Columba palumbus, the Woodpigeon (or Wood-pigeon or Wood Pigeon,) is a large pigeon no longer a woodland species but one of the most common bird species found in gardens. It is sometimes known in the southeast of England as a culver.
There are other species of Columba called wood pigeons, so Columba palumbus is a Common Wood Pigeon.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Animals
Phylum – Chordates
Class – Aves (Birds)
Order – Columbiformes (One family)
Family – Columbidae (Doves and Pigeons)
Subfamily – Columbinae
Tribe – Columbini
Genus – Columba
Scientific Name – Columba palumbus
Name
Culver is an Old English name for pigeons, derived from the Latin Columbus. Palumbus is the Latin name for this bird.
Description
The Woodpigeon is similar in shape to a Pigeon but distinctly larger and fatter.
Its colour is a bluish grey with pinkish underparts and a distinctive white circle at the side of its neck.
Juvenile birds are similar but without the white circle.
They are mostly herbivorous, eating leaves, shoots, grain, fruits and berries. In winter they will eat acorns and buds on trees.
Habitat
The natural range of the Woodpigeon more or less corresponds to the area of Europe. In some parts it is migratory but it is always widespread and common all over Britain.
(The migration of birds is not always noticed. Many thousands of birds of many species migrate out of Britain every winter but many thousands of the same species may migrate into Britain. This includes Woodpigeon, so we may not see the same birds throughout the year.)
Woodpigeon are gregarious and are often seen in large flocks in agricultural fields. But they are also often seen individually. They have become very much a bird of parks and gardens, and of towns and cities.
They are one of the few garden birds that don’t feed from feeders, not through a lack of trying but because they are too heavy! They will scavenge around on the ground instead for whatever is dropped.
Other Notes
The Woodpigeon is one of my favourite birds because it is quite attractive, but in gardens it does look like a fat, lazy scavenger. They seem to be fond of water.
See also
Apart from the Pigeon and others mentioned yesterday, the Stock Dove, Columba oenas, is another species sometimes seen in Britain. It is fairly rare and not easy to distinguish from some types of Pigeon.
Columba livia, the Rock Dove, Domestic Pigeon or Feral Pigeon, can to be considered as three types of birds but I will generally just call them all Pigeons.
The Rock Dove is a type of pigeon generally found in cliffs and rocky places. It is also known as a Rock Pigeon or Common Pigeon or, informally, as a Pigeon.
The Domestic Pigeon is a domestic version of the Rock Dove, possibly a subspecies, a widely domesticated bird with several uses. There are about a thousand recognized breeds.
The wild Pigeon or Feral Pigeon has come from escaped Domestic Pigeons. They may be called City Doves, City Pigeons or Street Pigeons but I will call them just Pigeons. They are not feral (although their ancestors may have been several dozen generations ago.)
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Animals
Phylum – Chordates
Class – Aves (Birds)
Order – Columbiformes (One family)
Family – Columbidae (Doves and Pigeons)
Subfamily – Columbinae
Tribe – Columbini
Genus – Columba
Scientific Name – Columba livia
Name
Pigeon is a French word coming from the Latin onomatopoeic pipio. Dove is from German origins cognate with dive.
Columba is the Latin for dove, coming from Ancient Greek kolumbos meaning a diver. Livia comes from the Latin livor, meaning bluish.
Columbidae
There are about 350 species in this family and many of them are called pigeons or doves. There is a tendency for smaller ones to be called doves and larger ones, pigeons but the two word are almost interchangeable. They are adaptable and are found in many habitats worldwide.
Rock Doves
The appearance of a Rock Dove is typical of doves. Its body is light grey with two dark wing bars. The head, neck and the top of its back are a darker bluish grey, with a glossy purple and green iridescence on its front.
The bill has a conspicuous off-white cere.
Its original native range is relatively limited – Southern Europe, Northern Africa and Parts of west Asia. They generally nest in wild rocky locations and are still found on cliffs.
Domesticated Pigeons
Pigeons have been domesticated for perhaps ten thousand years and are sometimes designated as a subspecies, Columba livia domestica. They are mentioned in Mesopotamian cuneiform and Egyptian heiroglyphics.
They have been used as carrier pigeons to convey messages and are now used as pets, as show birds or in the sport of homing pigeons. Homing pigeons are able to find their way home easily when released up to a thousand miles away.
They are bred either specifically as homing pigeons or as show birds in about a thousand breeds recognized worldwide. Some breeds just have different colouration but others come in some more unusual shapes.
Some breeds are kept specifically for food.
‘Feral’ Pigeons
Over the centuries, many birds have either escaped or been released into the wild and this population has been successful and has grown and spread. They are found almost throughout the World, at least where there are people.
They show a variety of plumages, although many birds look wholly or partly like the original Rock Dove.
Recently escaped birds or active homing birds are usually ringed to record their ownership.
Albino Pigeons
As for many animals, there are albino (or leucistic) versions with completely white plumage. Sometimes groups of kept pigeons are all albino and occasionally single birds (or pairs) are seen in the wild.
Habitat
Pigeons still like locations that resemble the rocks and cliffs of their origins. They like roof tops, walls, underneath bridges, and inside large open buildings like train stations. This can make them common prey of the Peregrine (Falcon.)
They are gregarious and appear in parks and towns wherever they are regularly fed. They are not usually seen in domestic gardens
Other Notes
I very often see a group of pigeons flying round in a small circle. They seem to do this twice a day at fixed times. It is presumably an exercise ritual. I don’t know whether it organised by the birds or by their owners.
See also
Our most common doves are the Pigeon and the Woodpigeon, which is coming tomorrow.
The Turtle Dove, immortalised in The Twelve Days of Christmas, is now almost extinct as a summer visitor.
Coloeus monedula, the Jackdaw, is a bird closely related to Crows and Rooks but somewhat smaller and more attractive looking. It’s one of my favourite birds.
There are technically two species of Jackdaw. This one is common and widespread over Europe and Western Asia, while the slightly more colourful Daurian Jackdaw, Coloeus dauricus, is found in Eastern China and adjacent countries. So Coloeus monedula is the Western Jackdaw, European Jackdaw or Eurasian jackdaw – but we can call it the Jackdaw.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Animals
Phylum – Chordates
Class – Aves (Birds)
Order – Passeriformes (Perching Birds)
Family – Corvidae (Crow family)
Genus – Coloeus
Scientific Name – Coloeus monedula
Sometimes included in the Crow genus Corvus, the two Jackdaw species have been recently reassigned back to the separate genus Coloeus.
Name
It is sometimes said, incorrectly that the word Jackdaw comes from the call, which sounds like ‘chack,’ but it actually comes from the Old English name of these birds, which was just a daw. The addition of Jack to make Jack-daw, is used for other animals meaning ‘small’ as for the Jack Snipe.
Coloeus comes from the Ancient Greek name of the birds. Monedula comes from moneta, the Latin stem for money, from their tendency to pick up coins.
Description
We will see the Crow family in [098] Crow and [099] Rook. Many of them are all black. The Jackdaw is mostly black, sometimes with a blue or purple sheen, but the nape of the neck and the back of the head are a silver-grey colour, and the front is a darker grey. The eyes are almost white.
For a juvenile bird, the grey over the underside of the bird is much lighter and the eye is a light blue colour.
They can have the odd white bit and this bird seen at Slimbridge with its white feather stayed around for months.
They are omnivorous and will eat insects and small invertebrates, carrion, eggs and young chicks from other bird’s nests, grains, berries and seeds.
Habitat
Jackdaws are widespread and common over the UK. They are gregarious but remain monogamous and always keep close together in their pairs.
In the countryside, they are often seen in a group merged with a group of Rooks. They are generally less wary of human contact and more common in towns than Crows,
Despite their size they are attracted in places to birdfeeders. Like all the Crow family they are intelligent and will work out how to get at the food.
Other Notes
Jackdaws are much easier to find and photograph than others in the Crow family.
Coenagrion puella, the Azure Damselfly, is a widespread light blue and black damselfly, very similar to several other rarer Coenagrion species and to [126] the Common Blue Damselfly.
There are about fifty species of Coenagrion, sometimes known as Bluets, as is the Common Blue, Enallagma cyathigerum.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Animals
Phylum – Arthropods
Class – Insects
Order – Odonata (Dragonflies and Damselflies)
Suborder – Zygoptera (Damselflies)
Family – Coenagrionidae
Genus – Coenagrion
Scientific Name – Coenagrion puella
Name
It is a sort of azure colour but it is virtually the same colour as the Common Blue Damselfly.
Wikipedia is delightfully vague and suggests that Coenagrion may come from the Greek root ‘coen’ (shared or common) and ‘agrio’ (fields or wild.) Puella means girl (or perhaps damsel.)
Description
Coenagrion puella is damselfly, more typical in size and shape than [064] Calopteryx, with narrower wings.
The male has a light blue body with black markings.
Females are normally green in colour with most of the back marked black.
The nymphs are aquatic and live for one year (or two at the Northern limit), feeding on vegetation and small invertebrates.
Habitat and use
It is common and widespread all over the UK except the North of Scotland, and is also very common over most of Europe.
Other Notes
Although widespread, the Azure damselfly is much less common than the Common Blue.
See also
[126] is its more common relative. There are about half a dozen other Coenagrion species sometimes seen in Britain but these are much rarer with very limited distribution.
I will not go into the very small differences in markings.
Coccinella septempunctata, the Seven-spot Ladybird, was until recently the most common and widespread ladybird in Britain. It’s what most people would imagine when using the word ladybird.
In North America it is known as the seven-spotted ladybug.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Animals
Phylum – Arthropods
Class – Insects
Order – Coleoptera (Beetles)
Family – Coccinellidae (Ladybirds)
Genus – Coccinella
Scientific Name – Coccinella septempunctata
Name
To most people in Britain this is the only species of ladybird. The word ‘ladybird,’ and the names of the genus, Coccinellus, and family, Coccinellidae, all come from this beetle from its red colour and seven spots. The Virgin Mary was often depicted in a red cloak and the spots on this beetle were taken to signify her seven joys and seven sorrows. So, this beetle became known as Our Lady’s Bird or the Lady Beetle. It became the Ladybird and, in the USA (where bug is used more generically to mean any insect or small invertebrate,) it was changed to Ladybug. In entomology, they are sometimes now known as Ladybird Beetles or Lady Beetles.
Inevitably the name ladybird has spread to other small beetles with spots.
Coccineus is Latin for scarlet and, of course, septem-punctata means seven-spotted.
Beetles
This is our first species of beetle. Coleoptera is by far the largest order of insects with about half a million known species and probably at least another half a million yet to be discovered. They generally have a particularly hard exoskeleton and use only one pair of wings. The front pair of wings are hardened into elytra (Singular: elytron,) which are used as wing covers.
There are at least two hundred families of beetles covering diverse habitats and lifestyles. The larval stage may live for many years and for some species the adult stage is short-lived.
Ladybirds
Coccinellidae is a widespread family of small beetles, many much smaller than this one. There are about six thousand species, many of which have brightly coloured elytra with spots, stripes or other patterns. They are dome shaped with small legs. Some have no markings and are not obviously ladybirds and some similarly shaped small beetles from other families look superficially like ladybirds.
Many species of ladybirds are considered useful as they prey on insects that are considered pests – but some ladybirds are herbivorous.
Description
Coccinella septempunctata is a typical ladybird. Its elytra are bright red, sometimes orange-red, with seven black spots. Many ladybirds are named from the number of spots and those with an odd number have at least one spot on their midline, coming from both elytra. With a body length of about a centimetre, it is larger than most of the other rarer UK species.
Both the larval and adult stages feed voraciously on aphids or sometimes other small insects such as leafhoppers.
Habitat and use
The 7-spot Ladybird is found in Europe, most of Asia and Australia and lives in many different habitats, wherever there are aphids to eat.
It has been introduced to the USA to control aphids and is spreading. Five US States have it as their official State Insect.
Other Notes
Numbers of 7-spot Ladybirds in Britain have declined considerably in recent years with the advent of [169] the Harlequin Ladybird. At least 95% of the ladybirds I now see are Harlequins.
See also
There are several other species of ladybird found in Britain. Most are significantly smaller.
[278] 14-spot Ladybird will look at some of them. We also now have the Harlequin.
Clematis vitalba, Old Man’s Beard, is a naturally wild species of Clematis found in Britain. It is also known as Traveller’s Joy or Wild Clematis.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Plants
Division – Vascular Plants
Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)
Order – Ranunculales
Family – Ranunculaceae
Subfamily – Ranunculoideae
Tribe – Anemoneae
Genus – Clematis
Scientific Name – Clematis vitalba
Name
The groups of fruits can easily be seen to resemble an old man’s beard. The name Traveller’s Joy was invented by the herbalist John Gerard (1545-1612) who wrote the most important book about botany of the Sixteenth Century. (Most of the book was an unacknowledged translation of an earlier book by the Flemish botanist Rembert Dodoens.)
The Latin ‘vita-’ means life or, figuratively, mankind, and ‘-alba’ means white.
Description
We have to compare this to other [084] Clematis species. There are obvious similarities and definite differences.
Like other Clematis, it’s a climber and it spreads to cover what it is climbing over.
(You will have to wait until [172] Snails to identify the visitor in the second picture above.)
Developing from tiny white buds, the flowers are much smaller than the garden versions of Clematis. They are only about a centimetre in size and the four small white petals are almost hidden by lots of spiky white stamens.
The tiny fruits, called achenes, have feathery extensions which give the overall impression of the old man’s beard as they stay on the plant.
Habitat and use
Clematis vitalba is native to much of Europe. In Britain and grows in all of England except the far North, and most of Wales.
It is sometimes planted as an ornamental plant and in some countries such as New Zealand it has becpme invasive.
Other Notes
This is fairly widespread. I don’t think it is so often treated as a weed in Britain because it is quite attractive.
See also
Somewhere towards the end of May we will see another spreading plant that is considered more invasive.
Clematis is a genus of large-flowered climbing plants with about three hundred species, mainly from China and Japan, now widely cultivated as hundreds of cultivars from various species and hybrids. They are usually just known as Clematis.
I will consider all of its varieties here but will leave the native wild British species, Clematis vitalba, until tomorrow.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Plants
Division – Vascular Plants
Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)
Order – Ranunculales
Family – Ranunculaceae
Subfamily – Ranunculoideae
Tribe – Anemoneae
Genus – Clematis
Scientific Name – Most cultivated plants are named varieties or cultivars, without specific allocation to species.
A check with the RHS website gave me a preliminary list of 2650 varieties, which is probably out-of-date by now.
Name
Clematis comes from the Ancient Greek, meaning a climbing plant. The genus name long predates modern taxonomy.
Description
Most but not all species are vigorous, woody, perennial climbing plants and can be cultivated to cover a wall. Some are deciduous and some are evergreen. Most come originally from temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Some flower in Spring and some are Autumn flowering varieties.
There are various views on how to classify the 300 species. They have been defined in nineteen subsections, or in nine subgenera, by different authorities.
Flowers vary from 2 to 30 centimetres in diameter and may have from four to eight petals. They are typically coloured from white to purple and generally have large, flat open flowers.
Here is a selection of pictures without specific identification.
Some varieties have particularly attractive feathery seed heads. This is Clematis lasiantha, Pipestem Clematis.
History
Chinese species were found in Japan by the Seventeenth Century. They found their way to Europe from Japan before the Chinese species were identified. Since Victorian times they have been widely cultivated in Britain and new cultivars continue to be produced.
They are popular in gardens as plants that will climb walls or cover trees.
There are now cultivated specimens of the seven species native to New Zealand. This is Clematis paniculata, named Puawhananga by the Maoris, meaning ‘flower of the skies.’
Other Notes
You will see Clematis frequently in gardens. Some of these pictures come from my own garden.
See also
[025] Chinese Anemone is on of this plant’s closest relatives and there are similarities in the flowers.
There are few climbing plants grown as garden plants. The only other fairly common one is [213] Honeysuckle.
Cirsium eriophorum, the Woolly Thistle, is a large biennial thistle plant with a large purple inflorescence that is much more impressive than our other thistles. It is covered in hairs that give it its woolly appearance.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Plants
Phylum – Vascular Plants
Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)
Order – Asterales
Family – Asteraceae
Subfamily – Carduoideae (Thistle family)
Tribe – Cynareae (Mostly thistles)
Genus – Cirsium (Plumed Thistles)
Scientific Name – Cirsium eriophorum
Name
Eriophorum comes from Latinized Greek meaning wool–bearing.
Description
Cirsium eriophorum has some similarities with other the species in the genus Cirsium that we saw yesterday. As a biennial it is the largest of our thistles with a sturdy stalk, reaching heights of well over a metre. It has some impressive sharp spines.
All of the plant is covered with tiny hairs, which give it a silvery look.
The globular inflorescences have bright purple stamens at the top, and spiked woolly bracts at the base.
(You will recognise these pictures from [052] Bumble Bees, where the Bombus lapidarius was featured.)
Habitat and use
The Woolly Thistle is found over central and Western Europe. It Britain it is limited to central and Southern England. It likes open grass and scrubland and chalky soils.
The leaves and stems can be eaten and the flower buds can be used in the same way as [111] Artichoke.
Other Notes
I have found Cirsium eriophorum in scrubland on the slopes of the Cotswolds.
Cirsium arvense, Creeping Thistle, and Cirsium vulgare, Bull Thistle, are both common and widespread weeds in the countryside.
Cirsium arvense is also known as Field Thistle (a name used in America for Cirsium discolor.) In America it is widely known as Canadian Thistle or California Thistle and may also be called Corn Thistle, Cursed Thistle, Green Thistle, Hard Thistle, Perennial Thistle, Prickly Thistle, Small-flowered Thistle, Way Thistle or Stinger-needles.
Cirsium vulgare may also be called Spear Thistle, Common Thistle, or Scots/Scotch/Scottish Thistle.
I will leave Cirsium eriophorum, the Woolly Thistle, until tomorrow.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Plants
Phylum – Vascular Plants
Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)
Order – Asterales
Family – Asteraceae
Subfamily – Carduoideae (Thistle family)
Tribe – Cynareae (Mostly thistles)
Genus – Cirsium (Plumed Thistles)
Scientific Name – Cirsium arvense, Cirsium vulgare
The taxonomy is fluid and not agreed. Carduoideae is called the Thistle family but only two genera, Cirsium and Carduus, are called true thistles.
Name
Thistle comes from Old English roots (cognate with ‘stick’) meaning ‘to prick.’ Cirsium is Latinized from the Ancient Greek ‘kirsion,’ a type of thistle plant. This may come from the Greek ‘kirsos,’ a swollen vein as the plant was used as a remedy. The Latin arvensis means from the field or meadow. (Arvense is neuter to match Cirsium.) Vulgare means common.
Description
Thistles, in the Aster family, have large flower heads consisting of disk florets, with an enlarged, spiny flower base, and prickly leaves. They are amongst the best producers of nectar in Britain. There are well over a hundred species of Cirsium, both from Eurasia and North America
Cirsium arvense is aptly named. It has long and thick vertical and horizontal roots and spreads.
The leaves are spiny and lobed.
The inflorescences are typical thistle flower heads with about a hundred individual florets, pale pink or purple in colour.
Cirsium vulgare is the thistle that is the national symbol of Scotland. Its flower heads are slightly larger, a darker colour and with spinier bases.
The seeds of both species are important sources of food for [067] Goldfinch and other finches.
Habitat and use
Cirsium arvense is common throughout Europe and Western Asia. Cirsium vulgare is also common in Europe.
Both have been introduced elsewhere. In many countries, including most of America, they are considered invasive, noxious weeds.
Other Notes
I discovered a field full of Creeping Thistles recently on the Isle of Wight where most of the growing plants had parts that were completely white. A quick Internet search revealed that this has been observed at several places in England.
It is caused by an infection with the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae, which has over fifty varieties, each specific to a single species.
See also
Tomorrow we will see [083] the Woolly Thistle. [111] Artichoke is a more distant relative.
Cichorium intybus, Chicory, is a very widespread perennial wild flower, which is also cultivated as a salad plant, when it may be known as radicchio or endive.
It can be called Common Chicory and has been known as Blue Daisy, Blue Dandelion, Blue Sailors, Blue Weed, Coffeeweed, Cornflower, Horseweed, Ragged Sailors, Wild Bachelor’s Buttons and Wild Endive. [Some of these names can be compared to Centaurea cyanus. The references to sailors are to their blue uniforms.]
It is sometimes confused with the very similar Cichorium endivia, Curly Endive, which is called Chicory in the USA and is widely cultivated as a salad plant.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Plants
Division – Vascular Plants
Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)
Order – Asterales
Family – Asteraceae
Subfamily – Cichorioideae
Tribe – Cichorieae
Subtribe – Cichoriinae
Genus – Cichorium
Scientific Name – Cichorium intybus
There are many different cultivated varieties.
Name
Chicory comes from the same roots as the Latin Cichorium and similar Ancient Greek. Intibus or Intybus is another Latin name for the same plant.
Description
Even at tribe level there are a hundred genera in Cichorieae, forming a small part of the Asteraceae family. Almost all of the species only have ray florets.
It is hard to show the Chicory plant in pictures because it can grow to the size of a bush but its stems are long and thin. At a distance the plant is less obvious than its flowers.
The flowers are a paler blue than [075] Cornflower and differ in the lack of disc florets.
In real life they are much bluer than my camera would suggest.
Habitat and use
Chicory is native to Europe but widespread and naturalised in North America, China and Australia. It was cultivated in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Rome and introduced to Europe in the Seventeenth Century as a flavouring for drinks.
It is used as a forage crop for livestock.
Chicory roots can be used as a substitute for coffee, often being produced as a mixture of coffee and chicory. Its use has been prompted by shortages of coffee such as the ban by Frederick the Great in 1766 on coffee imports to Prussia, and shortages in the UK in the Second World War.
The roots can also be used in brewing and can be eaten like parsnips.
The leaves are eaten as salad vegetables and there are several varieties. Radicchio has variegated red or red and green leaves and may taste bitter. Belgian endive, just known as chicory in the UK, has blanched leaves grown without sunlight. Sometimes leaf chicory is called endive.
Other Notes
I have to admit that this is one of the most attractive wildflowers I have discovered in the past year. I see it on roadside verges less than a hundred metres from where I live.
See also
Chicory is, of course, similar in some ways to [075] Cornflower.
Chroicocephalus ridibundus, the Black-headed Gull, is a small gull seen over most of Europe where it is either resident or migratory. Like most gulls it is mostly white but its breeding plumage has a dark brown hood.
All gulls used to be in the genus Larus. About fifteen years ago the smaller ones were split off into the new genus Chroicocephalus, from Greek meaning ‘coloured head.’
Names are often inaccurate and it’s hard to find names for lots of gulls, which are mostly all white. So Chroicocephalus ridibundus with its brown hood is called Black-headed. There is another species, found only to the South of South America, which has an almost identical brown hood – it is called the Brown Hooded Gull!
‘Ridibundus’ means laughing, perhaps from its call. There is confusingly another species called the Laughing Gull, which gets its Latin species name from its black tail.
Description
Male and female Black-headed Gulls are identical. The body is mainly white with a silvery grey back, dark red bill and legs (sometimes very dark) and a black tail.
In breeding plumage just over half of the head is a dark brown colour, which may appear black at a distance.
In the winter all that remains of this marking is a dark spot just behind dark eyes. The bill and legs may turn to an orange colour in winter.
Young birds start as mottled brown and become mostly white with brown markings on their back. For their first winter they retain some brown near the tail, and the bill and legs stay orange.
Habitat
Chroicocephalus ridibundus is found over much of Europe but not the South. For most of Britain it is resident. It is gregarious and flocks may be seen on most lakes and sometimes on grassland. It is not averse to humans and will join the melee when ducks are being fed.
They will happily line up on the fence at Slimbridge and will sometimes allow visitors to pass by at close distances.
I could never work out the bird in the next pictures, which I saw at Slimbridge. He has somehow lost all the feathers on his head.
Other Notes
There are lakes locally where they nest regularly on islands, which protect them.
See also
Ichthyaetus melanocephalus, the Mediterranean Gull, is similar in appearance. Generally restricted to the Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, it has spread recently and is occasionally seen in Britain, generally hiding in a flock of Chroicocephalus ridibundus. As its Latin name suggests, and unlike the Black-headed Gull, it does actually have a completely black head!
Our larger gulls are [195] the Herring Gull and [196] the Lesser Black-backed Gull – and some rarer species that will be mentioned when we come to these two.
Chondrus crispus, Irish Moss or Carrageen Moss, is a Red Alga found at inter-tidal levels round the coasts of Ireland and other European locations. Despite its name it has nothing to do with moss. I will consider all Red Algae in this blog. [Technically algae is the plural of alga but I may use it as a singular, either countable or uncountable.]
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Plants
Division – Rhodophyta (Red Algae)
Class – Floridophyceae
Order – Gigartinales
Family – Gigartinaceae
Genus – Chondrus
Scientific Name – Chondrus crispus
See the note below about Seaweed.
Name
The word moss has a much wider meaning informally than its botanical definition. There are many examples of algae, lichen etc. being called moss. Carrageen comes from the Irish name of this organism, carraigin, meaning little rock. Chondrus comes from the Ancient Greek khondrus, ‘cartilage.’ from the gelatinous substance it produces when boiled. The Latin crispus means ‘curly.’
Seaweed
Seaweed is a vague sort of term and it can include some species of flowering plants that just happen to live in the sea. But generally, everything we think of as seaweed is either Brown Algae, Red Algae or Green Algae. Whether they are actually plants is a matter of opinion and scientists have different views depending on how they define Plants.
They may talk of Land Plants, which excludes them all, or they may include Green Algae; or Green and Red Algae; or all three. It doesn’t really matter.
We will meet [151] Brown Algae and [352] Green Algae later but my randomizing order of posts brings us first to Red Algae. This post will briefly consider them all.
Red Algae
There are about 7 000 species of Red Algae. 95% of known species of Red Algae are include in the class Florideophyceae, sometimes demoted to a subclass, Florideae.
I won’t say anything about the anatomy or physiology of algae and I will avoid the technical words like stipe, holdfast, lamina and frond. You are unlikely to find any of these organisms other than below the high-tide level on the coast. There natural environment is underwater so anything found on a beach may be dead or dried out. You may need microscopic examination to determine the species.
Irish Moss
As for most red algae, the colour of Chondrus crispus is variable. It can be any colour from yellow-green through red to purple-brown. Superficially it looks much the same as all other algae that you may find at the edge of the sea.
When boiled in water it forms a jelly. This consists mostly of carrageenans, a group of chemicals widely used in the food industry as gelling, thickening and stabilizing agents, and as vegan alternatives to gelatin. They have been used since about 600 BC in China, and since 400 AD in Ireland. Now production, mostly in the Philippines generally uses other species of red algae.
Habitat and use
Chondrus crispus is common on the coasts of Ireland and other Atlantic coasts. It normally attaches to rocks from the middle of the zone between high and low tides down to the sea floor.
It is used to produce carrageenan, known in the EU as E407 or E407a and used for example in making ice-cream or fining beer or wine.
In Asia, South America and the Caribbean it used to make jelly-like desserts. In Ireland and parts of Scotland it is boiled in milk and flavoured with vanilla, cinnamon, brandy or whisky to make something like blancmange or pannacotta.
Other Notes
All my pictures of Algae come from a visit to the Isle of Wight recently and were found on the beach – either at the high tide level or lower.
They were identified with an identification app and using information from the Internet, and most of my initial identifications were wrong. I have been helped by groups on Social Media sites and I am confident of the title picture as Chondrus crispus. For my remaining pictures I will give a possible identification where I have one but I won’t say any more about other species.
These are Furcellaria lumbricalis, used commercially for carrageenan; Gracilaria sp, used as food, to produce gelatin and in aquariums; Halopiythys incurva; and Osmundea sp.
The following are unidentified. Some of them may possibly be brown algae!
See also
Two more generic posts will consider [151] Brown Algae and [352] Green Algae.
[078] Chorthippus brunneus, Common Field Grasshopper and others
Introduction
Chorthippus brunneus, the Common Field Grasshopper is a widespread grasshopper found in Britain. There are several other grasshoppers found in Britain and distinguishing between species is difficult.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Animals
Phylum – Arthropods
Class – Insects
Order – Orthoptera (Grasshoppers and Crickets)
Suborder – Caelifera (Grasshoppers and others)
Infraorder – Acrididea (Grasshoppers and Ground-hoppers)
In scientific terms the order Orthoptera is divided into two suborders – Caelifera, Grasshoppers and Ensifera, Bush-crickets. (The main obvious difference is in the length of the antennae. They used to be called Short-horned Grasshoppers and Long-horned Grasshoppers. What we call Bush-crickets are called Katydids in America)
There are about 10 000 species of Grasshopper, most of which are in the family Acrididae. Of these about 200 are in the genus Chorthippus.
They have powerful hind legs which enable them to jump great distances and many are no longer able to fly. They are ground dwellers and do often live in grassy areas. All Grasshoppers are hemimetabolous. They grow through five moults and become more and more like the adult stage.
I will not attempt to explain the characteristic features that distinguish various species. They depend on close examination of the exact shape of body segments. I let Internet sources identify my pictures and I may be wrong. Often, I just get a tentative possible answer. Colour is not a useful distinguishing feature.
Field Grasshopper
Chorthippus brunneus, the Field Grasshopper or Common Field Grasshopper, is found all over the UK, and also in Europe and parts of Africa and Asia. It is usually brown but can be green, grey, reddish, purple or white. They feed mainly on grass and have one generation per year.
I can’t identify the word Chorthippus. Brunneus is Latin for brown.
Meadow Grasshopper
Chorthippus parallelus, the Meadow Grasshopper, is found over all of the UK and most of Europe. This flightless grasshopper is normally green with vestigial brown wings, but can be all green or all brown.
The Meadow Grasshopper is sometimes considered a separate genus as Pseudochorthippus parallelus.
Lesser Marsh Grasshopper
Chorthippus albomarginatus, the Lesser Marsh Grasshopper is found over South-East England and much of Europe but is not limited to marshy conditions. It is expanding its range northwards in Britain. They can fly. The female usually has a white stripe on her wings but the male does not. (Albomarginatus means white-stripe.)
(There is a Large Marsh Grasshopper, much less common.)
Common Green Grasshopper
Omocestus viridulus, the Common Green Grasshopper is found all over Britain and most of Europe. The female is always green on top but otherwise all forms of green, brown and grey are possible. They feed on grass and have one generation each year.
I have no ideas about ‘omocestus’ but viridulus, of course, means green.
Habitat and use
They all like grassy areas and it is quite common to see two or three species at the same location, together with bush-crickets.
Other Notes
You have to get down to grass level sometimes to spot these insects. If they see you, they will jump and you have to be careful to find where they land. If you get in close, they won’t always jump but they can crawl down the grass or round behind it. You need to be very careful with auto-focus cameras, which may focus on a blade of grass in between.
There are now six species of deer wild in Britain. Cervas Elaphas, the Red Deer is the largest, but we also have Fallow Deer, Roe Deer, Sika Deer, Chinese Water Deer and Muntjac. I will look briefly at all six.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Animals
Phylum – Chordates
Class – Mammals
Order – Artiodactyla (Even-toed Ungulates)
Family – Cervidae (Deer)
Subfamily – Cervinae
Cervas elaphas, Red Deer
Cervas nippon, Sika Deer
Dama dama, Fallow Deer
Muntiacus Reevesi, Reeves Muntjac
Subfamily – Capriolinae
Capreolus capreolus, Roe Deer
Subfamily – Hydropotinae
Hydropotes inermis inermis, Chinese WaterDeer
Deer in General
Generally, when we think of a type of mammal, we know what genus we are talking about, often the exact species. In Britain we will only find one species of horse, sheep, dog or hedgehog; maybe two types of squirrel if we roam the whole country.
But the family of deer, Cervidae, contains ninety species in three subfamilies and several tribes, varying in size from the Moose (also called an Elk in Britain) at about two metres, to the Northern Pudu with a height of about 30 cm. There is considerable discussion about genera within families, species within genera and whether subspecies should be treated as species.
What distinguishes deer from other even-toed ungulates (giraffes, buffalo, antelope, sheep, goats and cattle,) is their antlers, which are re-grown every year.
We don’t need to look closely at the subfamilies, which differ in the (unused) bones of their ankles.
Cervinae (Plesiometacarpal)
Capriolinae (Telemetacarpal)
Hydropotinae only has one species that many consider to be within Capriolinae.
Britain only has two native species – the Red Deer and Roe Deer. The Fallow Deer has been with us since the Romans and three other species have been introduced more recently, wholly or partly by escaping from collections.
Historically deer have been hunted and they still are in some locations. They are also now regularly farmed for venison.
There are some Eurasian Elk (Moose) and Reindeer (Caribou) in private reserves.
British deer may be widespread and common but they are very wary of human contact and difficult to spot and photograph. I will say a little about each with my very sparse collection of pictures.
Red Deer
Cervus elephas, Red Deer, is one of the largest species of deer and the largest in Britain. It is native to all of Europe.
Cervus (Latin) and elaphos (Greek) both mean ‘deer.’
There are about a dozen subspecies and it is arguable whether they are actually subspecies. Our version is Cervas elephas scoticus. Only the males develop antlers.
It has a dark red-brown coat. As for almost all species with the word ‘red’ in their name, we have to remember that the word used to include most shades of brown and orange. (See, for example, [035] the Ruddy Turnstone and wait for the story of why [135] Erithacus rubecula is called a Robin.)
Most British wild Red Deer are to be found in Scotland although there are some scattered populations in England and Wales, where they prefer forest locations.
Almost all deer farmed for venison are Red Deer.
Sika Deer
The genus Cervus only includes the Red Deer, the Sika Deer and some other disputed species and subspecies.
Sika Deer, Cervus nippon, are native to eastern Asia. (Hence the name ‘nippon’ for Japan. Sika comes from the Japanese word for deer.) They were introduced to deer parks in the UK in 1860 and some escaped feral populations are now scattered through the country, mostly in Scotland. There is some concern about them hybridising with Red Deer. They prefer woods and heathland.
Fallow Deer
Fallow Deer, Dama dama, have an orange-brown coat with white spots in the summer turning to a duller grey-brown in winter. After dying out in the last Ice Age, they were reintroduced by the Romans and then again by the Normans about a thousand years ago. They are widespread across Britain. Most deer parks have Fallow Deer, sometimes with some Red Deer or Roe Deer.
Fallow is an old English word for a light brown colour. ‘Dama’ comes from the Latin word for Roe Deer, gazelles and antelopes. Until the 1970s it was Cervus dama.
Muntjac
Muntiacus reevesi, Reeves (or Reeves’s) Muntjac or Chines Muntjac, are very small deer, originating from southeast China.
The word Muntjac is latinized from the Dutch version of the Sundanese mēncēk. There are twelve species, all native to Southeast Asia.
Our species honours John Reeves (1774-1856} an English naturalist who worked in China. Strangely there are four species named reevesii after him, but the Muntjac only has reevesi.
There may have been escapes from Woburn Abbey and Whipsnade Zoo and other releases. There are now scattered populations in England. There is concern over their establishment and they are legally defined now as an Invasive Alien Species with all-year hunting permitted.
Roe Deer
There are two similar species of Roe Deer. We have the European Roe Deer, Capreolus capreolus, native to the UK and most of Europe but not found in Ireland. They are the most widespread species of British deer. After almost disappearing from southern England, they were reintroduced to Norfolk in 1884 and have now re-established their range. They prefer woodland but will venture into farmland to feed when there are no people about and they have an easy escape route back to the forest. There are now even some urban populations.
Capreolus is the Latin for the Roe Deer.
Roe comes from an Old English word meaning spotted. All Roe deer are spotted when young and some types keep their spots as adults. [They were, of course, named long before we saw Fallow Deer.]
Water Deer
Water Deer are unusual deer in that they don’t have antlers. They have prominent canine tusks. They tend to inhabit water areas where they can hide in reeds. There are two subspecies. We have the Chinese Water Deer, Hydropotes inermis inermis. The other subspecies is called the Korean Water Deer.
From Greek roots, Hydropotes means ‘water-drinking.’ From Latin roots, inermis means unarmed or defenceless because it has no antlers.
They were introduced to Britain in the 1870s, initially in London Zoo at Regent’s Park and transferred to Woburn Abbey. More were introduced at Woburn and Whipsnade Zoo, both in Bedfordshire, and those two sites currently have about a thousand deer.
The British population derives from escapes and releases and they have spread over much of East Anglia, preferring wetland grassy areas. The population continues to increase.
Other Notes
Names may be a bit confusing. For Red Deer and Sika Deer, male and female are called stags and hinds and the young are calves.
For the other four, male and female are called bucks and does. The young Roe Deer is a kid; for Fallow Deer or Water Deer it is a fawn; and for a Muntjac … it is either a kid or a fawn!
See also
You never know what you may see in the wild. There are scattered feral populations of wallabies in Britain.
Slightly more likely to be seen are [328] the Wild Boar in the Forest of Dean.
Cercis siliquastrum, the Judas Tree, is a small deciduous tree native to Southern Europe and the Middle East. It is also known as the European Redbud.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Plants
Division – Vascular Plants
Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)
Order – Fabales (Fabaceae and three other small families)
Family – Fabaceae (Legumes or Beans)
Subfamily – Cercidoideae
Genus – Cercis
Scientific Name – Cercis siliquastrum
Name
There is a myth that Judas Iscariot hanged himself from a tree of this species, causing its flowers to turn red. The name is also associated with the way that flowers and seedpods dangle from the tree, reminiscent of hanging. Perhaps more likely is a corruption of the French name Arbre de Judée, meaning Tree of Judea, from its local origins.
Cercis comes from the Ancient Greek kerkis meaning shuttle (the tool of a weaver) and siliquastrum comes from the Latin siliqua meaning a pod. Both of these could apply just as well to the other 20 000 species in the Fabaceae family.
Legumes
The family Fabaceae are legumes. which include many foods cultivated for human consumption of for livestock or silage – peas, many types of beans, clover, alfalfa, chickpeas, lentils, soybeans, peanuts and others. They produce fruits in long pods that split along the sides to release the seeds.
They also play an important role in nitrogen fixing and in crop rotation. Varieties of legumes have been cultivated for at least five thousand years.
Description
The unusual thing about Cercis is that its deep pink flowers appear directly from branches or from the trunk. They are produced in spring on year-old or older growth, before the leaves appear.
The leaves are cordate (heart-shaped) with a blunt apex.
Habitat and use
The Judas Tree is native to eastern parts of the Mediterranean.
Cercis siliquastrum can be cultivated as an ornamental tree and is available in several varieties, producing flowers in various colours from white to purple.
Other members of the genus Cercis, native to eastern Asia or America, are also cultivated. These are generally known as redbuds,
Other Notes
This species was new to me when I discovered this sprawling tree in a local park. I walk past it almost every day.
I thought this the only Judas Tree I knew until I looked closely at this smaller tree next to it, which is obviously a much younger tree.
See also
I will let you look out for more legumes in the Fabaceae family but they won’t be any of the cultivated food crops.
Centaurea cyanus, the Cornflower, is a striking blue flower, originally a common weed in cornfields, now still sometimes seen in the wild but also cultivated as a garden plant.
It is also called the Bachelor’s Button, presumably in America, and has been known as Bluebottle, Bluecup, Blue Blob, Blue Bonnet, Cornbottle, Boutonierre Flower, Hurtsickle and Gogglebuster.
I will also look briefly at other Centaurea species known as knapweeds.
There is always ambiguity in common names and we will see that the word corn has different interpretations in the UK and the USA. In America it means maize. But in Britain it usually means wheat and Centaurea cyanus used to be a common weed in fields of wheat in the British countryside. Many of its other names come from its colour and its use as a buttonhole flower.
[I don’t normally comment on all the common names but hurtsickle is interesting. Vaccinium myrtilius is a plant with many names that include bilberry, blueberry, whortleberry and hurtleberry. From hurtleberry is derived the heraldic word ‘hurt’ for a roundel azure (a blue filled circle) and perhaps the name hurtsickle.]
Centaurea comes from the Latin name for the plant from its association in Greek mythology with Chiron the centaur. Cyanus is the Ancient Greek name for the plant and is also used for lapis lazuli, a blue semi-precious stone.
Description
The Cornflower is a small insignificant annual plant in the Aster family. Its striking flowers have a few spreading ray florets surrounding a central cluster of disc florets.
The flowers are coloured a bright blue by the pigment protocyanin, which is the same pigment that makes many roses red. It does this by a forming a supermolecule with other molecules and ions.
Habitat
Centaurea cyanus is native to Europe. It was probably introduced and naturalized in Britain before about 500 BC, and used to be widespread in cornfields. But it is now almost extinct as a wild plant.
It is widely cultivated and is available in pink and purple varieties.
Other Notes
I see Cornflowers in areas where it may look wild but is probably part of the modern trend to cultivate verges with wildflower seeds.
Knapweeds
There are three very similar wild plants seen in Britain.
Centaurea jacea, Brown Knapweed’
Centaurea nigra, Black Knapweed, Common Knapweed, Lesser Knapweed or Hardhead.
Centaurea scabiosa, Greater Knapweed.
All three have flowers which are similar but red/purple in colour.
Black KnapweedGreater Knapweed
See also
It is rare to see such a blue colour in wildflowers but there are two others quite similar. [081] Chicory will come in a few days. The other one is Nigella damascena, Love-in-a-mist.
Cenchrus setaceus, Crimson Fountaingrass is a species of large grass native to Africa and the Middle East, grown in the UK as an ornamental grass.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Plants
Division – Vascular Plants
Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)
Clade – Monocots
Clade – Commenilids
Order – Poales (Grasses, Sedges and Rushes)
Family – Poaceae (Grasses)
Clade – PACMAD
Subfamily – Paninoideae
Supertribe – Panicodae
Tribe – Paniceae
Subtribe – Cenchrinae
Genus – Cenchrus
Scientific Name – Cenchrus setaceus
Not all species have quite such complicated taxonomy but Poaceae is a very large family.
Name
The word ‘crimson’ is a bit of an exaggeration. Some of its varieties, some of the time have flowers that in part are reddish or light purple.
Cenchrus is very closely related to the genus Pennisetum, known as fountaingrasses. The boundaries are unclear and many species are disputed. Some scientists include all Cenchrus species within Pennisetum. C setaceus has been moved out of Pennisetum.
Cenchrus is Latinized Greek for millet. Setaceous (or setaceus in Latin) means bristly.
Grasses
As we have seen with [068] Hanging Sedge, the family Poaceae is very large. I have put in a fuller taxonomy than usual above to show how complex it is, but the distinctions are mostly biochemical or microscopic. The 12 000 species within this family would all be instantly recognisable to most people who would describe them as just grass – as they would also for thousands more species within Poales such as the sedges and rushes. They have long, thin, erect, plain triangular leaves with flower spikes.
Grass provides 50% of human food consumption (rice, wheat, maize and many others) and is used extensively for lawns, sports (golf, cricket and many others,) and in parks.
Most of the grass that you see is very small with many species mixed so I have picked out some of the larger ornamental species for blog posts.
Description
Cenchrus has about thirty species, native to most of the World except Europe.
Cenchrus setaceus is a typical grass and grows rapidly to a spreading plant over a metre in height.
It produces many large, attractive, feathery flower spikes.
I could have said: ‘The inflorescence is a very dense, narrow panicle containing fascicles of spikelets interspersed with bristles,’ but I’m sticking to feathery flower spikes.
Habitat and use
C setaceus is native to tropical Africa and the Middle East. It has been introduced to the UK and other countries as an ornamental grass and has become invasive in many places.
Other Notes
It may be coincidence but the only place I have identified this grass is surrounding the fountain honouring Edward Elgar in Cheltenham. Maybe the designers wondered what sort of grass could go with a fountain.
See also
We have seen [068] which is not technically a grass. More species to come will include mostly ornamental varieties.
[I know you were wondering about the unusual name of the PACMAD clade. It’s just an abbreviation for the subfamilies it includes – Panicoideae, Arundinoideae, Chloridoideae, Micrairoideae, Aristidoideae, and Danthonioideae. So, it’s a sister group to BOP – Bambusoideae, Oryzoideae, Pooideaea.]
Cerioporus squamosus, Dryad’s Saddle, is a common and widespread bracket fungus, associated with dead or living trees. It is also known as Pheasant’s Back Mushroom.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Fungi
Phylum – Basidiomycota
Class – Agaricomyetes
Order – Polyporales
Family – Polyporaceaea
Genus – Cerioporus
Scientific Name – Ceriopus squamosus
It has about forty scientific synonyms and is also commonly known as Polyporus squamosus.
It was named in 1778 by a British botanist, William Hydson, as Cerioporus. About fifty years later a Swedish botanist mycologist, Elias Fries named it Polyporus and today both names are still used.
Name
In Greek mythology a dryad is a wood nymph, so the name comes from its appearance and association with trees.
Cerio is a Latin root for a swelling or ulcer and the whole order of Polypores is named after pores. (See below.) The Latin squamosus means scaly.
Description
In [039] Honey Mushroom I said a little about fungi in general and the order Agaricales, most of which look like what we normally think of as mushrooms.
Polyporales is another order, with about two thousand species, many of which are wood rotters.
Polypores are fungi which form large bracket-like fruiting bodies with pores underneath them.
I can’t begin to go into the taxonomy or physiology of fungi but, unfortunately, the set of polypores is not exactly the same as the order Polyporales and neither is a subset of the other!
I also can’t go into the Polyporus/ Cerioporus debate. The genus Cerioporus, created in 2016, consists of about a dozen species, which were formerly part of Polyporus (and some still consider to be Polyporus).
Cerioporus squamosus is usually found on dead tree trunks or stumps. It can form in a shelf structure and has a distinctive scaly appearance on top.
Habitat and use
Dryad’s Saddle has a wide distribution in Europe, Asia, North America and Australia.
It usually grows on decomposing wood but sometimes appears as a parasite on living trees.
The fruiting bodies can be eaten when young.
See also
There are other fungi that grow bracket-like fruiting bodies on trees. We will meet two more.
Celastrina argiolus, the Holly Blue is a small, light blue butterfly.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Animals
Phylum – Arthropods
Class – Insects
Order – Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Family – Lycaenidae (Gossamer Winged Butterflies)
Subfamily – Polyommatinae (Blues)
Tribe – Polyommatini
Genus – Celastrina
Scientific Name – Celastrina argiolus
It has fourteen subspecies worldwide, some of which have their own local common names.
Name
Kelastros is Ancient Greek for holly. I can’t trace ‘argiolus.’
Description
We started with two of the larger colourful butterflies, familiar to most people and then the Orange Tip and Ringlet, still quite large. But butterflies can get small and the Holly Blue is much smaller than the ones we have met so far. It has a wingspan of about three centimetres and is smaller than some of the moths that fly into houses at night.
On a sunny day in flight its colour is almost white and it can look like a white petal fluttering in the wind.
Celastrina argiolus is very similar to the Small Blue, which is much rarer and localized in its distribution and is even smaller.
The undersides of the wings are very light silvery blue with a few small, dark spots.
They normally settle with the wings closed so I only have one picture of the upper wings. The female has the distinctive dark edges to her wings as shown.
Habitat
The Holly Blue has a wide distribution over the Northern Hemisphere. It is common throughout all of England and Wales, except for the far North of England. Its range does not include Scotland.
They have two generations each year. They emerge in April and May and the larvae then feed on [184] Holly. These pupate and emerge in July/ August and the second-generation larvae feed on ivy, bramble and other plants before hibernating as pupae. Adults feed on bramble and holly.
Other Notes
The tribe of Polyommatini were extensively studied by the Russian lepidopterist Vladimir Nabokov, also known as a novelist.
The Holly Blue is probably the butterfly I see most in urban locations.
See also
There are several other blue butterflies, mostly much rarer. [275] The Common Blue is, aptly, much more common and is widespread over the UK including Scotland.
Cedrus libani, the Cedar of Lebanon, is a large, majestic, spreading evergreen coniferous tree with cultural significance in the Bible and in the Middle East. It is, not surprisingly, the national emblem of Lebanon.
Taxonomy
Kingdom – Plants
Clade – Vascular Plants
Division – Pinophyta (Conifers)
Class – Pinopsida (Conifers)
Order – Pinales (All extant conifers}
Family – Pinaceae
Subfamily – Abietoideae (Firs, Cedars and others)
Genus – Cedrus
Scientific Name – Cedrus libani
Name
Cedrus libani is another easy one for you!
Description
Cedrus libani is an evergreen, coniferous tree, which is very similar in detail to the closely related [070] Atlas Cedar. What makes it different is its size and its biological ‘habit.’ It can grow to a height of forty metres with a massive trunk, which may fork into several erect branches.
Secondary horizontal branching can lead to a sprawling tree covering an extensive area.
Needle-shaped leaves, typical of conifers, can be glaucous in colour.
It begins to produce cones when about forty years old. Here are some male and female cones.
Habitat and use
Cedrus libani is native to mountainous areas in Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. A separate subspecies is found in the mountains of Cyprus.
They are widely planted in Britain as ornamental trees in parks and gardens, including Highgate Cemetery, and have been used since the mid Seventeenth Century.
Cedar wood is exceptionally durable and is valued for its attractive grain and colour.
Other Notes
The Epic of Gilgamesh (circa 2100 B.C.), a poem from Mesopotamia regarded as the earliest ever great work of literature, includes a journey through a Cedar Forest that is generally considered to be in the Lebanon.
The Cedar of Lebanon is also mentioned several times in the Bible in quotations from Moses, King Solomon and the prophet Isaiah, and in Psalm 92, verse 13: ‘The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.’
My pictures come from two old trees in Cheltenham, one of which is under threat of being felled.
See also
There is nothing comparable in size to be seen in Britain. [314] The Giant Sequoia may be taller but does not spread in the same way.
The Species of Britain 