Aden Tree Trail

Aden Tree Trail Aden Country Park

Aden was home to a wide variety of native and exotic trees. 8. Weeping ash (Fraxinus excelsior ‘Pendula’). This tree has a Years later, some of the original coniferous and deciduous trees beautiful structural shape with weeping branches. The quote can still be found in the arboretum and other areas of the park. marks around’ Pendula’ show this tree was cultivated to grow in Follow this trail to see a selection of these trees. The numbers this drooping form. The wood is used to make hockey sticks, on the trail map relate to numbered marker posts, which you will oars, paddles and police truncheons. find by each tree. 9. Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus). Look for five-lobed leaves, 1. Silver birch (Betula pendula). These small native trees have and ‘helicopter’ winged seeds. Probably introduced by the distinctive white to silver coloured bark. Birch trees are hardy, Romans. The hardwood of the sycamore was used for many and so were one of the first trees to colonize northern Europe household utensils, and for the work tops of kitchens and dairies. after the last ice age c12,000 years ago. They can produce up to It was often planted around farms to provide shade and keep the 1 million seeds each year. Birch twigs are cut in winter to make dairy cool. besom brooms for gardens and forest-fire beaters. 10. Irish yew (Taxus baccata Fastigiata). The Irish yew is more 2. Beech (Fagus sylvatica). This particular beech has a fantastic upright and narrow and needs less space than the spreading twisted trunk. Look also for characteristic smooth grey bark and common yew. In the 1700s, two seedlings were found growing on spiky fruits, or beech mast. Early manuscripts were made from a hillside in County Fermanagh. They were both dug up and one thin tablets of beech wood, which were bound in beech boards. replanted at Florencecourt. Today, and from this source, millions Beech wood is fine grained and knot free and ideal for furniture, of Irish yews have been grown. especially chairs. 11. Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). This tall evergreen has 3. Elder (Sambucus nigra). This relatively small shrubby tree fissured, corky bark. Distinctive cones have long, protruding 3- with gnarled corky bark, is one of the earliest trees to come into point bracts. Widely planted as a decorative tree. Also one of leaf in spring. The fruits and flowers are rich in Vitamin C and the most commercially important timber-producing trees in the make excellent jams and wines. Coughs were treated with elder world, reaching heights in excess of 75m (245ft). It is named flower tea. The bark made black dye, the leaves made green dye after Perthshire plant collector, David Douglas, who introduced it and blue or lilac dye was made from the flowers. to Britain in 1827.

4. Common yew (Taxus baccata). Yews can live for thousands 12. Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum). Large leaves of years. This yew is a mere youngster compared to the have five to seven leaflets, and showy ‘candles’ of flowers Fortingall Yew in Perthshire, which is thought to be at least 4,000 produce which go on to produce conkers in autumn. The wood is years old. Druids believed the dark evergreen yew represented light and not very strong, but can be easily shaped into toys, and eternal life. Both the leaves and bright red berries are poisonous. until recently, was used for artificial limbs. It is also used for fruit The close-grained wood of the yew has elastic qualities, and was trays, as it is absorbent. This tree stands in what is to become highly prized in the Middle Ages for making longbows. Aden’s new arboretum for the 21st Century.

5. (under review - not yet marked) 13. Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). There are only three evergreens native to Scotland – the yew, the juniper and the 6. Monkey puzzle (Araucaria auraucana). Climbing this tree, with Scots pine. Long, blue-green needles grow in pairs, and upper its sharp close-set leaves, would puzzle even a monkey! part of the tree can be orange-red. Scots pines are a source for According to tradition, that’s how it got its name. Otherwise know tar, turpentine and resin. The timber is good for turning, and the Tree Trail as Chile pine, this tree was introduced to Britain in 1795 by Scots pines were extensively cut – one of the causes of the Archibald Menzies, when travelling on board the ship Discovery. deforestation of the Great Wood of Caledon that once covered He saved the edible seeds served to him as a dessert and much of Scotland after the last Ice Age. planted them instead to bring them back.

7. Wellingtonia (Sequoiadendron giganteum). This is the tallest Landscape Services tree in Aden at around 30m (100ft). In its native California, where Aden Country Park it has lived up to 3,400 years, it can become one of the largest trees in the world. The thick, reddish, spongy bark has no resin, Mintlaw so is fire-proof and protects the heartwood from fire damage, and AB42 5FQ provides ideal roosting sites for small birds and insects