File: //old_home_backup/the-tree.org.uk/public_html/trees/beech.html
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"><!-- InstanceBegin template="/Templates/trees.dwt" codeOutsideHTMLIsLocked="false" -->
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<meta name="description" content="_your description goes here_" />
<meta name="keywords" content="_your,keywords,goes,here_" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css" media="screen" title="style (screen)" />
<link rel="stylesheet" href="tabs.css" type="text/css" media="screen" />
<script type="text/javascript" src="/tabber.js"></script>
<!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="doctitle" -->
<title>Information, stories and myths relating to trees.</title>
<!-- InstanceEndEditable -->
<!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="head" -->
<!-- InstanceEndEditable -->
<link href="/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
<link href="/tabs.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width">
<meta name="google-site-verification" content="WErVbpfpFdTWysu93rIVInpsk37Qvz1L8XtUcUEkN_g" />
</head>
<body>
<div id="wrap">
<script type="text/javascript">
var myTabs = new YAHOO.widget.TabView("content-explorer");
</script>
<div id="sitemeta">
<a href="#"> Log In</a>|<a href="#">Register</a>
</div>
<div id="content">
<input type="text" class="search" value="Search...trees" onfocus="if
(this.value==this.defaultValue) this.value='';" />
<h1 class="head"><a href="../index.html"><img src="../images/treeawards.gif" alt="" width="90" height="100" border="0" align="left" />Information, stories and myths relating to trees.</a></h1>
<h2 class="head">tree stories for the wooden hearted</h2>
<div id="menubar">
<ul class="nav">
<li><a class="meta" href="/Contact.html">Contact</a></li>
<li><a class="meta" href="/A/join_us.htm">join</a></li>
<li><a href="/index.html">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="/A/British_Trees.htm">british trees</a></li>
<li><a href="/garden-waste.html">Garden Waste</a></li>
<li><a href="/A/Action_ E.htm">Environment</a></li>
<li><a href="/FORESTS.html">FORESTs</a></li>
<li><a href="/A/Reforesting.htm">REFORESTING </a></li>
<li><a href="/A/Agroforestry.htm">CULTIVATION & USES</a></li>
<li class="up"></li>
<li><a href="../Classifieds.html">Classifieds</a></li>
<li><div class="clearboth"> </div></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div id="submenu">
<tr>
<td onmouseover="this.style.background='#99CCFF'" onmouseout="this.style.background='#0000FF'" onclick="window.location='#'" bgcolor="#0000ff" valign="middle" align="center"><p align="center"> </p></td>
</tr>
</div>
<div id="maincontent">
<div id="right">
<div class="tabber">
<div class="tabbertab">
<h2>Trees</h2>
<img class="left" src="/images/boat.jpg" alt="" />If you love the planet and expecially trees then you have come to the right place. Support us if you would like to have the trees in the future, with increased rates of deforestation with wood required for all sorts of purposes it is becoming apparent that if these rates continue there will be no forests left in just a few generations to come!
<div class="clear"> </div>
</div>
<div class="tabbertab">
<h2>Tree Talk</h2>
<p><a href="/A/TreeCircles.htm">let talk wood</a></p>
<ul class="links half">
<li><a href="../types-of-trees.html">types of trees</a></li>
<li><a href="#">tree names </a></li>
<li><a href="../list-of-trees.html">list of trees</a></li>
<li><a href="#">evergreen trees</a></li>
</ul>
<ul class="links half">
<li><a href="#">facts about trees</a></li>
<li><a href="#">trees reddit</a></li>
<li><a href="#">trees for small gardens</a></li>
<li><a href="#">Renewable Fuels</a></li>
</ul>
<div class="clear"> </div>
</div>
<div class="tabbertab">
<h2>Like Us?</h2>
<p><div id="social">
<!-- +1 -->
<div class="plusone">
<!-- Place this tag where you want the +1 button to render -->
<g:plusone size="medium" annotation="none"></g:plusone>
<!-- Place this render call where appropriate -->
<script type="text/javascript">
(function() {
var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true;
po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s);
})();
</script>
</div>
<!-- end +1 -->
<!-- twitter -->
<div class="twitter">
<a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-count="none" data-via="dominoc">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</div>
<!-- end twitter -->
<!-- like -->
<div class="fb-like" data-send="false" data-layout="button_count" data-width="90" data-show-faces="false"></div>
<!-- end like -->
</div></p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<div class="half">
<h3>Putting old wood to work</h3>
<p>Reclaimed wood used for conservatories combine traditional craftsmanship with the most up to date and efficient techniques to create unique and beautiful conservatories tailored towards your specific needs. </p>
<p>Traditionally, conservatories have been associated with summer, but as we provide double glazed windows fitted with toughened safety glass, and the conservatory is heated, it will be a permanent asset to the house throughout the whole year. </p>
<p>Reclaimed wood conservatory is designed and created especially for you, there are virtually no restrictions on size or shape as they are made to measure and can be designed to fit any space, wall or corner. </p>
</div>
<div class="half">
<h3>See the wood for the trees</h3>
<p>The-tree.org.uk hope to support Environmental Technology businesses in South West England by assessing their strategic skills development needs to enable growth. </p>
<p>We assist with the costs of most training undertaken by eligible businesses and research training provision. The extensive business support expertise gained by EnviroSkills SW also enables us to signpost businesses to other appropriate business support services. <br />
</p>
</div>
<iframe width="280" height="210" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/f6zvysWMzCw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p> </p>
<h4>I have recently been introduced to Goji berries, which have apparently beome all the rage as the latest super food. They are delicious, I think-nice and chewy, with quite a distinct flavour-just the job for scattering on your breakfast cereal. </h4>
<p>The very day after I had eaten my first handful of these berries, there was an article all about them in the Daily Telegraph. There I discovered that they are the fruits of a shrub called Lycium barbarum, The Duke of Argyll’s Tea Tree. <a href="/gardens/the-Cornelian-Cherry-tree.html">More </a></p>
</div>
<div id="main">
<div class="topstory">
<img src="/images/topstory.jpg" alt="" /><!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="EditRegion3" -->
<h1>THE BEECH</h1>
<p> In the south of England there lived a holy hermit named St. Leonard whose but was surrounded by a glade of noble Beech trees. The saint loved the beautiful trees, but by day he could not sit under their shady branches because of the vipers which swarmed about the roots, and by night the songs of many nightingales disturbed his rest. So he prayed that both the serpents and the birds might be taken away, and from that day no viper has stung and no nightingale has warbled in the Hampshire forests. </p>
<p>So we read in the old story books. There are many such legends connected with the Beech tree. It has grown in this country as far back as we have any history, and it is often called the mother of the forest, because its thickly covered branches give shelter and protection to younger trees which are struggling to live.</p>
<p> The Beech is a cousin of the Oak. It is a large, handsome tree, with a noble trunk and widely spreading branches which sweep downward to the ground and in summer every branch and twig is densely covered with leaves. No other tree gives such shade as the Beech, and in a hot summer day how tempting it is to lie underneath the branches and watch the squirrels glancing in and out among the rustling leaves and tearing the young bark.</p>
<p> In early spring you will recognise the Beech tree by its smooth olive-grey trunk. Only the Beech tree has such a smooth trunk when it is fully grown, and in consequence, every boy with a new knife tries to cut his name on its bark. In summer the young bud of next year's leaf is formed where each leaf joins the stem. </p>
<p> All winter time you can see slender-pointed buds growing at the end of every twig, and when April comes each of these pointed buds has become a loose bunch of silky brown scales. Inside these protecting scales is hidden the young leaf bud, and soon the winter coverings unclose. For a short time they hang like a fringe round the base of the leaf stalk, but they quickly fall off and strew the ground beneath. The young leaves inside are folded like a fan, and they have soft silky hairs along the edges. How lovely they are when open I each leaf is oval, with a blunted point at the end, and the edges are slightly waved.</p>
<p> At first the leaf colour is a clear pale green, through which the light seems to shine; and there is nothing more lovely than a Beech tree wood in early May when the young leaves are glistening against the clear blue sky. But as summer comes nearer the leaf colour darkens, and by July it is a deep, glossy green. You can then see very distinctly the veins which run from the centre to the edge of every leaf. These leaves grow so thickly that no stems or branches can be seen when the tree is in full foliage; and they are beautiful at all seasons. </p>
<p> When autumn comes, bringing cold winds and a touch of frost, then the Beech tree leaves change colour: they seem to give us back again all the sunshine they have been storing up during summer, for they blaze like the sunset sky in myriad shades of gold, and red, and orange. In windy open places, these beautiful leaves soon strew the ground with a thick carpet that whirls and rustles in every breeze. But in sheltered glades, and especially in hedges, the leaves will hang all winter till they are pushed off by the new spring buds, and they glow russet red in the December sunshine, like the breast of the robin that is singing on the twig.</p>
<h2> At every stage the Beech tree is a thing of beauty, and it is one of England's most precious possessions.</h2>
<p> The young flowers appear about the same time as the leaves, and, like many other trees, the Beech has two kinds of flowers. The stamen flower has a long, drooping stalk, from the end of which hangs a loose covering of fine brown scales, with pointed ends. Beyond this scaly covering hangs a tassel of purplish brown stamens, eight or twelve, or more, each with a yellow head.</p>
<p> On the same twig, not very far distant, you find the seed flower. This grows upright on a short stout stalk which bears at the end a bristly oval ball. At the top of this bristly ball you see six slender threads waving in the air. These rise from two seeds which are enclosed in the bristly covering. By and by the ball opens at the top and forms a cup with four prickly brown sides, each lined with silky green down. Inside the cup are two triangular green nuts which are the fruit. These nuts become dark brown when they ripen, and on windy days they are blown in thousands from their coverings and fall to the ground, where they lie hidden among the rustling brown leaves.</p>
<p> In old times people called these Beech nuts Beech-mast or food, and herds of pigs were taken to the Beech woods to feed on the nuts, which are said to contain oil. But pigs prefer to eat acorns, and nowadays the Beech nuts are left to fatten the squirrels and dormice, and the thrushes and deer, except those which children gather to string into necklaces.</p>
<p> No grass or plant will grow below the Beech tree branches: the leaves are too close together to let the sunshine reach the ground; also the roots are greedy, and are said to use up all the nourishment.</p>
<p> About a hundred years ago a Beech tree was found in Germany whose young leaves were dark purple red, and never became green. Young plants from this strange tree were much sought after, and now in many parts of the country you see red or copper beeches, as we usually call them.</p>
<p> Beech wood is used in various ways. In France the peasants make it into shoes- wooden shoes called sabots, which keep out the damp better than those made of any other wood. It is also used in shipbuilding and for making cheap furniture; but Beech wood is not nearly as valuable as <a href="index.html">that of the Oak,</a> or Ash, or Elm.</p>
<p> </p>
<br />
<!-- InstanceEndEditable --></div>
<div class="middle">
<div class="box">
<h1>Ash trees</h1>
<p>Ash trees threatened</p>
<p>Forestry Commission England warns of threat posed by the Chalara fraxinea fungus<br />
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="left">
<div class="clear"> </div>
<div class="substory">
<img src="/images/substory.jpg" alt="" />
<h2>Enviroment and helping UK Forests</h2>
<p>National Tree Week event - Take part in tree planting in East Park, Wolverhampton</p>
<div class="postmeta"><a href="#" class="readmore">Read more...</a></div>
</div>
<div class="substory">
<img src="/images/substory.jpg" alt="" />
<h2>Woodland Craft</h2>
<p>Woodland Craft<br />
Join the Park Rangers for some woodland management and crafts including coppicing<br />
</p>
<div class="postmeta"><a href="#" class="readmore">Read more...</a></div>
</div>
<div class="substory thirdsubstory">
<img src="/images/substory.jpg" alt="" />
<h2>Community Trees</h2>
<p>Community Tree Planting<br />
Join in a planting at Brent River Park of over 400 trees </p>
<div class="postmeta"><a href="#" class="readmore">Read more...</a></div>
</div>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<div class="post"></div>
<div class="halfcontent left">
<h2>More from the web on trees</h2>
<p><img class="left" src="/images/boat.jpg" alt="About Me" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Woodland Trust<br />
</p>
<p>www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/<br />
</p>
<p>The UK's leading woodland conservation charity. Help us plant trees, protect woods and inspire people to enjoy the nature on their doorstep.</p>
<p><strong>Local UK big trees from The Tree Register </strong>www.treeregister.org/<br />
</p>
<p>UK big trees, a record of ancient and historical tree information in the Britich Isles from The Tree Register.<br />
</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Native Tree List UK</strong> www.the-tree.org.uk/<br />
</p>
<p>Native Tree List UK. talk@the-tree.org.uk.<br />
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Tree nursery UK - buy trees online<br />
</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tree-shop.co.uk/">www.tree-shop.co.uk/</a><br />
</p>
<p>One of the longest established silvicultural tree nurseries in the UK, with over 6 million traceable native trees available to buy online for delivery across the UK.<br />
<br />
</p>
</div>
<div class="halfcontent left">
<h2>Recommended reading</h2>
<p>Forestry Commission - tree name trail<br />
</p>
<p><a href="../garden-waste.html">www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-5G2KV3<br />
</a></p>
<p>A key to common trees found in Britain. Trees can be divided into two main groups: those that have flattened and wide leaves (known as broadleaves) and those ...<br />
</p>
<p><a href="http://www.trees.org.uk/"><strong>Arboricultural Association</strong></a><br />
</p>
<p>www.trees.org.uk/<br />
</p>
<p>Promotes care and knowledge of trees in the UK. Details of activities, members, and journal.<br />
</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.oldknobbley.com/" target="_blank">English Oak Trees</a></strong><br />
</p>
<p>Information about English Oak trees, the beginning of the encyclopedia of life starting with the English Oak Tree, The Oaks life history, their conservation and ...<br />
</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Trees for Life</strong><br />
</p>
<p><a href="../A/about_us.htm">www.treesforlife.org.uk/</a><br />
</p>
<p>A Scottish conservation charity dedicated to the regeneration and restoration of the Caledonian Forest in the Highlands of Scotland</p>
</div>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Hampton Court Flower Show </h2>
<p>I went along to the Hampton Court Flower Show this year and was stunned to discover that a visit there could make the sick well again. Well, maybe not. However, I did see people, who had spent all day being pushed around in a wheelchair, up walking and pushing their own wheelchairs. </p>
<p>The impetus for this was, of course, the great sell off at the close of the show. Father was walking through the show ground cradling his baby in his arms, whilst mother followed with the pushchair laden with plants. Granny, who had benefited from resting in her wheelchair as she moved around the show, found it was an ideal way to get her lilies and agapanthus back to the carpark.
Once out of the showground the sights were enough to make a gardener cringe, trees, agapanthus, eremurus and lilies sticking out of the sun roofs of dozens of cars on their way to the M3. </p>
<p>Other had folded up plants as best they could so that they would travel on the bus and underground. Then there is the safe bet that many of the plants acquired will not have been planted for several days, nor watered, nor put out of the sun.
When will people learn that a bargain is only a bargain if you can get the plant home alive and in one piece... otherwise it is just so much compost. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-hampton-court-palace-flower-show" target="_blank">More at Hampton Court Flower Show </a></p>
</div>
<div class="clearboth"> </div>
</div>
<br /><br />
<div class="clearboth"> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="footer">
<div class="footnav"><a class="first" href="#">Main Tree Pages</a><a href="/A/about_us.htm" ">ABOUT US</a> | TWITTER |<a href="../#" target="_blank"> FACEBOOK</a> | JOBS |</div>
<div class="footnav">
<div class="threehundred left">
<h3>About trees</h3>
<p><img class="left" src="/images/boat.jpg" alt="About Me" /><a href="/A/British_Trees.htm" ">British Trees, native and introduced:</a><br />
The Tree Council promotes the <a href="../A/Agroforestry.htm" target="_blank">planting and conservation of trees </a>and woods. Includes information on the tree warden scheme. </p>
</div>
<div class="linksleft">
<h3>Recent Updates</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="/A/British_Trees.htm" ">British Trees, native and introduced:</a><br />
<a href="/A/Sacred_Grove.htm" ">The Sacred Grove:</a><br />
<a href="/A/Enchanted_Forest.htm" ">The Enchanted Forest:</a><br />
<a href="/A/Reforesting.htm" ">Reforesting Britain:</a><br />
<a href="/A/Agroforestry.htm" ">Tree Cultivation and Uses:</a><br />
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="linksleft">
<h3>Recent Comments</h3>
<ul>
<li><br />
<a href="#" ">The-Tree Community:</a><br />
<a href="/A/TreeCircles.htm" ">Tree Talk:</a><br />
<a href="/A/SpecialBranch.htm" target="middle" fprolloverstyle="color: #FF0000; text-decoration: underline; font-weight: bold" dynamicanimation="fpAnimformatRolloverFP1">Special Branch:</a><br />
<a href="/A/LinksandResources.htm" ">Links & Resources:</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="linksleft">
<h3>Enviromental News</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.british-trees.com/" target="_blank">The Woodland Trust British Trees</a></li>
<li></li>
<li></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="linksleft">
<h3>Friends and Links</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://majestictrees.co.uk/" target="_blank">Welcome to Majestic Trees</a></li>
<li></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="clearboth"> </div>
</div>
<p>© 2016 No "timber.. ever"| <a href="www.the-tree.org.uk">www.the-tree.org.uk</a>| <a href="mailto:all@the-tree.org.uk">all@the-tree.org.uk</a>| A meeting place for treehuggers and Green Activists | Supporting the regeneration of woodlands across the UK</p>
</div>
</div><div id="fb-root"></div>
<script>(function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/all.js#xfbml=1";
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script>
<script>
(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
})(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');
ga('create', 'UA-63457483-1', 'auto');
ga('send', 'pageview');
</script>
</body>
<!-- InstanceEnd --></html>