There are two main Birch trees in the UK, the Silver birch Betula pendula and the Downy birch Betula pubescens.  The Downy birch tends to grow better in wetter areas and in the north.  The Silver birch likes drier soils and is often found growing ornamentally in gardens and cities.

Both reach heights of 30m and can have a 20m spread.

They are pioneer species, easy to recognise, represent guardianship and fertility, and they are used to make everything from shoes to bobbins.  Birch also treats ailments as diverse as gout and skin disorders.

Birch trees support over 300 insect species, and birch woodland provides a wonderful habitat for woodland flowers.

This is one of a series of blogs I’m writing on common British trees.  You can also see blogs on the Elder, the Yew, the Ash, the Oak, the Holly, the Sycamore, the Rowan, the Beech, and the Hawthorn.

Identification: Tree shape

Birches have a slender shape, and twigs which can droop.

They are often the first to colonize a landscape which has been devastated by fire or deforestation.  When it comes to re-wilding, scrubby birch wood is often the first step.  This makes them pioneer species, settling the land and making it accessible to other plant species.

Birch is the commonest tree in Scotland, and the Downy birch stretches way up into the arctic.  For more on trees growing in such inhospitable climates, check out my blog on illustrating The Treeline by Ben Rawlence.

Identification: Leaves

Leaves are more or less triangles, with toothed margins.  Each leaf is up to 6cm long, and shiny green.  In autumn they turn to a bright, pale yellow.

Downy birch have less jagged margin teeth than the Silver birch, and the leaves are diamond-shaped, and less rounded.  However, the two birches frequently hybridize, hence me popping them into the same blog.

Identification: Flowers

The birch is monoecious, which means it carries male and female flowers on the same plant.   These are wind pollinated catkins.  Male catkins are yellowish, and grow through the winter maturing as the birch leaves grow in spring, then dropping.  These are long catkins, easily visible, and carried in groups of 3 or 4 at the tips of the shoots.

Catkins of the DownyBirch

Female catkins are smaller, and bright green.  They’re borne upright and flower in April through May,

Catkins of the Silver birch

Identification: Fruit

After pollination, the female catkin thickens and develops a dark crimson colour.  Masses of tiny seeds are released from this fruit, and borne off in the wind.

Fruiting catkins of the Downy birch

Identification: Bark

Silver birch bark is what gives the tree its name.  It’s paper white, and can be peeled from the tree in sheets.  There are often dark diamonds present, and older trees may have far darker trunks, especially towards the tree base.

The white colour reflects UV light, some suggest it works like a sunscreen in areas where reflected light from the snow can be blinding.

Buds are long, purplish and pointed.

Twigs are drooping and smooth, with dark warts.  The shoots of Silver and Downy birch can be used to tell them apart.  Silver birch shoots are smooth with warts, whereas those of Downy birch are rough, warty, and covered in short, downy hair.

Similar species

The white bark sets these trees apart from others, and the little triangular leaves with their jagged edges are unlike other large tree leaves.

Most sources suggest the main problem here is telling your Downy form your Silver birch, other species don’t get a mention!

History: Folklore

The Birch is seen as a guardian tree, and a way to keep evil spirits at bay.

Baby cradles would be made form birch to keep the devil away, and people would bring bundles of birch wood into their homes at Halloween to repel the evil spirits.  Birch brooms swept out dirt, but also got rid of the devil, and a garland of birch twigs might be hung over the door for protection.

However, witches broomsticks were also meant to be birch wood, so there’s some disconnect there.

Birch is also closely linked to fertility.  Using a switch of birch on a heifer would either ensure she got pregnant, or that the calf was healthy.

In Britain, if a couple wished to live together but not marry, they could step over a birch broomstick together.  Once done, they could live as man and wife.

When Beltaine came around on May 1st, with all its’ links to spring and fertility, it would be the Birch tree chosen as the wood for the maypole.  In some places, this festival meant any legal bonds between couples could be lifted for 24hrs, and there was frequently a spike in birth-rate at the start of the following February.  It will come as no surprise that these practices left the Christian church apoplectic, but powerless to do much about it.

Birch also relates to motherhood and femininity.  Russian folklore has the Birch as the “Lady of the Woods”, while there are close links between the Irish goddess Brigid and the Birch.  Brigid was the goddess of poetry, something of a muse, and responsible for spinning and weaving.

History: Mankind and Birch wood

Birch wood is pale and soft and not very durable.  It’s used for walking sticks and broom handles, and makes good charcoal.  It also makes good skateboards!  Bobbins and spinning reels were made of birch wood, back in the days of the Lancashire Cotton industry.

The bark has been used to make a plethora of things.  Sheets of bark were perfect as paper substitutes.  Applied to roofs, it provided a level of waterproofing against the rain.  You could mould the bark into shoes, or use strips woven together to make baskets for soft fruit.

Canoes and boats, hats, firelighters, and rolled bark candles were all made from Birch bark.

Powdered birch helped ensure you had a pale complexion.

Leaves yield a reddish dye, while the catkins provide a sunshine yellow colour.

History: Food and Medicine

The sap of the Birch was gathered and made into wine.  This was fed to those afflicted with kidney stones, or urinary tract infections.

Tea made from birch leaves worked on gout and again on kidney stones.  The leaves are indeed full of flavonoids, a type of anti-oxidant.

Birch bark oil was used to treat skin disorders like eczema and psoriasis; the same substance was used to waterproof boats.

In the north, after a sauna you can stimulate circulation by beating yourself with a birch stick.  And, while we’re on the topic of beating, the dreaded old school cane was often made of birch.

Birch and Wildlife

Birch woodland has a light, airy canopy.  This proves excellent for wild flowers like Wood anemone, Violets, Bluebell, and Wood sorrel, as well as for mosses.

Over 300 insect species are associated with birch, including a lot of aphid species.  In turn, this means that Birch trees are great for ladybirds who feast on the aphids.  Moths such as Angleshades, Buff tip, and Kentish Glory have Birch as host plant for their caterpillars.

Birds use the birch too; siskin and greenfinch eat the seeds while woodpecker nest in tree cavities.

Fungus are common on the woodland floor with Fly agaric, Woolly milk cap, Chanterelle, and the Birch polypore closely associated with the birch.

Fly agaric Amanita muscaria

Threats

The threats to Birch in the UK are limited,  Plantations can fall prey to Birch dieback, which is caused by two fungal species.  However, self-seeded trees seem more immune.

As with every single species, the climate emergency presents challenges to birch trees living very far north.  However, it’s probably the Downy birch tree’s incremental growth further and further northward that forms a more immediate ecological threat.

Conclusion

Birch are elegant ornamental trees, instantly recognised thanks to their white bark.

With links to protection and fertility, and the ability to heal skin diseases and be used for building canoes, it’s a fascinating tree.

The most common tree in the whole of Scotland, and stretching across vast swathes of the planet, the Birch is worthy of our respect, and love.

Online sources for this blog include websites of The Woodland Trust, Kew’s Plants of the World, 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.

The post Trees: Birch appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Beech trees are common across Britain, favouring chalky soils.  The oldest Beech trees live up to 400 years.  You’ll find them in open spaces and in woodland and can tell them straight away by their smooth bark.  The trees produce beech mast which is nutritious for animals, and the canopy supports wildlife.  Beech wood is used in furniture making, and has links to the earliest of books.  It’s associated with knowledge and femininity, and has been used to treat ailments and as food.

This is one of a series of blogs I’m writing on common British trees.  You can also see blogs on the Elder, the Yew, the Ash, the Oak, the Holly, the Sycamore, the Rowan, and the Hawthorn.

Identification: Tree shape

The Beech grows up to 30m tall, and its’ shape varies according to where it’s growing.  In open fields, the branches spread into a wide canopy.  In confined woodland there are few side branches and a much straighter silhouette.

Identification: Leaves

In spring, as they unfurl, Beech leaves are a bright acid green, and are covered in downy hairs.  As they mature they become a more modest green, and in autumn have a pretty consistent warm tan colour.  Leaves are 4 to 9cm long, and are oval with smooth but wavy margins.  They’re arranged alternately.  Each leaf has 5 to 9 pairs of veins.

Leaves overlap, making an umbrella-like canopy with shields the floor below from rain.  They also are rich in lignin, which means they decompose slowly. This means the woodland floor is often a difficult habitat, dry and carpeted with persistent crunchy leaves.  You could know you’re in a beech wood by sound alone.

Beech trees hang onto their leaves through winter, which is known as macrescence.

Be aware that the common Copper beech is a varient of this native species.  It looks similar, but the leaves are a dark maroon instead of green.

Identification: Flowers

Male and female flowers are carried on the same plant, and are pollinated by the wind.  Female flowers grow in pairs, within a little cup.  Male flowers are catkins carried on long, tassel-like catkins.  Flowers appear as the young leave emerge in spring.

Identification: Fruit

Beech nuts are known as mast, and consist of three triangular nuts encased in a spiny case.  This splits open, revealing the chestnut-brown nuts surrounded by a pale velvety lining.

They’re produced in real abundance once every four or five years, which is known as a mast year.

Identification: Bark and buds

Beech bark is really distinctive.  It’s very smooth and pale grey.  It stretches as it grows, so when names are carved on beech trees they become distorted over time.

The bark is sensitive to sunlight.  If an older tree is suddenly exposed to a lot of direct sun, the bark will get “sunburn” and this can kill the whole tree.

Buds are distinctively pointed and slender, reddish brown and with a clear criss-cross pattern.  No other trees in Britain have quite such pointy buds, which (along with the bark) means it’s easy to identify in winter.

Similar species

Because of the smooth bark and persistent leaves, beech isn’t readily confused with other trees.  Hornbeam Carpinus betulus has similar shaped wavy leaves, but these have teeth on the margins

History: Folklore

Beech trees have been associated with knowledge and femininity.  In Britain, the Beech is sometimes called “the queen of the woods”.  Romans had sacred beech groves, some dedicated to Jupiter, and some to Diana, Goddess of animals and the hunt.

Writing and learning have associations with the Beech, possibly because of its links to the invention of the book.

In Westphalia, in Germany, up til the 18^th century there was a tale that babies weren’t brought by the stork, but found in the hollows of Beech trees.

Finally, druids often used beech twigs for water divination.

History: Mankind and Beech wood

The wood of beech is hard and heavy, but not tough.  It’s no good for building as it can’t bear weight, but responds well to steaming so has been used to make the backs and legs of Windsor chairs and other bentwood furniture.  Trees were often pollarded for this purpose.

The wood burns hot, and was used in industry – fuelling fires for iron, glass, and charcoal production.

Beech mast is over 50% oil, so the nuts have been used as a source of furniture polish.  Meanwhile the leaves, non-degrading and persistent were used to stuff (presumably very noisy!) mattresses.

Beech tar was used as glue from paleo to mesolithinc times.

Before the invention of paper, thin slabs of beech wood were used to write on, and sometimes bound into prototype books.  There’s evidence of this in Germany in the 1300s.  There’s some suggestion that Guttenburg had the idea for his historic press after writing on beech wood and noticing the pressure made a print on the page below.

History: Food and Medicine

The beech mast is highly nutritious, providing oil and protein, but is very difficult to access.  In general, it was fed to cattle, goats, pigs, and sheep who foraged in woodland, or gathered up and fed to overwintering livestock.

However, in times of hardship, and until the Iron age, beech mast was roasted and made into flour.  In France, the roast mast was used to make a coffee-like drink.

Newly emergent leaves are tender and can be used in salads and soups.

Beechwood tar was used as chewing gum, and I’m sure even in my childhood in the 1970s you could buy packets of Beech nut chewing gum,

Medicinally, Beech was used to treat bronchitis and has astringent, antiseptic and disinfectant properties.  These were recognized by early Europeans and by the First Nations People in the Americas, who used bark preparations to fight fever.

It’s also used to treat animal hoof ailments, and in soap production.

Beech and Wildlife

The unusually shady forest floor found in beech woodland initially seems devoid of life.  However, some rare plants like the Coralroot bittercress and Red helleborine love these conditions, as do fungi.

Truffles can grow here, and in the past beech woods were planted to encourage them.

Moths feed on the leaves, namely the Olive Cresent, Barred Hook-tip, and Clay triple-line species.

Wood boring insects and larger animals like woodpeckers often make their homes within the tree.

The beech mast feeds a whole ecosystem; from voles to badgers, squirrels to jays, mice to great tits, woodpeckers to nuthatches.

Threats

When compared to other British tree species, the Beech isn’t in too much trouble.

At around 200 years old they can develop core rot in they’re growing in an environment low in tannic acid.  Basically, this means anywhere without Oak trees growing nearby.  This can kill them.

The trees can suffer root rot, caused by fungus like Phytopora,

Beech bark disease is caused by scale insects and a canker fungus.  This causes lesions to appear on the bark every year.  Eventually, these encircle the tree and thus can kill it.

However, a swifter way for a Beech to be “girdled” is when Grey squirrels come and strip all the bark off.  This can soon result in death and is especially problematic in younger trees.

Conclusion

The Beech tree is common, easy to spot, and useful.  With the smooth bark, pointy buds, and over-wintering orange-ish leaves, it’s easy to identify.  Although not used in building or as food; the wood and beech mast has proved vital over the centuries.  From chair backs to chewing gum, charcoal production to ancient flour, livestock feed to books, fevers to ancient glue; the Beech tree has served mankind well.

They’re pretty trees, and well worth a closer look next time you’re in a woodland with crunchy leaves underfoot.

Online sources for this blog include websites of The Woodland Trust, Kew’s Plants of the World, 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.

The post Trees: Beech 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.

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.

Rowan Sorbus aucuparia is a small tree, but one which gives an enormous amount.  Prodigious blossom in spring, vibrant orange berries in autumn, and a whole to offer in terms of history and folklore.  And you can make jam from its berries!

Not only does the Rowan provide all this, but it can also grow in really tough environments.  It’s not called the Mountain Ash for nothing, and you frequently see lone Rowan trees clinging onto rocky outcrops in upland and heathland habitats.

Rowan berries and illustration

Identification: Tree shape

Rowan is a small and slender tree.  It normally grows to 10 – 15m tall, and can live to 200 years old.  Rowan grows swiftly, and is found up to 2000m in the Alps – it can tolerate the cold.

It can grow in really unusual places.  I’ve seen Rowan trees growing perched on top of boulders.  They grow on the sides of streams, from crevices in cliff faces, and much further north than many other deciduous trees.  Rowan even help make up the Boreal forest, which creeps to the edge of the Arctic.

Despite their seeming predilection for odd places to grow, these sites tend to dovetail with places where large grazing herbivores can’t browse.

Rowan tree in blossom

Although this blog is about the common Rowan, there are 44 species and 8 hybrids of this tree in the UK.  Many can be found in the Avon gorge, in Bristol.  In fact, this habitat has the greatest diversity of Rowan species in the whole of Europe, and many are very rare indeed.

Because of the blossom and attractive berries, Mountain ash is often found in gardens, as well as across the countryside.

Identification: Leaves

Rowan leaves are compound and up to 20cm long.  This means that each leaf is made of lots of smaller leaflets.  Each rowan leaflet is oblong, and has sharply toothed margins (for more on leaf margins see my blog).  There will be a lone leaflet at the tip of each compound leaf; all the others are paired and opposite one another.  There are 5-7 pairs per leaf.

Sketchbook page of Rowan

Leaves are a dull green on top, and many be slightly pubescent below, especially when young.

Identification: Flowers

In spring Rowan is awash with frothy white flowers that are strongly scented.  The whole tree buzzes with the bees and flies, amassed around the blossom.

Each flower is 8 – 10 mm across, and has 5 creamy rounded petals.  Rowan is a member of the Rosaceae family, so you may notice a family similarity in shape to apple, pear and plum blossoms (although each flower of the Rowan is much smaller).

Rowan flowers have male and female structures, and are hermaphrodite.  There are 3 – 4 styles, and lots of prominent stamens bearing cream coloured pollen.

The blossoms are borne in domed clusters 8 – 15cm across.  From a distance these look like a froth of cream flowers.  There can be up to 250 flowers per flowering head (or corymb).

Detail of Rowan blossom

As well as bees and flies, Rowan blossom is an important source of nectar for hoverflies and beetles.

Identification: Fruit

Autumn sees the tree produce vibrant orange berries which glow against a deep blue sky.  they can also be used for jams, and are important for wildlife.

Late autumn, and the leaves turn gold and brown, contrasting with the remaining berries.

Each berry is oval or round, and up to 8mm across.  You sometimes see inconspicuous lenticels on the berries.  There are up to 8 seeds inside each berry, although 2 is the norm.  Trees begin to produce seeds from about 15 years old.

Rowan berries

The berries can vary in colour from yellowish to a vibrant red, but a rich orange is the most common colour.  They’re shiny.

They’re very rich in vitamin C, in the form of ascorbic acid, and provide a vital food supply for birds and occasional mammals.

Pen and ink illustration of Rowan berries

Berries need the cold to break down their tough outer coats, and cannot germinate unless they’ve been exposed to cold temperatures.

In mild climates, berries are produced every year.  Where the weather is colder and harsher, Rowan trees will mast.  This means that every few years all the trees will produce a glut of berries.  In between mast years, very few berries are produced.

Identification: Bark

Bark of the Rowan tree is smooth and a slightly greenish grey, with dark lenticels scatted across it.  It looks silver in certain lights.

Twigs are often slightly hairy, especially when they’re young when they feel downy to the touch.  This wears off, and older twigs are slightly shiny and glabrous.

In winter, Rowan twigs are easy to recognize.  The buds are purplish-brown, pointed, and downy.

Similar species

The orange berries and blossom are unlikely to be confused with other tree species.  However, both the Ash and the Elder also have compound leaves.  The leaflets of these trees tend to be less crisply toothed than Rowan, and the shape of each leaflet is a little blunter.  I’ve written blogs on the Ash and hope to write one on Elder, do take a look.

Ash leaf – note that the teeth are less sharp and each leaflet is rounder than the Rowan

History: Folklore

The bright berries of Rowan mean it has a rich history of folklore.  This colour was thought to be highly effective at fighting off witches, so Rowan trees were planted near houses.

In Celtic mythology, Rowan is considered the tree of protection.  Runes were carved into the living trees (which may well explain the name “Rowan” as both words share the same root) , and stone circles with Rowans planted nearby were thought to be the site of fairy activity.

Rowan Berry, leaves and blossom

Twigs or Rowan were used to stir milk in the diary, in the hope that it would prevent the milk from curdling.  In the barns, Rowan crosses would hang above livestock to provide some protection from disease and witchcraft.  Amulets and wands were made from Rowan, and those who practice divining believe that Rowan is particularly good at finding water.  It was common to carry a sliver of Rowan in your pocket for protection from enchantment, and sailors believed a boat with rowan wood on board could not capsize or harbour anyone who would drown.

Because you can make out a five sided shape if you cut a rowan berry in half, they were thought to be magical and have protective powers.  This is the pentagram symbol, or “eleven cross”.

In Wales, Rowan were often planted in churchyards, and in Scotland is was anathema to fell a Rowan tree.

Illustrating Rowan berries

Druids thought Rowan acted like a gateway to another place (one assumes somewhere more spiritual than merely the next town up the valley) and would drink wine made from Rowan berries to get second sight.  Or drunk.

History: Food & Medicine

Rowan berries are edible, but not particularly pleasant unless processed.  They’re commonly made into wines, jellies, and jams.

If food was sparse, rowan berries could be dried and ground into a flour which could be baked into a rudimentary loaf of bread.

Medicinally, Rowan has had many uses.  It’s a cure for digestive complaints.  It can be made into a poultice to treat ulcers.  As a gargle, it can take on sore throats and tonsils.  The high vitamin C content meant it was a splendid antidote to scurvy.  It was used to treat sores, and to stop bleeding.

This is no surprise, Rowan in very rich in antioxidants which are used in modern medicine to treat everything that needs a boost to the immune system.

Uses

As well as all the protective, spiritual and medical properties, Rowan had and has practical uses too.

Its wood makes excellent handles for tools and utensil, and has a fine-grain.  Henry VIII reckoned the Rowan made such good bows that he passed a law prohibiting people from using the wood for any other purpose.

The wood can also be used for wood turning and engraving blocks.

The whole tree is rich in acid and is highly astringent.  This made it perfect for tanning leather.

The bark can be made into a black dye.

These days, a derivative from the Sorbic acid found in Rowan has been made into a food preservative which can eradicate nasty bacillus such as Clostridium botulinum.  This bacteria can produce toxins that can cause botulism if ingested.  These toxins are, according to the NHS website “some of the most powerful toxins known to science. They attack the nervous system (nerves, brain and spinal cord) and cause paralysis (muscle weakness)…if left untreated it [Botulism] can be fatal in 5 – 10% of cases”

Bohemian Waxwing Bombycilla garrulus on Rowan

The berries are wonderful for wildlife, with members of the Thrush family particularly fond of them.  Redwing, Thrush, Blackbirds and Fieldfare all feast and help disperse the seeds.  Dormice, foxes and pine marten also eat the berries

The leaves are eaten by caterpillars of the Welsh wave moth and Autumn green carpet.  Apple fruit moth feast on the berries. Other moth caterpillars will feast inside the leaves, as leaf miners.  Mountain hare eat young leaves; and red deer graze on the tree foliage, stems and tree trunks.

Threats

Rowan trees, like all UK species, suffer as a result of habitat loss.  However, there is no immediate horrible threat, such as Ash die-back, knocking at the door of this beautiful tree.

They can suffer from fire-blight, European mountain ash ringspot-associated virus, and silver leaf disease.

The main threat to the Mountain ash is browsing from red deer and other large herbivores.

Rowan illustration in “Trees and How to Grow them”

Conclusion

Rowan, or the Mountain ash, is a common tree in the UK.  The blossom and berries make it decorative and easy to identify.  It’s uses stretch into myth, food, herbalism, agriculture, and legend. It’s an extremely important tree, not only in terms of wildlife and ecology; but equally for the role it’s played in human history and folklore.

Luckily, this is one of our trees which isn’t likely to be going anywhere soon.  When I look at the blackbirds glutting themselves of the rowan berries in my garden, I’d very glad to know that.

Online sources for this blog include websites of The Woodland Trust, Trees for life, the Green Parent, and Naturespot.  Book references 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).

There’s also a film of me illustrating rowan berries in real time, take a look if you fancy it:

The post Trees: Rowan appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna is one of the commonest trees in the British countryside, ranging from the far south to all but the most northern areas.  Although there are tons of mature hawthorn trees, both in woodland, fields, and uplands;  you also see it in hedges and scrub-land.

This tree provides one of my favourite sights in mid-winter.  A branch of hawthorn, still heavy with crimson berries, festooned with the pale ashy greys and greens of lichen is a thing of real beauty.

The trees can live for hundreds of years, often all that’s left of a long-vanished hedgerow.  Sometimes growing in harsh climates, their twisted and gnarled shapes make individual trees into landmarks.

Identification: Tree shape

Hawthorn trees are a modest 2 to 10 metres tall.  They have a straggly habit, often with emergent branches.  They often appear alone, perhaps on a limestone outcrop, or in the middle of a field of grazing sheep.

Having been used for centuries as a hedging plant, they frequently appear along field margins; both within hedges, and as remnants of hedgerows which have long since been neglected.

They’re easily identified by their spiny branches.

In winter, these can be confused with the branches of the Blackthorn Prunus spinosa which also bear spikes, although Blackthorn branches tend to look darker and more condensed than the hawthorn.  Also, the buds of Blackthorn grown on the spines themselves, whilst those of hawthorn emerge from the same point as the spines.

In summer and autumn, it’s hard to mistake a hawthorn for any other species.  The distinctive leaves, white flowers, and crimson berries make it a simple tree to identify.

Identification: Leaves

Hawthorn leaves start out as a vivid, pale, spring green.  They become tougher with age, ending up a dusty dark green colour.  Undersides of the leaves are paler.  The leaves are deeply divided, and toothed.

They’re about 6cm long and are often asymmetrical from the main rib.  Leaf shape is highly variable, even between the leaves on one branch.  Leaves turn yellow in autumn, before falling, leaving the berries behind.

Identification: Flowers

Flowers are white or pink, with five petals.  Anthers are a pinkish colour, turning to purplish or brown.  These flowers appear in May (hence the hawthorn’s other name) and form frothy masses in the hedgerows.  They grow in flat-topped inflorescences.

Their smell is sickly sweet, and flies love it.  Lots of people think it smells a bit unpleasant, and reminiscent of death.  This is no surprise, the chemical trimethylamine appear both in corpses and in hawthorn blossom.  In fact, people used to say that the flowers smelt very similar to the stench of bubonic plague.  This probably accounts for the custom of never bringing hawthorn inside the house.

Identification: Fruit

The berries of hawthorn are crimson, with yellow-orange flesh.  They’re referred to as “haws”.   Each one has one big pip in its centre.

The haw skin is shiny, and can be anything from vivid scarlet to an almost purplish deep crimson in older berries.  The fruits are a great source of vitamin C, and can be made into jelly.  More importantly, they provide vital nutrients for birds such as Redwing and Fieldfare, especially in the depths of winter.

Identification: Bark

Hawthorn bark is grey brown, with lots of small scales.  As hawthorn is so prevalent, you may well see it in hedges and waysides where the plant may not be large enough to have a proper identifiable tree-trunk.

Similar species

The Midland hawthorn Craetegus oxyacanthoides can easily be confused with the common hawthorn.  Differences are that the Common hawthorn has flowers with only one stigma, whereas the Midland hawthorn bears two.  And (logically), the Common hawthorn has only one seed per fruit, whereas the Midland hawthorn has two.  Berries of the latter are a brighter red, and more rounded.  Midland hawthorn leaves are rounder, and less deeply cut.

Habitats vary too.  Midland hawthorn is more of a tree than a hedge species, and is more tolerant of shade.  It likes chalky soils and is often found deep within shaded woodland.

Most garden cultivars are Midland, rather than Common hawthorn.

History: Folklore

Hawthorn is thick with foklore and superstition.

I have a friend from Ireland who was furious when I put a hawthorn log on the fire, and opined that the “wee folk” would come and get me.  He was dead serious, and from the look on his face that was NOT something one wanted to happen, so I took the log off again.

There are many tales of Fairy queens and supernatural beings living in hawthorn.  To damage any part of the tree, especially of a lone tree, could bring down their fury with disastrous and fatal results.

As mentioned above, the smell of hawthorn is similar to that of a corpse, so it was not brought into the house.  To do so would be to invite illness and death in.  There’s a possibility that this referred especially to the Midland hawthorn, which was more prevalent in the 16th – 18th centuries and has a stronger smell than the common species.

However, boughs of May (hawthorn) would be put outside houses, and decorated with wild flowers.  Having the flowers outside was clearly not seen as a bad thing.

Before the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1752, the month of May arrived a little later than it does now.  The timing of the hawthorn blossoming probably dove-tailed more accurately with the start of the month, and with May day.  The old adage, “cas’t ne’er a clout [vest] til May be out” refers to the blossom, not the end of the month.

History: Religion

There are many associations with pre-Christian religions.  Westminster Abbey is built on a site called “Thorney island”, after a sacred grove of hawthorn that grew there.

It’s the sixth tree of the Celtic Ogham religion, associated with love, protection, and the heart.

The flowers, coming as they do in the full burst of spring, have long been associated with fertility.  The Hawthorn tree was the precursor of the maypole.  Blossoming occurred around the time of the Celtic festival of Beltane.  Weddings often occurred at the same time, and there are records of boughs of Hawthorn being put on the beds of newlyweds to bring love and fertility.  How this tallies with the fear of inviting illness and death is unclear.

On May day, the May queen and the Green man would unite and bless the land with fertility for the coming year.  Hawthorn blossom played an important part in the ceremony.

Interestingly, the link between faith and the hawthorn did not stop with the onset of Christianity.  The crown of thorns and Moses’s burning bush are said to be hawthorn.

There’s also the legend of the Holy thorn of Glastonbury, planted by Joseph of Aramathea, who owned Jesus’s tomb.  He was also Mary’s uncle, and happened to be travelling with a chalice of Jesus’s sweat, and one of Jesus’s blood.  As you do.  Stopping, he thrust his staff into the ground where it grew into the Glastonbury hawthorn.  This plant (not, of course, the original tree) still grows on Glastonbury tor, and flowers twice a year; once in May and once at Christmas.  What Joseph used to replace his lost staff is lost in the mists of time.

History: Food & Medicine

Hawthorn leaves were eaten, referred to as “bread and cheese”, and haws were used for jellies and wines.

Medicinally, it was used in tincture to aid a whole slew of complaints: heart-trouble, anxiety, and loss of appetite.  In traditional Chinese medicine, it’s used to lower blood pressure.

Uses

Hawthorn has been used since the 16th century, when land enclosure first took off, as a hedging plant.  It forms spiky, impenetrable barriers.

It’s wood is hard and pale, and is used for wood-turning, veneers, and tool handles.  It burns at high temperatures, so is good for fire-wood and charcoal.  As long as you’re not worried by the folklore and superstitions, that is…

Young leaves are edible, as are the berries.  Berries are best made into jams and ketchups as they may cause mild stomach upsets in some.  Buds are delicious in salads.

It is a wonderful plant for both birds and insects. Not only can birds feed off the berries in winter, but the growth habit and thickets makes a perfect space for building nests.

Long-tailed tits Aegithalos caudatus in amongst Blackberry and Hawthorn blossom

Over 300 species of insect rely on the Hawthorn.  Moths relying on it range from the Lappet moth Gastropacha quercifolia, which resembles dead oak leaves as an adult, to the Light Emerald Campaea margaritata.  The latter turns up in my house on late summer evenings, and is a beautiful animal.

Bees, flies, and wasps pollinate the flowers and rely on the nectar.

Small mammals such as the Dormouse also eat the berries, which are packed full of anti-oxidants.

Hazel dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius with berries, (but not Hawthorn berries)

Hawthorn is a popular and wise choice for those wanting to encourage wildlife to their gardens.

Threats

Increasingly, hedgerows are being grubbed up to allow access to more efficient farm machinery.  Old hedges, which need a lot of maintenance, ore often replaces with barbed wire.

Hawthorn can be affected by fire blight, gall mites, and aphids.  However, there’s no suggestion that the hawthorn is about to disappear from out landscape, which is a big relief.

Conclusion

Hawthorn is common, and easy to recognise.  It’s flowers and berries make it a well loved tree and shrub, and it’s usefulness in hedging can’t be underestimated.  Providing a haven for wildlife, a wealth of history and folklore, and bearing edible leaves and berries; there’s a whole lot to recommend this tree.  It’s also very beautiful.

Sources for this blog include websites of The Woodland Trust, Trees for life, the Green Parent, and Naturespot.

The post Trees: Hawthorn appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

This is the third in my series on common trees, and this time it’s the Ash tree under the spotlight.

The Ash Fraxinus excelsior is one of our commonest trees, and is steeped in folklore.  It’s easy to identify, and the timber is extraordinarily strong and versatile

Identification: Tree shape

Ash trees have domes crowns, and grow up to 40m.  In winter, they can be easily recognized as the ends of branches and twigs turn upwards.

They also have distinctive matt, black buds which would be hard to mistake for any other species.  Ash grows in woodland, fields, and many other habitats.  It’s one of the commonest British trees with over 150 million mature trees in the UK (The Conversation, 2019).

Identification: Leaves

Leaves of the ash are opposite. Each compound leaf comprises 9 to 13 short-stalked leaflets up to 7cm long, in opposite pairs.  There is always one lone leaflet at the tip.  This arrangement is called “Odd-pinnate”.  (For more on compound vs simple leaves, have a look at my blog).  Leaflets have long tips and small teeth on the margins (for more on leaf shape and margins check out my blog).

Identification: Flowers

Flowers of the ash emerge before the leaves (which are often amongst the last to unfurl in spring).  Female and male flowers are carried on separate twigs, are without petals, and look like little purplish tufts.

Identification: Fruit

Like the Sycamore, the Ash has winged seeds, or samara (for more on samaras, which are basically just winged achenes, check out my blog.  These are borne in clusters, with a single wing.  Like Sycamore, ash seeds spin to the ground in a most satisfying manner.

Identification: Bark

Twigs are grey, and the tree bark is greyish-green.  It becomes rough and fissured in older trees.

Similar Species

Several trees have similar odd-pinnate leaves, but should be easy to distinguish from the Ash.  These include Elderberry Sambucus nigra, which is smaller, has highly scented frothy blossoms, pale bark, and lots of juicy purple berries in autumn.  Walnut Juglans regia, tends to be a more substantial tree.  It too has compound leaves, although these tend to be a paler green than the Ash.  Walnut flowers are carried in green catkins, and the fruit is (of course) the edible walnut.

Elderberry Sambucus nigra

Mountain ash or Rowan Sorbus aucuparia is another similar species.  However, it tends to be much smaller than the ash, has frothy white blossoms, and carries wonderful clusters of orange berries.  The leaves have sharply serrated margins, and are blunter than ash.  Leaflets are stalkless.

Rowan Sorbus aucuparia

History

In Scandinavia, Ash was worshipped as a sacred tree and Odin (the most powerful of the Norse gods) was said to have carved man from a piece of ash.

The Tree of the World, an enormous mythological Ash, appears in Nordic mythology.  Also known as Yggrasil, its branches, trunk and roots entwined heaven, earth, and the underworld.

Ash was said to ward off witches, and a piece of ash carried in the pocket would ward them off, as well as keeping you safe from goblins and snakes.  Farming tools made of iron and ash would protect the crops from witchcraft.  Burning ash logs would chase the evil spirits from a room.  Ash growing with Oak and Hawthorn signified the realms of the Fairy folk and otherworldly spirits.

Medicinally, passing an ill child through a cleft in an Ash would help healing.  If you had a break or rupture, splitting a sapling and passing the patient through it would help.  You bound up the tree (and, one assumes, the patient) and when the tree had healed, so too had the patient.

Uses

Ash keys are edible if you boil them a few times, then pickle them.

However, it’s the wood of ash that makes the tree so valuable.  It’s almost white; and incredibly durable, flexible, and pliable.

Items made from ash include sledges, furniture, oars, tool handles, skis, hockey sticks, and even form part of the Morgan car.  Rob Penn wrote a rather wonderful tree about the plethora of things that could be made from just one ash tree, “The Man Who Made Things out of Trees”.  My other half makes gravel bikes using ash, and has plenty to say about it’s natural shock-absorbing capacities, and beauty.  If it seems unlikely, take a look at his website, Twmpa Cycles.

Threats

As with all British trees, ash are cleared when hedgerows are grubbed up and habitat is lost to development.

This amazing tree is also under serious threat from Ash dieback.  This fungal disease is projected to wipe out 95% of our ash trees, in a similar way to the eradication of Elm when Dutch Elm disease appeared. It’s estimated this loss could cost the UK up to£15 billion (The Conversation, May 2019).

The fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus (previously known as Chalara fraxinea) affects the ash in a number of ways.  It causes the leaves to wither, and the crown of the tree to thin.  It also causes legions and cracks in the bark which allow the entry of other pathogens.

Young saplings will succumb quickly, but older trees hold out until another agent, such as Honey fungus, attacks it in its weakened form.

Ash dieback symptoms

There is no cure or treatment for Ash dieback, and it seems likely that our love for imported plants explains why the fungus is now ravaging the countryside.

For more on Ash dieback (also known as Chalara or Chalara dieback), check out the Forestry Commission website, and for information on the economic affects have a look at The Conversation’s article.

Conclusion

 The ash is a beautiful tree, and common across the UK.  Its wood is incredibly useful, and its folklore many-layered and interesting.  The fact that such a part of the British countryside will soon become a rarity causes me a great deal of pain.  All I can suggest is that while many of our ash trees remain, get out into nature and enjoy them.

Little owl Athene noctua with Ash leaves behind

References 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), and Collins Flower Guide by David Streeter.

Take a look at my other blogs on British trees, the Oak and the Sycamore.

The post Trees: Ash appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

In the summer, I completed more than a hundred pen and ink illustrations of trees for “The Living Wisdom of Trees” by Fred Hageneder.

The commission involved illustrating 54 species of fully grown tree, along with details such as blossom, leaves, or fruit.  Illustrating the botanical details was straight forward (here’s a separate blog on this), but as for the trees themselves…

Challenges

Now I love working in pen and ink, but this job presented me with a new challenge.  How to represent something as big as a tree in this exacting and detailed medium?  For more on enormous trees, take a look at the Tree Triage website which talks about the largest trees in the USA.  It gives some idea of the problems of scale I was up against!

Giant Redwood Sequoia sempevirnes

I’ve always struggled with trees; I find capturing their bulk as well as the depths of shadow in their foliage tricky.  My illustrations often look flat, and getting the lights and darks balanced in a way that makes the tree look three dimensional has occupied me for years.  I take inspiration from sources like Rembrandt’s etchings, and engravings from old natural history books.

Rembrandt, The Three Trees (1643) Etching with drypoint and burin on paper

Another challenge was the need to make each tree look species-specific, a type specimen.  Part of the challenge here is knowing how each tree “feels”; easy enough for native species, but much tougher for species which are new to me, like the Peepal and Kuari.

Luckily, Google images presents a plethora of sources to refer to, including some invaluable links to global arboretums and university arboriculture courses.

I had a lot of fun driving around Herefordshire looking for the perfect “type” specimen of willows, oaks, limes, ashes and innumerable other UK species.  I’d take photos, sketches, and written notes to work from.  I also have my sketchbooks to work from, an invaluable resource.

However, the need to make the pen and ink illustrations of trees look significantly different from one another remains.  This became more pronounced with species which are alphabetically proximate in the book!

Kauri Agathis australis

Pencil Roughs

The first step is always to produce pencil line drawing roughs.  These get sent to the publisher (Watkins) where the art director considers them and asks for changes.  In most cases the trees were approved with no changes required.

Cedar of Lebanon Cedrus libani pencil rough

Blackthorn Prunus spinosa pencil rough

With some, they needed altering.  Again, you return to your source material and exaggerate the characteristics that make that species distinct.  I found this quite difficult, but I like a good challenge.  I think about 15 trees needing tweaking.  All the altered trees were approved.

You can see with the pear tree below that the second rough (on the right) has been made far more lop-sided and bends more.  Branches have been thinned.  The tree trunk is elongate and thinner than before.  The foliage has been made less dense.  I kept a note of all the changes I made on an Excel spreadsheet that I submitted with my revisions; if I’d not done so I would have forgotten the details that were tweaked.

Pear tree roughs Pyrus domestica

Pen and Ink illustration of trees finals

Once approved, I began the task of getting the illustrations inked in.  This requires building up tonality with lots and lots of tiny marks.  These need to echo the shape of the leaves, but obviously you need to avoid trying to illustrate each individual leaf.  With conifers this is easy – a lot of straight lines show pine needles admirable.

Yew tree Taxus baccata

With the deciduous species it’s tougher.  Make the marks too big and the whole picture looks blunt.  Make them too small and you end up taking days on one lone tree.  Below is the Laurel, one of the illustrations that has that “blunt” feeling.  There are about four more trees that I feel are too blunt, but I’m not going to tell you which ones they are!

Laurel Prunus laurocerasus

There was also a nasty moment when I came to rub out my initial pencil lines.  When I removed them, I also removed a whole lot of shadow and depth!  It didn’t take long for me to realise I could erase the perimeter pencil lines and leave the pencil marks on the rest of the illustration.  This kept the illustrations more nuanced.

Sweet chestnut Castanea sativa

I love the way the bark of the Sweet chestnut spirals, it’s a dead give away for identifying this species even in the depths of winter.

In some cases I left some pencil lines on the trunk too, as with the Hawthorn.

Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna

Working in Pen and Ink

The actual act of working in pen and ink is straight forward.  I bought up tons of disposable permanent ink pens, in this case Unipin fine liners.  A variety of widths means you can vary the weight of the line.  Tree trunks and branch outlines were done with an 0.2mm, leaves and externals shapes and detail required an 0.1mm nib, while the fine stippling detail and cross hatching was done with a very fine 0.05mm pen.

Stippling an elm

Initially I only used tiny marks to build up darks; but pretty soon I realised I needed more texture and depth.  I added cross hatching, lots of tiny squiggly lines, scribbling; anything to build into those darkest shadows and make them feel leafy.

Detail of ink marks on London Plane Plantanus x hispanica

I also clocked that adding more detailed leaf shapes to the perimeter of the tree helped suggest these leaf shapes would continue into the bulk of the foliage.  For trees like the Holly this was particularly important.  You can see some residual pencil marks in the detail of the holly tree.

Holly Ilex aquifolium

Holly Ilex aquifolium detail

The tree trunks were easier, and I used a lot more stippling to give them the required texture and curvature.

Detail of tree trunk of Cherry Prunus avium

Again, the conifers were simple.  Lots of tiny straight lines built up texture, shape, and tone.

Detail of Larch Larix decidua

Physical challenges

Deadlines are ever present, and although Watkins had given me plenty of time to work up the finals, summer holiday and associated child care approached.  This meant I had to work long hours.  I’d estimated each tree would take 2 hours to complete.  This turned out to be more like 5 or 6 hours per tree, with the knock on effect on my time frame.

Apple Malus domestica

I like working long into the night, there’s something snug and cosy about being alone with the radio in my studio at 2am.

No, the problem wasn’t working late.  It was my hand!

I guess the minute repeated action of millions of dots and weeny lines takes its toll; by the end of each day my hand would ache like anything, which made it hard to go on drawing.  I did though, and eventually completed the tree illustrations.  Over summer, despite not lifting a pencil, my hand continued to ache on and off for three weeks.  A troubling event for a free-lance illustrator! (It’s better now).

Favourites

Overall I was pleased with my pen and ink illustrations of trees.  There are a couple of “blunt” ones, but the majority work well.

Particular favourites are the Baobab, Olive and Scots Pine.  I liked the Orange too, even though it had required a full re-draw at rough stage.

Baobab Adansonia grandidieri

Olive Olea europaea

Scots pine Pinus sylvestris

Orange Citrus sinensis

Although this job presented challenges, I ended up really enjoying it, and learning a great deal more about trees.  However, next time someone asks for a book’s worth of fully tonal pen and ink illustrations, I may well have pause for thought!

If you’d like to see a film of snippets of me stippling and working on this job in real time, please take a look at the film below.

The post Pen and Ink Illustrations of Trees appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

In the summer, I completed lots of pen and ink illustrations of trees and their details for “The Living Wisdom of Trees” by Fred Hageneder.

The commission involved illustrating fully grown trees, along with details specific to each species such as blossom, leaves, or fruit.  I’ve written a blog on how I went about illustrating the trees; this one is on the details.

Gathering Reference

First step in any illustration commission is to gather your reference.  For the native British trees this was easy.  Not only do I have a stash of things like Ash tree keys, acorns, and pine cones; but I also have my botanical sketchbooks to refer to.

Sweet chestnut sketchbook study

For the more exotic species this was harder, and involved a lot of trawling about on the internet.

Drawing up pencil roughs

I like mechanical pencils like the Pentel P205 (0.3mm lead) and draw onto decent quality cartridge.  It’s important to work onto a cartridge which can take rubbing out.  This is because I draw the ink final on top of the pencil rough, then rub out the guide lines.

The variety of things to draw for this commission was a treat.  The art director at Watkins Publishing let me decide what details to illustrate for each species which gave me enormous freedom.

Obviously, for conifers pine cones are a must.

Cedar of Lebanon Cedrus libani

For some species, I stuck closely to my sketchbook reference.

Sweet chestnut Castanea sativa pencil rough

As I own copyright on most of my illustrations, it was easy to go back and use images from Foraging with Kids by Adele Nozedar (also published by Watkins) for reference.

Other species had incredible and exotic blossoms that just HAD to be illustrated; the Baobab is a good example.

Baobab Adansonia grandidieri pencil rough of flowers and fruit

I was fortunate and the art director approved all but one of my pencil roughs (I needed to re-draw a sprig of Tamarisk, and as luck would have it, it had just come into flower in a neighbour’s garden.)

Pen and Ink Finals

I totally loved working on these finals, perhaps because they were so much easier than the larger trees.

The approach is the same in all cases.  One thicker line for the outlines, then details and stippling with smaller nibs.  I used Unipin fine liners https://uniball.co.uk/brand/uni-pin/ with 0.2, 0.1, and 0.05mm nibs.  Over the course of this project I must have got through about 5 of the thicker pens and about 15 of the tinier ones.  Their nibs get blunted by use, but I haven’t got the discipline to use Rotoring pens which don’t degrade in a similar way.

I’ve arbitrarily divided the illustrations into sections; fruits, flowers, cones, catkins, leaves, and …spiny things.

Pen and ink Fruits

These were heavenly.  You don’t need a lot of tonality to suggest a ripe fruit, just a little stippling round the edges and to give texture.

Quince Cydonia oblonga

Sometimes the texture of the fruit does most of the work for you; once you’ve added the pith and striations to the inside of an orange, you don’t need to do very much else to it.

Orange Citrus sinensis

I particularly liked it if there was a sharp contrast between lights and darks, as with this sliced Pomegranate.

Pomegranate Punica granatum

Some fruits and berries are dark, and in these cases I tried to capture that.

Cherry Prunus avium

It was a simple technique; colour in the outside area of the fruit solid black, then stipple carefully around the highlight.  Easy.

Cherry Prunus avium detail

Pen and ink Flowers

The trick with flowers is to keep them as light as possible, especially if the petals are pale.  A very few tiny dots give a great deal of information.  It’s easy to add too much stippling too fast and end up with a heavy and dull petal.

Almond Prunus dulcis blossom

Sometimes the flowers were new to me, as with this Eucalyptus.  I’ve never seen this blossom in the flesh, which confers its own challenges.

Eucalyptus Eucalyptus globulus

Other times, the flower was just ridiculous and super-exotic.  The blossom of the Pipal or Sacred Fig tree is wild.  Not only does it look amazing, but it’s scarlet, magenta, and yellow.  I can’t show that in a pen and ink illustration, but I certainly enjoyed the exuberance of the structure.

Sacred Fig Ficus religiosa

Pen and ink cones

With pine cones, it’s all about the geometry.  If you get the Fibonacci spiral right, it’s just a matter of being consistent with your shadows and light source.  Treat each individual cone scale in the same manner, and you’ll get a consistent looking image.

Kauri Agathis australis cones

I tend to add more depth to the shadows on the right bottom corner; this comes from a convention in botanical illustration that suggests your light source generally comes from top left.  Old habits die hard.  With pine cones you need to shake this up a bit, often your darkest shadows line deep within the pine cone.

Giant redwood Sequoia sempevirnes cone

I love that within the world of pine cones there’s such an extraordinary variety of shape and texture.

West Himalayan Spruce Picea smithiana cone

Pen and ink Catkins

I’ll admit to not loving drawing catkins.  There’s an enormous amount of detail, and it’s crammed into a tiny elongated shape.  When the catkins mature into fruit, you have a similar challenge.

The Cottonwood was especially tricky as the flowers and residual pappas round the fruit are very fluffy and light, so need a truly light touch.

Cottonwood Populus deltoids

Some catkins are easier, like the alder.  I love Alder trees and their compact little woody cones, so drawing them is never a bore.

Alder Alnus glutinosa catkins and cones

Pen and ink Leaves

Occasionally, one of the tree species didn’t throw up an instant suggestion of fruit or flowers.  Sometimes I was simply too lazy to tackle the flower or catkin, and chose instead to simply provide a sprig of leaves which summed up the tree.

Drawing a pen and ink leaf involves getting the venation right, leaf margins accurate, then using graduated stippling to add shadow and texture.

Weeping Willow Salix babylonica leaves

In some cases, the fruit isn’t instantly recognisable and the leaves are.  It’s a no-brainer to choose the leaves, as in the case of the distinctive Ginko.

Ginko Ginko biloba leaves on branch

Pen and ink and spiky things

I am aware that “spiky things” is a dubious botanical term, but all the thorns and spikes need a similar illustrative approach.

Beech Fagus sylvatica beech nuts cases

I draw all the spines on, changing the line to a broken line and then a couple of dots where it joins the main fruit.  With shadows, try to keep your light source consistent.  Remember that spiky things pointing straight at you look like dots with a circle below.

Here’s the final of the Sweet chestnut rough.

Sweet chestnut Castanea sativa chestnut flowers and nuts in spiky seed case

This conker was probably the toughest illustration in the book, but I absolutely loved taking it on.  I did the seed case first as there was a high chance of messing it up.  There’s so much geometry to consider when you do botanical illustration!  Once completed, getting the glossy texture of the conkers was a breeze and a joy.

Horse chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum conker and  spiked fruit

Spines also appear on branches and trunks of trees.  Again, keep the shadow consistent and a light touch at the tip of a spine makes it look sharp.

Blackthorn Prunus spinosa branch with thorns

Here’s a close up of the Myrrh tree.

Myrrh Commiphora myrrha branch detail

And the whole thing.  Stippling always looks better the more reduced the image is.

Myrrh Commiphora myrrha

Conclusion

Compared to the pen and ink illustrations of the trees, these details were very easy and profoundly satisfying.  As a body of work, I’m really proud of them, and look forward to seeing them reproduced in The Living Wisdom of Trees which is due to be published February 11^th 2020.

If you’d like to see a film of snippets of me stippling and working on this job in real time, (and didnt get the chance to see my earlier blog which also has the film embedded) do have a look below.

The post Pen and Ink Illustrations of Tree Details appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

I have a Rowan, or Mountain ash tree in my garden.  Not only do the clusters of blazing orange berries look stunning long into autumn, but they provide a vital food supply for the garden birds.  They also give me something colourful to illustrate in the depths of winter.

Drawing the Rowan berry

First, draw a cluster of berries.  I use a Pentel P205 mechanical pencil, H lead.  This is because it never needs you to break from drawing to sharpen it, just snap the lead to a crisp edge by pushing against the page.

Keep the drawing simple.  No lights or darks, just a simple and accurate representation of the shapes of your clutch of rowan berries.

Beneath this study, I also draw one single berry.  I’ll be focused on this lone rowan berry, then using the approach used on the single fruit to add colour to all the berries in the drawing.

Mixing your dark oranges

Unconventionally, I start by plotting in areas of dark.  This helps me understand the shape of what I’m painting.  Lots of people using watercolour start very light and take their paintings gradually darker and darker; it’s an approach which works well.  However, I’ve always painted this way and even thought I’ve tried to change my ways, it’s easier for me to start out with those shadows.

The colour I mixed is cadmium orange light mixed with a little crimson.  This adds a darker red kick to the orange of the berry.  I look for distinct shapes in the darker areas, and plot them in.

It’s vital to leave lots of white.  Not only will these spaces provide you with highlights and shine, but you’ll be using them to work into gradations of colour between the dark orange and the shining white highlights.  Give yourself space to manoevre!

Look out for shine on the bulk of the berry, but also on the bottom of the curve.  Adding this light area helps describe the spherical shape.

Between all these steps, be sure you leave time for the paint to dry fully, or your layers of shade will all merge into one atonal muddy mess.

I always use a Winsor and Newton Series 7 paintbrush (in this case a number 1).  Winsor and Newton watercolour pans fill my paintbox, (although I’m currently experimenting with Daniel Smith watercolour trial dot cards too.)

Plotting in the mid tones

Next, you need to work into the bulk of the berry.  You need to keep the highlights white, but show a gentle change between the shadows and these light regions.  Mix a lighter orange.  I used cadmium orange light with less red added.  Lay this on top of the painted area, and overlap the edges a little, into the white zone.

I also dilute the mix with water as I move into the paler regions of the berry.  This is why the orange looks a little yellower there.

Repeat the action, but this time with a paler hue.  I mix some cadmium yellow light in with cadmium orange, and add some water to keep it bright and light.

Unfortunately the photo is a little out of focus, but I hope you can see how using the paint in an ever more dilute mix gives the suggestion of the colour brightening toward the highlights.

Always keep looking at the berry you’re illustrating.  You’ll only get the tonality right by referring to it endlessly.

Working into your darks and finishing your lights

The final step with the highlights is to unite the colour of the berry without swallowing the highlights.  A very dilute yellow provides the perfect colour.  Apply it over the entire berry, except for your most startling highlights.  If you look at the bottom curve of the rowan berry below, you cn see that the white has been entirely covered with the yellow wash.  It still provides visual information that tells us the berry is round, but it no longer pulls the eye from the highlight at the centre of the rowan berry.

Now you’ve sorted out the shine, you can look at the darks and shadows again.  I always come back to these areas and take them a couple fo steps deeper and darker.  In this case I mix up a deep crimson from cadmium orange dark, alizarin crimson, and a touch of purple.

Be careful adding these super-darks.  You don’t want them to swallow the whole rowan berry, just to add a bit of a “pop”.

You can see that the darks have been added at the very bottom of the fruit, and a touch in the dark area on the right, below the shine.  Another touch goes below the stalk and a final bit just on the left hand curve.

Colours used

Here is a colour swatch of the mixes I used.  The top purplish crimson was the final darkest darks.  Next colour down was the first painting I did, the initial plotting of shadows and shapes.  The second, paler orange was used for the midtones.  The bright yellow was applied across the whole berry, except for the brightest highlights.  In lighter areas it was diluted with lots of water.

For a step by step on painting blackberries, sloes, and hawthorn berries, please follow the links. For all my botanical illustration step by step blogs click here, and for a whole gallery of my sketchbook studies, please click here.

Applying this technique to the whole cluster of berries

Now you’ve figured out your approach and palette, you can apply it across the whole sketchbook study.

You also need to think about how the proximity of berries and leaves interplay.  One berry will cast a shadow onto the rowan berry below it.  A leaf may cast a shadow over the whole lot.  Keep looking at your specimen as you untangle this interplay of dark and light.

And here’s the finished study:

I used this as a base for a teaching session, and filmed some of it in real time (see below).  If you’d like a simplified version of this blog, as a printable A4 sheet, please check out my Pinterest post.

I hope this explanation of how you can use a study of one lone rowan berry as a starting point for a seemingly complicated sketch might be helpful.  As with everything to do with drawing and painting, it all boils down to looking, and taking things slowly, step by step.

The post Step by Step Rowan berry appeared first on Lizzie Harper.