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Ulmus procera ‘Louis van Houtte’
Planted extensively in gardens, parks and farms through out New Zealand, this golden form of the English elm never reaches the stature of its green parent, which can grow as tall as 45 metres. Decimated now in England by Dutch elm disease, they were once the glory of the English countryside, evoking nostalgia in the heart of many an Englishman or woman. Constable was constantly trying to capture the beauty of the elm in his paintings, although it is said his oaks were better than his elms! And in 1845 Robert Browning, in ‘Home Thoughts from Abroad’, wrote:
Oh, to be in England,
Now that April’s there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some mornings, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England – now!
We may doubt that our prevalent, rather garish, yellow variety will evoke such longing in the hearts of New Zealanders, but next October take a moment to sit under the specimen growing close to the clock tower in Victoria Street. It may not be tall but the spread of its branches is magnificent, and viewed from beneath in the late spring, before its leaves have yellowed, it forms a beautiful light green shade canopy, most calming to the soul.
We do have some examples of the true English elm; go to Te Ko Utu park where you can see a number of mutilated specimens on the bank. No doubt our Council staff, concerned with the tree’s reputation as the ‘widow-maker’ as it drops big branches without warning, would prefer the following jingle:
Elm hateth man
And waiteth.
Is there a connection here with the fact that elm is the traditional wood for coffins?
Eucalyptus species.
Cambridge is fortunate to possess several magnificent, towering stands of eucalyptus, along the river and in Te Ko Utu Park. Some of these trees may be over 100 years old. Identification of different species is difficult but the main ones present appear to be a stringybark, perhaps E. eugenoides, along with some Sydney blue gum, E. saligna. A remarkable all-purpose tree, eucalyptus wood is excellent for construction, flooring, joinery, panelling, furniture-making, outdoor decking, boatbuilding, fence posts, power poles and pulp for fine paper, while the oil has medicinal properties, and the nectar attracts honey bees.
The first eucalyptus trees in New Zealand were planted in 1836 by Rev James Hamlin at his mission station near the south head of the Manukau Harbour. They were possibly planted for their medicinal value since they dry up swamps where insects breed and exude insect-repelling oils. Some 60 years later Mother Mary Joseph Aubert was planting eucalyptus in the Whanganui river area for producing medicines to cure bronchitis and fevers, and Maori too had adopted their use for various ailments.
Metasequoia glyptostroboides
Now there is a Latin name that rolls of the tongue! This shapely, fast-growing deciduous conifer will grow to 200 feet. In spring it acquires beautiful light green ferny foliage, which then turns a coppery or amber colour in autumn. The one pictured here is to be found in Lauriston Park, Leamington; look out for others around the town but do not confuse it with the swamp cypress which is also a deciduous conifer with similar foliage.
The only remaining species of its genus, the dawn redwood is regarded as a living fossil. During the Mesozoic age when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth it was widespread, but was thought to have been extinct for at least 5000 years. And then in 1941 three of these trees were discovered half way up the Yangtze River in China. It is still endangered in its natural habitat; there are only small stands remaining in Sezchuan and Hubei provinces, where it is known as water larch and was often fed to cattle. Since 1948 seed-grown specimens have become widely distributed throughout other temperate areas of the world. It prefers to grow in damp sheltered sites and has become a popular tree for parks.
Cedrus deodara
As its name suggests the deodar is native to the Western Himalayas in eastern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan and India, southwest Tibet and Nepal. It usually grows at altitudes of 1500 to 3000 metres in mixed forests with other conifers and broadleaf trees such as oak, chestnut, maple and birch. At maturity the deodar may reach 50 or 60 metres in height, and the oldest known living one is 745 years. Both drought and cold hardy, it has an attractive pyramidal form with pendulous branch tips, beautifully demonstrated by this specimen growing in Lamb St.
In India the deodar is a sacred tree; its Sanskrit name, devadaru, means wood of the gods. Hindu legends frequently refer to the tree, and deodar forests were favourite dwelling places for Indian sages. It is used in Ayurvedic medicine and aromatherapy; the essential oil of the inner wood is effective as insect repellent and fungicide. This inner wood is used in buildings for storing meat, spices and grain. Although deodar is a brittle wood it is rot-resistant and was therefore in demand for building, especially for temples, and also houseboats. It is close-grained and will therefore take a high polish. During the British colonial period deodar was used to construct barracks, public buildings, bridges, canals and railway carriages. Today in the West the deodar is usually an ornamental tree, but in New Zealand it is also often used for shelter on dry slopes.
These stunning large purple trees (and their green siblings) with their graceful foliage and smooth silvery bark dignify a number of parks and private gardens in Cambridge. The one shown is a protected tree on a Bowen Street property. The beech belongs to the ‘royal family’ of European broadleaf trees; the family includes oaks and sweet chestnuts, all linked by the form of their fruit. It used to be said, ‘the oak for a king and the beech for a queen’.
There are wonderful beech forests in the chalky Chiltern Hills in England, but the species is thought to grow to perfection in Normandy, France. In forests near Rouen the trees lose all their lower branches and cast a deep shade, their bare trunks soaring to 100 feet beneath a dense green canopy. One writer imagines that they may have been the inspiration for the magnificent Norman cathedrals, both in sight and sound, for an old beech wood has the longest echo of any woodland.
Beeches have an ancient history. When copper beeches turned up in the wild they were once rumoured to be a sign of an ‘unnatural crime’ after which the ‘blood refused to lie down.’ Less fancifully, beeches have been used from ancient times to make furniture, kitchen utensils, clogs, fine carved toys and printing blocks for woodcut illustrations. The wood is easy to work for turning, carving and steam bending, and with its fine grain gives a nice finish. In the 18th and 19th centuries it was used in the production of decorative mouldings for furniture and picture frames, and more recently for hard-wearing domestic flooring and the finishing layer of laminates.
The Cambridge Tree Trust was registered with the Charities Commission as a Charitable Entity under the Charities Act 2005 on 16 August 2007. Registration No: CC10859