidal zone are bladder-wrack, egg-wrack, toothed wrack, spiral wrack.  These grow at very specific heights along the shore, depending on their adaptations and tolerance to heat and dry conditions.

Bladderwrack Fucus versicolor

Rocky shore Lower tidal zone: Species

The lower tidal zone is altogether more comfortable.  Exposure to air, desiccation and the heat of the sun is far less frequent.  In fact, it only happens at low tides.  The waves are less problematic.

The bladder wracks give way to kelp.  Brown algal wracks are unpalatable to most animals.  In the UK, it’s only the Flat periwinkle that can handle eating it.  Oar weed and sugar kelp are an entirely different prospect and are clearly much easier to eat.  If you are lucky and look closely at low tide, you might see the tiny and stunning Blue-ray limpets grazing on a blade of Oar weed.

Edible crab, sea urchins, tube worms, star fish, brittle stars, more sea anemones, sea lemons and nudibranch hang out here, along with bivalves.

You also see Porcelain crab with their strange, squashed bodies.  Decorator crab, often festooned with bits of seaweed can be seen too.  Hermit crabs spend much of their time in this zone.

Lower tidal zone: Spiny Decorator crab, Sugar kelp, and blue ray limpets

Rocky shore Lower tidal zone: Biotic factors

Flip side? Biotic (rather than physical) factors. Far more predation.  And intense competition for space and things to eat.  Of course, with the physical factors being so much easier to handle, many organisms will migrate from this zone to the Mid tidal once the sea covers them.  There they can eat and predate on other species before retuning to the safety of the lower shore before the tide exposes them again.

Rocky shore Lower tidal zone

You even get sun-stars.

The biological factors such as predation and competition are extreme here.  Predation is fierce.  And competition for space in intense.  Yes, you don’t get smashed up by waves or dried out twelve hours a day.  But you do get eaten, and may well find it impossible to get a foothold in such a heavily populated zone.

Seahorse family groups

Some seahorse and pipefish species will spend time in this zone, although drying out is a real problem for them, so they tend to stay in the sub littoral.

Rocky shore: Sub littoral

Below the lower tidal zone is the sub littoral.  This area of the shore is never exposed to the air, not even at the lowest of tides.  It tends not to figure in rocky shore zonation as it’s more like shallow ocean than the shore.  Fish, crabs, lobster, kelp forests all abound here.

American lobster Homarus americanus

Complicating factors: Rockpools

Rockpools are vital for lots of these organisms, although they can suffer from enormous halinity and temperature fluctuations.  But to the aspiring rocky shore ecologist, rock pools can be confusing,  As they remain wet, you get organisms living there that should not be seen in the Upper tidal zone, or mid tidal areas of the beach.  Luckily, this is catered for by ecologists who examine rock pool life as a subset of the larger ecosystem.

The illustration above was done many years ago.  I now know that brittlestar (lower littoral specialists) and razor clams (sand living specialists) are unlikely to appear in any European rockpool.  You live and you learn.

Complicating factors: Exposure

It should also be remembered that the exposure of a rocky shoreline will have an enormous effect on the life there.  High exposure means it’s even harder to exist in the splash zone and Upper tidal.  More sheltered shores offer an easier existence.

Conclusion

This is truly a whistle-stop tour of the zonation of the rocky shoreline.  I have no doubt this blog is peppered with mistakes.  The FSC course tutor, John Archer Thompson probably has his head in his hands as he reads my version of his wonderful teaching.

As an excellent launch pad to much more on this subject, thanks to John, please check out his FSC rocky shore pages.

The post Rocky shore ecosystem illustration appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

The Yew tree Taxus baccata is a common tree in Britain, especially in graveyards and hedgerows.

There’s a lot of folklore associated with this species, and it’s important both in modern medicine and for wildlife.

Identification: Tree shape

Yew trees grow up to 20m tall with a spread of up to 10m, and can form trees or shrubs.  Their shape is highly variable because of the growth habit of the tree.  In many cases, Yew loses the heartwood from the tree trunk as it ages, leaving a hollow tube full of powdery rotten wood.  These trees grow incredibly slowly and are notorious for being extremely long-lived.

This makes an excellent substrate for new yew trees to grow in.  New trees grow from exploratory rootlets sent out by of the established Yew.  It’s common to see a younger Yew growing inside the “nursery” of an older mother Yew tree trunk.  As a result of this, establishing exact ages of Yew trees can be really tricky as they rarely have the heartwood needed to count annual tree ring growth.

However, dendrologists have found yews 1,500 years old, and many believe it’s perfect possible that some trees can be up to 3,ooo years old.  Quite an amazing thought.

Yew tree Taxus baccata

Often found growing in churchyards, yew trees are also used as hedging plants.  They grows happily in the shadow of other trees, and  frequently appear in the understory of mixed woodland.  It is found planted in formal gardens.  They thrive on chalky soils and are resistant to pollution.

The association with churchyards is several-fold.  First, yews were used for weapons, so it was a good idea to have yew trees around.  But why the graveyard?  Well, yew is poisonous to grazing livestock as well as to man.  Having yew in a churchyard guaranteed people wouldn’t graze their flocks on consecrated ground, but still allowed the trees to be grown.

Identification: Leaves

The leaves of Yew are evergreen, so are found on the tree year round.  Yew leaves are flattened dark green needles, arranged along the branches and twigs in two rows, or spiralling.  Each one is 1 -3cm long.  They have a sharpened tip, and may look slightly shiny.  You can see a central rib on the leaves, which is especially clear on the underside.  The leaf underside is a pale greyish-green colour.  Needles are not arranged directly opposite one another.

Sprig of Yew showing dark green needles with paler undersides

Like all of this tree (except the red fleshy part of the fruit), Yew leaves are highly toxic.  As little as 50 – 100g of chopped yew leaves can kill an adult human .

Identification: Flowers

Yew trees are dioceious, meaning trees are male or female, each bearing male or female flowers.

You may not notice yew flowers as they are small and inconspicuous.  This is because they are wind pollinated, so have no need to expend energy of showy petals and nectar treats for possible pollinators.

The flowers are in the joins between the leaves and the stem. In males, the flowers are clustered together,  Female flowers are borne singly or in pairs.   Each flower is tiny, males as little as 3mm.  Pollen is released in February by all flowers, and berries appear in late summer.

Male flowers are round and green, with many stamens.

Sprig of yew with male flowers and a close up of the Male Yew flower. Detail below shows the froth of stamens

Female flowers are also greenish, although they become brown with age.  They’re scaly, although interestingly they are not cones.  This distinction is a conundrum for botanists as the yew is classed as a Conifer, which literally translates as “cone bearer”.  But no cones are produced by this tree.

Each female flower has a single ovule at the centre of these scales, awhich (once fertilized) will develop into a red fruit

Female Yew flower showing scales and emergent pistil

Identification: Fruit

The yew berry isn’t a true berry, but a seed that grows within an aril.  These “berries” are instantly recognizable.  They’re a pinkish red, matt, and fleshy.  Although this fleshy aril is the only part of the yew which isn’t highly toxic, I’d advise against eating it.  not least because the seed within is the MOST toxic part of the tree!

These are actually highly modified cones which grow around the seed.  you can see the lone seed peeping out from one end of the cup of the aril.

Berries are 3 – 7 mm long and become ripe from October, many staying on the tree through the winter.  Because of this, they’re a valuable winter food source for wildlife.

Yew berry showing seed at centre of the red aril

Identification: Bark

The bark of the Yew is scaly and a light red brown, or sometimes appears purplish.  Where it flakes off, it shows redder areas below. When wet, the bark can look almost blood red.

Branches and larger twigs are also a reddish brown, although the most recently grown needles are borne on yellow-green stems.  These become brown over time, normally in 3 to 4 years.

Another trait of the Yew that rather confuses its’ classification as a conifer is that is has no resin.  Pines, spruce, and Firs are all resinous, a fact you’ll know if you’ve ever got the sticky gum on your hands whilst collecting pine cones.

Similar species

The only species you might confuse with the Yew is other Yew species, such as the Irish yew.  This differs in having curved needles.  A range of species of yew are planted in gardens, but most in the wild will be the Common or European Yew Taxus baccata.

You can tell a yew from other conifers because of the purplish-brown bark, green young shoots, and (of course) the red berry-like structures.  Yew needles often appear a darker and glossier green than many other conifers.

History: Folklore

Yews are ubiquitous in folklore across geography and religions.  Ancient Greeks associated them with the dead, seeing them as gate keepers to the other side.  They believed if you fell asleep under a Yew you were likely to die (this was first mentioned by the physician Dioscorides in 77AD).

Pre-Christian religions held the Yew in high esteem as a tree symbolizing immortality, and groves of Yew were sacred sites long before Christians began building churches in Britain.  In fact, early Christians chose to build churches near sacred Yews and thus tapped into the spirituality and respect that already existed.

In 10th century Wales, the fine for chopping down a Yew tree was £1.  This becomes far more impressive when you realise that £1 was the equivalent of a life-time’s wages.

Yews figured in funeral arrangements.  Processions would carry yew branches, and throw them in the grave before lowering the coffin into the earth.  It was also used in graves of plague victims, although no-one seems sure why.  There’s a suggestion Yew may have been seen as a way to protect and purify the dead.

However, the Yew’s association with death was never fearful.  It knit closely to the way the tree seemed to live eternally, and with themes of resurrection and immortality.  These traits carried neatly from pagan to Christian religion, and the yew is associated both with Easter (Jesus’s resurrection) and with the virgin Mary (eternal goddess figure).

There is also some suggestion that the ancient Norse tree of life, Yggdrasil, may have been a Yew not an Ash.

History: Mankind and Yew wood

The sheer scale of time that has seen mankind associating with Yew trees is worth a mention.  This may be due to the spiritual properties associated with tree, but also relates to the incredibly tough wood the tree produces.

The oldest man-made artefact ever found is a spear made of yew-wood carved to a deadly sharp point.  This extraordinary item is dated at 420, 000 years old, thus pre-dating the evolution of modern Homo sapiens.  Just stop for a moment to take that date on board.  It blows my mind, not least because the wood was still perfectly recognizable when discovered. (For more, see The Clacton Spear).

The Clacton spear, made of Yew and dating back more than 420,000 years

Another remarkable discovery was a bow carried by Ötzi.  Ötzi is a mummified corpse found in the Tyrolean alps, between Austria and Italy.  He dates back 3,500 years and has been massively important in helping archeologists figure out how people lived (and died).  His bow was made of yew and was both strong and flexible.

History: Food and Medicine

Never eat Yew.  As mentioned before, it’s highly toxic.  And although the fleshy red aril is theoretically edible, even this has been known to cause vomiting.

However, in recent times, Paclitaxal (formerly Taxol), a compoud derived from the pacific Yew, has proved remarkably effective in the treatment of cancer.  It’s a component of chemotherapy treatment for lung, breast, ovarian cancer and Kaposi’s sarcoma.

Me doing a pencil drawing of a Yew sprig

In earlier times, people knew about the toxicity of yew and it was used as a suicide drug.  The chief of the Eburones, Cativolcus, chose to take yew rather than to yield to the Roman army, as did the Cantabrian and Astures armies (Redzet).  It’s the taxane alkaloids that prove so toxic, and yew poisoning results in breathlessness, fever, convulsions, and eventual heart attack.

Uses

Yew is a very slow growing and fine grained wood, with a rosy red colour.  It polishes beautifully and is waterproof, incredibly strong, and elastic.

The wood was used to make bows through history, like Otzi’s.  Bows used at the battle of Agincourt were Yew.  It’s also good for tool handles.

Waterproof qualities mean it was used for the pilings in Venice as it was resistant to rotting.  Recently, when old yew pilings were removed, they were in brilliant condition despite having been submerged for hundreds of years.  In many cases, they were sold on as usable reclaimed timber. (Hageneder).

Hedges can be made from yew as it grows thickly, forming good barriers.  Most mazes are made from yew (including the iconic Hampton Court palace maze), which will form a good wall in about seven years.

Yews and Wildlife

The sweet, glutinous berries of yew are much prized by members of the thrush family.  Blackbirds, fieldfare, thrushes as well as other birds like greenfinch glut on them in autumn.  The berries stay on the tree through winter, making this a valuable resource.

Small birds such as fire-crest and goldcrest make their nests in the thickets of yew hedges.  And small mammals like dormice and squirrels will also feast on the sweet berries.  (Please note that the dormouse pictured below is not eating yew.)

Hazel dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius

Yew is the foodplant of the Satin beauty moth, Deileptenia ribeata.

Threats

Threats to the Yew tree are limited.  However, climate change may cause problems, and is is susceptible to root rot.  A while back, the Yew was over-harvested for Taxol medicines.  Thankfully this is now manufactured in the lab.

Conclusion

The Yew is an important tree in the landscape and in human experience.  Drenched in pre-history and spiritual associations, it also bears amazingly strong wood, and has helped with potentially life-saving cancer drugs.  It’s also unusual.  It’s a conifer but not quite a conifer.  It is somehow immortal because of its growth habit.  It’s highly toxic yet the source of life-saving medicines.  Associated with graveyards and funerals, it also symbolises resurrection.  It’s these peculiarities that make the Yew stand out, and earn it’s place as one of the most interesting of British trees.

Online sources for this blog include websites of The Woodland Trust, Tree guide UK, Trees for life, and Naturespot.  Reference books for this blog include the excellent The Greenwood Trees by Christina Hart-Davies  , and the Reader’s Digest The Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of Britain (out of print but commonly available second-hand).  I also referred to The Tree Forager by Adele Nozedar and The Living Wisdom of Trees by Fred Hageneder.

I’ve published a film on youtube to accompany this blog.  It shows me drawing a pencil line illustration of a sprig on yew from a specimen, and was made in response to requests for films showing me drawing and composing an illustration, not just painting botanical subjects.

The post Trees: Yew appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Cover of The Hidden Universe (not my artwork)

Alex discusses the importance of biodiversity from a genetic to an ecosystem level.  He talks about the impact and importance of the climate emergency, and presents the reader with lots of entirely new examples to ponder.  The book is full of optimism too, detailing what we can all do, and what is already being done to wrestle back our planet into a salvageable home for all of life.

He’ll be appearing at Hay festival on May 29th (11.30 – 12.30), talking about the book.

The Hidden Universe: Pencil roughs

I got a detailed list of illustrations.  There were about 20 on the list, and between me, Alex, and the art director; we whittled it down to around 14.  This was surprisingly easy, and all my favourites are included.

The subject matter for the illustrations is extremely diverse, and often challenging.  Some are simple, such as the extremely rare Cretan orchid Cephalanthera cucullata.  Others have multiple elements. like the hedgehog in a log-pile.  Three are extremely complex (Wolves back in Yellowstone park, Beaver in Tierra del Fuego, and Rocky shore zonation.

Cretan orchid Cephalanthera cucullata

I drew up all of the illustrations in pencil, and was delighted when the returned feedback was overwhelmingly positive.  I was especially relieved about the three toughest ones.  The background skyline of one needing altering, but none of the animals did.

Yellowstone national park showing re-wilding

One illustration, the extinct Thylacine or Tasmanian wolf was a matter of choice.  I provided two pencil roughs for Alex to contemplate.  He chose the one he feels is more engaging, the top one.

Thylacine rough x 2  Thylacinus cynocephalus

Below is the final inked up version.

Thylacine Thylacinus cynocephalus

The Hidden Universe: Yellowstone and Re-wilding

Instead of listing the illustrations I did for this project, or discussing the drawing process; I’m going to talk about a couple of them in detail.

First up is the rough I’ve posted above, Yellowstone national park, and re-introducing the wolf.

In the illustration below, a wolf pack hunt an elk.  Behind is the craggy landscape of Yellowstone national park, and (importantly) lots of trees.  There are more deer in the background, and a bison.  This illustration illustrates two ecological concepts.  The first is re-wilding.

Wolves hunting deer in Yellowstone National park

By re-introducing wolves to the park, you balance the deer population.  Less deer means less grazing on young trees.  More trees means more birds and other associated wildlife.  More wildlife means more recycling of nutrients in the ecosystem.  It’s a healthier place to be.  I first read about this example years ago in George Monbiot’s Feral.  I never thought I’d have to try to explain the story in an illustration!

The second concept is linked.  It relates to the idea of keystone species and a biological or ecological cascade.  Some species are vital and make the whole web of life in a habitat work well.  Take one species out, the keystone species, and the whole natural system collapses.  This happened in Yellowstone.  All the wolves were hunted or removed by man.  Remove a top predator like the wolf from a system, and it can trigger what’s known as a trophic cascade.  Too many deer, not enough trees, no associated wildlife…the system collapses.  It’s  why the re-introduction of wolves to Yellowstone is so exciting (and so very successful).

The Hidden Universe: Beavers and Tierra del Fuego

Another of the illustrations involving a lot of work was the beaver dams in Tierra del Fuego, an archipelago off the coast of Chile and Argentina.

This seemingly charming image tells a darker tale.

Fifty Beaver Castor canadensis were introduced here by man in the 1940s.  (Introduced species are almost inevitably introduced to very new and far-flung location by man).  The theory was that they would breed, and a fur industry could be established.  They began to do what beavers do.   Breed.  Fell trees, and build dams.  The dams create large pool and alter the water courses.

Close up of a Beaver

In many places, this is totally beneficial.  Beavers have recently been re-introduced to Devon, in the UK.  Their landscaping has had massive and many unexpected benefits to the local area.  Flooding is less.  The slower flowing water creates new habitats and havens for wildlife.  Even the water quality is improved as the dams act as filters.  For more, read about the Devon beaver re-introduction here.

Beavers and dams in Tierra del Fuego

Why Beavers in Tierra del Fuego did not work out

However, Tierra del Fuego is a closed system.  This means there are only a limited number of trees, and as it’s an archipelego of islands, new colonising species are infrequent.

The beavers have no natural predators here, so have bred very successfully.  In Canada, where they were imported from, wolves and bears prey on them.  By 2011, there were estimated to be 200,000 beavers in the area. (NPR 2011)

Problems include flooding, which damages other vegetation.  Trees in South America did not evolve alongside beaver (in the UK, beavers were present until only a few hundred years so, so there was co-evolution).  These trees die rather than regenerate when coppiced by beaver.

Many of these trees are protected species.  Many are already dead or dying.

The resulting chaos and scenes of devastation mean that a cull is almost inevitable.  As Professor Anderson,  from the Universidad de Magallanes, says, “The change in the forested portion of this biome is the largest landscape-level alteration in the Holocene — that is, approximately 10,000 years” (Nature 2008)

It is not an edifying example of man interfering in nature.

Hidden Universe: Hope and A Hedgehog in a log-pile

The last illustration I want to talk about is the hedgehog in the log-pile.

This image comes from a lovely section of the book.  Alex fills the pages with suggestions of what we can do to save what we have.  Examples of things that are already being done.

Hemp from Cannabis sativa

How making cloth and ropes and twine from hemp is a really good alternative to cotton.  The plant is far less water-hungry, and farming it can be much more ethical and ecologically sound.

Fungus, the solution to a whole lot of problems.  It can (and should) be further exploited for food resources, but has other applications such as the building trade (see my guest blog on this from years ago for more).

Oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus

There are lots of other examples.  Some I illustrated, some I didn’t.  All gave pause for thought, and many gave hope.

Hidden Universe: A Hedgehog in a log-pile

Which brings us onto the hedgehog.  It’s drawn by a mouldy log pile in amongst long grass.  Nettles and ivy are established.  To a traditional gardener, it’s a messy scene.

Hedgehog

This illustration shows how easy it can be for a lone individual to do something small, but which makes a tangible difference.  Allow a corner of your garden to get overgrown.  Don’t pull up nettles.  Leave a few logs and sticks in a corner.  Let the grass grow long.  leave the area undisturbed.

You may find you’ve made the perfect home for a hedgehog.

hedgehog

Even if not, the longer grass is wonderful for insects, spiders, harvestmen.  In turn, this is beneficial for the small mammals that feed on them.

Allowing nettles to grow provides food for caterpillars of both the Small Tortoisheshell and the Peacock butterfly.

The logs themselves allow all sorts of fungus and bracket fungi to thrive, which in turn breaks down the wood and helps return the nutrients to the soil.

Detail of log pile with fungus

It’s all so good.  And all so easy to do.  Wildlife gardening (for this is what we’re talking about here) doesn’t have to be difficult.  It can be as easy as letting a corner get overgrown.  And the benefits to the entire ecosystem are enormous.

Conclusion

So there you have it.  The tale of three illustrations from The Hidden Universe.  It’s a book that’s well worth reading, not least because it doesn’t end up filling one with a sense of apocalyptic dread.  There are things to do, and things being done.

Cycnoches guttulatum orchid with Euglossa cybelia orchid bee

It also shows how enormously fortunate I am to have the job I have.  Every illustration I do entails some learning.  Sometimes it’s botanical details.  Occasionally it’s how to reconstruct an extinct animal.  This time, it was both of these; and how to illustrate entire ecological systems and concepts.  Does it make my brain ache?  Yes.  Do I love the learning?  Yes, indeed.  Am I the luckiest illustrator on the planet?  Well I might be biased.  But I reckon I could easily be.

For an extended look at another of the Hidden Universe illustrations, the zonation of a rocky shoreline, I plan to produce a detailed explanation in a future blog.

Rocky shore ecosystem

The post The Hidden Universe: Pen and Ink Illustrations appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

The Elder Sambucus nigra is common in hedgerows and woodland, and appears as a shrub as often as a tree.  It has strongly scented blossoms in spring, deep purple berries in autumn, and pale wood.

There’s an enormous amount of folklore associated with this species, and it’s a firm favourite with both foragers and those interested in herbal remedies.

Identification: Tree shape

Elder grows as trees up to 10m, or as shrubs.  Branches are often curved, and the wood is brittle.  Elder trees have short trunks or “boles”.  Compared to other tree species, elder don’t have loads of branches, and these grow from low down.

Elder tree

You often see Elder trees in thickets or scrubby woodland, or growing alongside streams with a variety of other species.  If an Elder is given space and light, it’ll grown into a tree.

Elder shrubs are common too as the species shows in both growth habits.  Lots of branches emerge at ground level, forming a thicket of a bush.

This species loves nitrogen-rich habitats, and will colonise anywhere where people have lived, or where nitrogen levels are high in the soil (such as fields where animals have been grazed).  It grows fast, and establishes itself quickly.  If you see a tree growing from a wall or in a farmyard, it’s very likely to be an Elder.

Identification: Leaves

Elder leaves are compound, that is made of lots of leaflets (for more on leaf shape, check out my blog).  In this case, there are 5 to 7 leaflets, with one terminal leaflet.  Leaflets are opposite each other.  Although the leaves have a relatively long stalk, each individual leaflet lies close to the stem.  Each leaflet is 3 to 9 cm long.

Elder leaf and pencil study

The leaves of Elder are oval and a bright pale green.  They’re toothed along the margins. (Click here for my blog on leaf veins and margins).

Elder branch with two compound leaves (each made of five leaflets)

The venation of the leaves isn’t very obvious, and is rather similar to that of lots of other oval leaves.  Side veins branch from the central mid-rib, and are mostly opposite one another.

Elder leaves

Some people think Elder leaves smell nasty, and although they do let off a pungent odour when bruised, I wouldn’t call it unpleasant.

Identification: Flowers

The creamy froth of elder flowers is instantly recognizable, by smell as well as by sight.  The smell is a heady perfume, and one of my favourite scents of summer.

Flowers cover the tree or shrub, borne in flat-headed umbels. Each umbel is 10 to 20 cm across; individual flowers are 5mm across.  Looking into the branching structure, you can see there are five main rays to each umbel.

Sketchbook study figuring out flower growth pattern

The flowers are closely packed, and have cream or white petals.  Anthers are a creamy colour too.  Each individual flower has five rounded petals, and 5 stamens.  Anthers protrude beyond the petals, helping the umbel look even frothier.

Small flies pollinate the flowers, which may explain why the scent of the blossom is so heady and heavy.  Elderflowers appear in May or June and will be in flower for 4 to 6 weeks.

Individual elder flowers

Identification: Fruit

Elderberries are shiny and black when fully ripe.  The branches they’re borne on are frequently flushed dark magenta.  Unripe berries are crimson.  Each berry is square-ish, and very juicy.

Sketchbook study of elder berries

It’s really common to see elder berries in partial umbels – lots of the berries will have fallen off or been eaten; the remainders look scruffy because of the empty stalks along side them.  They last well into late autumn, eventually shrivelling or falling in the frosts.

Working on an elderberry illustration

The berries are very rich in vitamin A and C and provide a vital food supply for birds and small mammals.  However, they are also quite sour, and both leaves and berries are rich in Hydrogen cyanide.  This can cause vomiting in people.  For a fascinating look at poisons in our everyday foods, check out this BBC Future article I stumbled on.

Identification: Bark

The bark of an elder tree is thick, smooth and corky; deep ridges develop with age. The branches are smooth, with pithy insides.  This pith can be removed to leave a hollow twig, and elder wood has been used for centuries to make whistles and musical instruments.

Twigs have obvious lenticels and are thick and greyish, or greenish.

The jelly ear fungus Auricularia judae is a brownish jelly-like fungus that often grows on elder and I use it as another way to identify the species.

Similar species

Some other tree species also have frothy white blossoms.  The Rowan does, but the flowers are far less scented, and the tree rarely grows as a shrub.  Guelder rose also has panicles of white flowers, but these are much larger blossoms and the leaves are a totally different shape.  The berries are orange and scarlet, never black.  However, as Guelder rose also forms a shrub, it’s worth a mention.

Guelder rose Viburnum opulus

Ash Fraxinus excelsior, Walnut Juglans regia, and Rowan Sorbus aucuparia  also have compound leaves, but the walnut leaves are arranged in an alternate pattern.  Ash leaves have more obvious veins and feel less “flat” than elder.  Rowan leaves are smaller and sharper.  All have toothed margins, but with a little experience you’ll notice differences between the shape and sharpness of the teeth.

Ash twig and leaves Fraxinus excelsior

History: Folklore

Like Hawthorn and Rowan, Elder is alive with folklore and history.  It’s interesting that all three of these trees produce highly visible white blossoms and distinctive colourful berries.  I guess they were easily recognized, common, and therefore very much in people’s awareness for millenia.

Elder has long been associated with “the little people”, and those who believe in faery folk will be very familiar with it.  If you were lucky, you might see the Queen of the Fairies passing by under an elder on Midsummer eve.  Lots of references advise against sleeping under an elder; this also relates to belief in other-worldly peoples.

Elder shrub

If you had to chop down an elder tree, you were supposed to ask permission from the Elder mother, a female spirit that inhabited the tree.

It was seen as a protective tree, and would be planted near houses and dairies.  Cheese cloths would be hung to dry on elder branches, and it was thought to prevent the milk form turning.  Interestingly, the elder leaves do repel flies, so these beliefs could have contributed to the hygiene of the dairy.  Herdsmen would carry elder switches.

Elder berries and leaves

However, there was a darker side.  A child beaten with an elder stick would never grow.  Judas Iscariot was said to have hung himself from an elder tree, and criminals were crowned with elder as a symbol of their shame.  Again on a Christian theme, there was a suggestion that the cross on which Jesus was crucified was elder wood.  It was not to be brought into the house, and if you burnt it you were sure to see the devil.  Witches could transform themselves into Elder.

The rule of thumb was to treat the elder with a healthy dose of respect.  And caution.

History: Food

The flowers of the elder can be used to make a lovely scented champagne, or fried as fritters.

Once heated, the berries can be reduced into deliciously strong-flavoured jams and jellies and syrups.

Illustrating elder berries

Flowers and berries are made into drinks and cordials.  Until 1900 you could buy spiced elderberry wine in the streets of London.

The most famous elder drink is the spirit Sambucca, made from elder berries and aniseed.  Traditionally, this is presented with one coffee bean and is set on fire as it’s served.

History: Medicine

Most parts of the elder have been used for medicine.  There’s some suggestion that even the ancient Egyptians used elderberries medicinally.  The medieval herbalist John Evelyn described elder as, “a kind of Catholicon against all Infirmities whatever”.

Berries are high in vitamins C and A, and (once you’ve destroyed the hydrogen cyanide by heating) are used to cure a plethora of conditions.  Sore-throats, coughs, respiratory problems – all were treated with elderberry syrup or “rob”.  They’re also a laxative, and diuretic.

The bark is a strong purgative.  Leaves can be crushed into poultices that are applied to bruises, sprains, and chill-blains.

Flowers are dried into tea and used to treat colds.  You can also wash your face in water soaked with elderflower to preserve your youthful looks.  Even today, elderflower is used in eye and skin lotions.  Some say that if you soak elderflower in cold water it helps relieve symptoms of hay-fever.

Adele Nozedar, whose books I illustrate, foraging for elderberries

Elder is rich in anthocyanins and antioxidants, both of which are known to boost the immune system.

Uses

There is a lot of pith in elder branches, which means when you hollow them out they make good musical instruments.  Children made small toys and penny whistles from elder wood.  The wood was also used to make pipes, pea-shooters and bellows.  Small spoons, and combs were sometimes made from elder wood.

The pith was used as a blotter, and to hold botanical specimens whilst they were being prepared for microscope slides or botanical sections.

Elder berries and leaves

Harder mature elder wood was sometimes made into cogs for machines.

The leaves contain natural fly repellent which probably explains why they were so often planted near houses and stables.

Finally, the elder is really useful as it produces a whole variety of different dyes.  The leaves give a green hue, flowers produce a lilac colour.  The berries make for deep and fade-resistant black and purples.  And even the bark was used to make black dye, used either for dying wool or ones hair.  The highly esteemed Harris tweed used elder to dye its’ materials, even though elder trees are less common in northern Scotland than in the rest of the UK.

Elder: Wildlife

The berries are eaten by birds and mammals, and the leaves are food for the Buff ermine, dot, White-spotted pug, and Swallow-tail moth caterpillars.  Insects drink the nectar from the flowers.  Voles and dormice eat flowers and berries.

Field vole Microtus agrestis

Threats

Luckily, not too many things threaten this amazing tree.  Red spider mites can suck the sap of the tree, and blackfly damage leaves.

Conclusion

Elder is an extraordinarily adaptable plant.  It’s been associated with Jesus, witches and fairies.  It can bring good or bad luck.  Berries are poisonous but can be made into delicious syrups.  The flowers can be eaten, used as a beauty treatment, or used against colds.  Elder wood makes toys, cogs, and instruments.  Personally, what I love most about elder is the smell when the flowers are out.  The buzzing of flies, the heavy scent in the air, and the rustle of leaves in a gentle breeze.  It sums up summer for me.

Jersey Post Fruits and Berries stamp issue copyright Jersey Post 2019

Online sources for this blog include websites of The Woodland Trust, Trees for life, and Naturespot.  Book references for this blog include Adele Nozedar’s The Tree Forager, the excellent The Greenwood Trees by Christina Hart-Davies, and the Reader’s Digest “The Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of Britain” (out of print but commonly available second-hand).

The post Trees: Elder appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

I was lucky enough to be asked to do the illustrations.  Not only am I really excited to be associated with this timely and fascinating book, but the fact that Ben is a local author is also very pleasing.

Cover of The Treeline by Ben Rawlence

The Treeline: Species list

Trees tough enough to survive in such northerly climates are not too numerous.  This means the number of species needing illustrating is limited.  Each species needs a picture of the tree itself, and an assortment of its leaves, cones, flower, and fruit.

Some are familiar, and feel like old friends.  I’m thinking of the Rowan Sorbus aucuparia, Scots pine Pinus sylvestris, Hazel Corylus avellana and Juniper Juniperus communis.  I was able to re-use some of the illustrations completed for The Living Wisdom of Trees by Fred Hageneder, thanks to an arrangement made with its publisher.

Scots pine Pinus sylvestris

In total, there are 16 species which appear in the northern boreal forests (and in the book!)  The fact that I was surprised to find some growing so far north reflects holes in my botanical knowledge.  I didn’t expect to see Aspen Populus tremuloides, Balsam poplar Populus balsamifera, Alder Alnus glutinosa, or Crack willow Salix fragilis on the list.

Being asked to do the illustrations

Unusually, Ben approached me himself.  Normally commissioning of artwork for books is done through an art editor.  I know Ben slightly as my other half has made a wonderful desk for him in the past.  So when Ben got in touch to ask if I’d be interested in illustrating his books as I was “the only illustrator he knows”, I jumped at the chance.  How fortunate that the only illustrator he knows also happens to have illustrated several books on trees!  It was meant to be.  It was good to have Ben as my commissioner as he knew exactly what features to emphasize in the illustrations.

Inking up the pencil rough of Downy birch Betula pubescens

The Treeline: Tough trees in difficult conditions

Many of the trees growing at this northern limit of the boreal forests are small and stunted by the cold.  This condition occurs across species, and is know as Krummhloz. Trees can only grow close to the ground, or beneath snow.  This is cause the arctic winds above are so damaging.  Resulting trees are often thick at a lower level.  Emergent branches and trunks are spindly, sparse, and thin.

I try to include aspects of this in the illustrations, but make sure the trees still look species specific.  In reality, the sprawling lower vegetation is more pronounced.  Perhaps I err on the side of drawing more species-typical specimens.

Black Spruce Picea marinara tree

Comparisons

Some of the trees need to be compared so that the subtle differences between species can be clarified.  This is tricky.  You’re trying to work with reference of trees from this particular habitat, often with Krummholz.  Details have to be botanically correct.  The Black and White spruce are particularly difficult to untangle, not least cause sometimes the image reference online is attributed to the wrong species!

White spruce Picea glauca

The cones are very different, but differences between female flowers in these two are hard to pinpoint.  Luckily, the male flowers are simpler.  White spruce ones grow erect, but they’re pendulous in Black spruce.

Black spruce Picea mariana

The Treeline: Drawing conifers vs Deciduous trees

Drawing a deciduous tree is harder than drawing a conifer.  With Pine and Spruce and Larch, you represent the needles with lots of tiny ink lines.  The tonality is easy to work into, and the textures flow readily from the pen.

Siberian larch Larix sibirica

Deciduous trees are more nebulous.  Shadows cast by elliptical or lobed leaves are less predictable, and giving the impression of depth and thickness of vegetation is far harder.  It’s easy to make the edges of the foliage too crisp, or to fail to balance internal shadows.

Downy Birch Betula pubescens

However, when it comes to leaves, fruit, and flowers the situation is reversed.  Give me a catkin over a larch strobilus any day!

Dahurian larch Larix gmelinii strobilus and male flowers

The learning curve with the conifers is a steep one.  I understand the anatomy of cones, but for this job I had to learn about strobilus and the different male and female flowering structures of conifers.  “You should know this already!” I hear you cry, “having illustrated lots of Pine and Spruce trees before!”  And you’re right.  But I don’t.

Downy birch Betula pubescens fruiting catkins

For more on the Downy birch, check out my  blog and youtube film showing me inking up the catkins and leaves in real time and discussing my processes.

The Treeline: Layout

Ben and the team want the details of each tree to sit together neatly on the page.  I provided them with all the different elements separately, and in one layout.  As it turns out (and as expected) the design team alter my layouts, but this is fine with me. The laying out  is actually quite fun.  I love how much smarter the illustrations look when surrounded by a border, and annotated.  Even though my layouts weren’t used in the book, I know it’s given suggestions to the designers that may prove useful.

Dahurian larch Larix gmelinii cones

And here are the same cones along with the other accompanying illustrations

Dahurian larch Larix gmelinii details

Conclusion

I haven’t been able to read the book yet, but can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.  There are a lot of books coming out which focus on the environment, and how climate change and man are altering the natural balance.  Although it can feel depressing, I truly believe these messages need to get out there.  The variety of habitats which are being changed is as diverse as life itself, and I’m keen to know more about the northern edge of the arboreal forest, and the dangers the climate emergency are causing.  This extraordinary forest even appeared on David Attenborough’s latest series, “The Green Planet” in the “Seasonal |World’s” episode, and seeing film of the snow covered trees was wonderful, and strangely moving.  Here’s rather a good review from The Guardian newspaper.

Larch Larix decidua or europea

Illustrating A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough, and another upcoming title on the importance and fragility of life on earth (“The Hidden Universe” by director of Kew Gardens Alexandre Antonelli); I feel like I’m somehow involved in a small way in getting these messages out to the public.  And that matters to me.  It makes me proud to be associated with important and timely books like The Treeline by Ben Rawlence.

Here’s the film about illustrating the catkins and leaves of the Downy Birch:

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Biomimicry is when us humans investigate the marvels of nature, and learn and innovate from these discoveries.  Mosquito mouthparts lead to pain free hypodermic needles.  Shark skin inspires anti-bacterial surfaces.  A lobster eye triggers a new design of telescope.  Elephant trunks form the basis of robotic arms.  A whale fin helps increase the efficiency of a wind turbine blade.  it’s all in the book, and is utterly fascinating.

Cover of “30 Animals that made us smarter” by Patrick Aryee

Illustrations

The illustration list was incredibly varied.  There were mammals, birds, invertebrates, and plants to be drawn.  These were the easy part of the commission.  The challenge came when I hit the technical drawings.  These were required, to show how these animals had inspired human inventions.  I found myself drawing an aeroplane’s black box recorder.  Illustrating the roof at waterloo station.  Doing a detailed picture of a fuel injection system.  Coming up with a way to show how a shopping centre’s ventilation system mimicked a termite nest.  I often talk about how steep the learning curve can be on a job; this one was stratospheric.

I was very lucky to have an exceedingly competent and patient art editor who supplied me with lots of reference and explanations.  She tended to pick the best from my pencil roughs, and simplify my offerings into a digestible format.  I cannot thank her enough for this!

Illustration of a black box recorder (inspired by a woodpecker skull)

Progressions

Instead of simply listing lots of the illustrations done for this book, I thought it might be interesting to show some of the illustrations as they developed.  For more on the precise approach to this way of doing pen and ink illustrations, you might want to look at my blog on illustrating Downy birch leaves and catkins.  The approach is the same as used with the illustrations for 30 Animals.

First up is the cat.  I can’t remember what the cat has inspired, but loved doing the illustration.  It was so simple!  No strange machines or cross sections.

As with all the illustrations, I started by doing a simple ink line over my pencil line drawing.  then, bit by bit, I build into the tonality using humdreds of tiny dots.

It does mean the cat looks rather peculiar along the way, reminiscent of the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland.

Tabby cat illustration progression.

Stenocara beetle progression

One of the toughest illustrations, just in terms of illustrating animals, was the Stenocara beetle.  These fabulous insects do “handstands” on top of sand dunes.  They collect dew on the bumps of their backs, and this rolls into their mouths, sustaining them through the violent heat of the desert day.

The challenge was to make sure each bump was clear and defined, but also to ensure the beetle registered as black.  There was quite a lot of experimenting to see the best way to show an individual bump.  It needed to be lumps, but also shiny.  Bumps also had to emerge from a black, textured background.  it was tough, but working into the background elytra before tackling the bumps was the key.

Stenocara beetle progression

Pangolin progression

Everyone loves a Pangolin, and I’d done ink illustrations of this endearing animal before, for David Attenborough’s “A Life on Our Planet”.  This meant I had tons of reference available, which helped speed up the drawing.

It also gave me the opportunity to add a background, which wasn’t possible with lots of the drawings.

Pangolin progression

I did the foliage and tree first, then focussed on the pangolin.  Sorting out a consistent approach to showing the way the light falls on pangolin scales was key, and once that was established it was easy enough to ink the animal up.

The inspiration drawn from this animal is the roof at Waterloo rail station in London.  Getting reference of a pangolin posing in a position similar to the shape of the roof took some doing, but I think the parallel works.

Waterloo International rail station

Peacock Mantis shrimp progression

The Peacock mantis shrimp Odontodactylus scyllarus is an extraordinary animal.  It’s beautiful, with vivid eye spots on it’s body and tail.  It also has terrifyingly fast punching “arms”, which are so tough that they’ve intregued and inspired engineers for ages.  Their toughness relates to the spiral stricture of the layers they’re made from.

Again, the lines are plotted in.  Then the edges are softened with dots.  Patterns are added (again with stippling).  Finally, shadows can be placed onto the animal.

Peacock mantis shrimp illustration

Camel illustration progression

The Bactrian camel and dromedary were a troublesome pair.  One had to be kneeling in front of the other.  This meant sourcing good species-specific reference for both beasts.  For more on working from photo reference, check out my blog.  And I needed to tweak and alter and adjust them so that they looked natural.

Bactrian camel and Dromedary

Another challenge was to ensure their textures were different.  Bactrian camels are hairier and woollier than the Dromedary.  And as for figuring out the anatomy of a camel knee when bent…oh my!

With these camels, I completed the Bactrian before moving onto the dromedary.  I didn’t want to work on them both at once; this helped me differenciate between their textures.

Cow illustration Progression

I half wondered about doing a whole blog on the steps involved in inking up this cow.  There was so much internal texture that needed to be considered.  Making sure the ribs were apparent, but not too prominent.  Giving enough internal detail so the eye doesn’t think, “wow, she just left this space white!”

So I drew a lot of the musculature in in pencil.  Then I ensured there were areas of solid black shading along the perimeters of the cow.  Once that was completed, stippling was used to ease between areas of dark and light,  No transition was allowed to be too stark.  Dots were used to suggest wrinkles on the cow neck.

The close up shows how the approach to stippling works.  The white areas had a few more dots before being finished, but just the proximity of the spots to one another gives so much information about shape and tonality.

Cow illustration

Rather wonderfully, the invention inspired by the cow is a passive sewage farm.  Based on the function of the cow’s four-stomachs, it allows the sewage to pass through a whole series of settling beds and filters before emerging as fully filtered and potable water.  It’s a cheap system, has no working parts, and can be built below ground.  This makes it ideal for some developing nations where land is at a premium in highly populated areas, and the cost of energy makes many traditional sewage plants impossible,

Lobster illustration progression

I loved working on the lobster.  All those dots and mottling!  And those magnificent large claws!  Lines were plotted, the dark patterns dropped in, and then stippling eased out the stark contrast.  Lots of fringing hairs were added to the abdomen, and they’re always easy and fun to do.

Lobster illustration

However, the technical illustration of a telescope that accompanied this image was a total nightmare!  Curved lines and regularly placed facets of glass.  Heaven help us.  I relied on some computer programmes to help me out, and got away with it, just about.  Even though I fully understood the concept – facets of the lobster eye inspired numerous many angled telescope lenses – illustrating it was hideous!

Telescope inspired by the eye of a lobster

Morpho butterfly progression: Colour and the cover

The most fun illustrations were those that needed to have colour added.  This happened quite late on, when the cover of the book was being designed.  The art editor realised it’d be nice to have colourful animals on the cover to catch the eye.  One of the most striking of these is the Blue Morpho butterfly.

The pen and ink illustration had been relatively straight forward.  Even the butterfly scales close up was hitch free (the benefits of having someone who uses a scanning electron microscope as a friend…)

The challenge was very different from other ones for this book.  It was making the blue bright enough.

I did this by making sure there was plenty of white left on the page, to glow through as highlights.  This also means you have to make the edges of the blue very dark and deep, to provide the right contrast.  I managed, by using five layers of intense blue watercolour laid across the wing and focussed on the area where the body joins the wings.

It was rather stressful (not least because I was caring for my elderly mother at the same time; who needed cups of coffee, hankies, and help in knowing what was a tv programme and what was an advert…)  But once the blue was right, plotting in the leaf was a doddle.

Common Blue morpho colour progression

Conclusion

There are about 40 illustrations in total.  I’d urge you to buy the book.  Not because of my illustrations, but because there are so many wonderful “oh wow!” moments.  Examples of ingenious thought and fabulous invention.  It made me feel inspired by the innovation of humanity, and the glory and peculiarity of nature, in equal measure.

If any of these illustrations appeal, feel free to email me on info@lizzieharper.co.uk, or browse for them using the search function on the website.  The originals are all available to buy, just drop me and email.

Other illustrations from the book

And to finish, I just thought I’d share a few of my other favourites from the book.

African elephant head

Venus flower basket with close up detail

Tardigrade

Mussels on a rock

Just to say the mussels are particularly amazing.  Their threads are incredibly adhesive, even under salt water.  Scientists have used these as inspiration to produce a glue that can be used to mend tears in the human placenta after inter-uterine surgery.  The placenta doesn’t fix itself like much of our bodies, so closing up a surgical incision after surgery was almost impossible.  Thanks to the mussels and some very clever scientists and engineers, it’s now feasible to perform these vital interventions,  You’ve got to love biomimicry!

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