Volume 4

A history of British forest-trees : indigenous and introduced / By Prideaux John Selby. Illustrated by nearly 200 engravings.

  • Prideaux John Selby
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A history of British forest-trees : indigenous and introduced / By Prideaux John Selby. Illustrated by nearly 200 engravings. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    46/54 page 186
    foliage of other trees; it is also frequently an interesting object on the wooded slopes of highland scenery, and in Scotland adorns the margins and hanging woods of its most interesting and beautiful lochs. Upon Loch Katrine it mingles with the birch, and clothes, almost to the ex¬ clusion of other trees, the classic islet of the Lady of the Lake. It is indigenous to Britain, being found throughout Eng¬ land in moist woods and damp situations, and in Scotland it extends as far north as the borders of Sutherland. In Aberdeenshire, near Braemar in the woods of Invercauld, it grows at an elevation of sixteen hundred feet, and we have seen it as high in different parts of Argyleshire. In Ireland, according to Mackay, it is found native in the County of Dublin, and several other districts. Upon the European continent its distribution extends over the south¬ ern as well as the northern parts, nearly to the verge of the Frozen Ocean; in Russia, Loudon states it to he very abundant, particularly in the woods around Moscow, and he mentions the interesting fact that in the year 1813, the year following the burning of that ancient city, in¬ numerable seedling plants of the Aspen sprang up in every direction among the ruins, no doubt from seed that had been wafted thither by the wind from the neighbouring woods. It is also a native of Asia Minor, and the whole of the Caucasian range. If it were not for the innumer¬ able suckers thrown up to a great distance by this tree, its ornamental properties would claim a more extensive cultivation in landscape scenery than it has hitherto re¬ ceived, but this disadvantage is of so serious a nature in pleasure-grounds, lawns, and meadows, that it must always be sparingly introduced in such situations; the objection, however, does not extend to large woods, or
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3