The Downs Observer - Richard Bland Five of Bristol’s rarest trees are on the Downs It is a while since I last discussed trees on the Downs, but, as there has been a fine programme to replace some 70 trees in the avenues of the Downs this past winter, an action that the Friends of the Downs suggested back in 2011 I think it was, it is time to revisit the subject. And I also do so because my Christmas present was a magnificent volume called Arboretum, by Dr Owen Johnson, tracing the history of all the astonishing range of trees that can, with skill and luck, be discovered across the length and breadth of the British Isles. And to my astonishment among the species mentioned were the four fine Erman’s Birches on the triangle of land at the top of Stoke Hill. They are the only ones in Bristol and the species is native to Japan and NE Asia, and were first brought to this country in 1890. The national champion is at Westonbirt, and our trees were I suspect planted in about 1950. They are very fine upstanding broad trees, quite unlike our native silver birch, but with a silvery white bark that is now breaking up with curling grey patches that give the tree considerable gravitas. Young trees have strikingly white bark with horizontal pink stripes, and it was probably for this feature that they were originally planted.
Ash than a common Walnut, and was introduced to this country by John Tradescant before 1695, but remains very uncommon. Its fruit are spherical, and almost always in pairs, but not really edible. Its wood is exceptionally tough. The Huntingdon Elm at the foot of Ladies Mile is the last survivor of a massive planting of this popular nineteenth century clone, which is a cultivar of the Wych Elm, that originated in Hinchinbrooke Park in 1760, and was very widely planted subsequently for its rapid growth and fine upright structure. They were planted along Ladies Mile and elsewhere in the 1880s, but most succumbed to Dutch Elm Disease in the 1970s. A few remained for many years, but this one is the sole survivor, and I know of no others in Bristol. A response to the Dutch Elm Disease was the planting of an elm variety commonly just called Resistant Elm, which was a cross between the Siberian Elm and the Japanese Elm made in Wisconsin, USA and known as Ulmus Sapporo Autumn Gold. Its autumn colour is a fine bright yellow, though not that different from many other elms, but of five trees planted on Clifton Green in 1980 only one has survived to full height, the others having suffered catastrophic branch collapse in storms. Finally last March a Red Maple was planted on the triangle of land at the top of Sion Hill. The only others in Bristol are six planted the previous year to improve the Cumberland Basin. It is a North American tree that reached Britain in 1656. It grows fast, has red twigs in winter, red flowers at the branch tips in March, its typical maple fruit have red wings, and its leaves turn a brilliant red in autumn and are an important contributor to the colour of the New England fall.
The Downs are for people, and the management of a vast number of competing interests is sophisticated and subtle. If you enjoy the Downs, or use if for your sport, why not become a Another rare tree close by is the North American Friend? Membership is just £10. Contact Black Walnut. There are two trees, the only ones Robin Haward at in Bristol, that are part of the avenue that marks robinhaward@blueyonder.co.uk 0117 the course of the old road from Clifton to the Old 974 3385 Halt. The species has a leaf much more like an -
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