The Long, Long Life of Trees by Fiona Stafford

By Fiona Stafford

A lyrical tribute to the range of timber, their actual attractiveness, their exact features and makes use of, and their ever-evolving meanings

because the beginnings of historical past timber have served humankind in numerous worthy methods, yet our dating with bushes has many dimensions past mere practicality. timber are so entwined with human adventure that different species have encouraged their very own tales, myths, songs, poems, work, and non secular meanings. a few have accomplished prestige as non secular, cultural, or nationwide symbols.
 
during this superbly illustrated quantity Fiona Stafford deals intimate, designated explorations of seventeen universal timber, from ash and apple to pine, oak, cypress, and willow. the writer additionally can pay homage to specific timber, akin to the fabled Ankerwyke Yew, lower than which Henry VIII courted Anne Boleyn, and the fabulous cherry timber of Washington, D.C. Stafford discusses sensible makes use of of wooden earlier and current, tree ailments and environmental threats, and bushes’ capability contributions towards slowing worldwide weather swap. Brimming with strange issues and fascinating proof, this publication celebrates timber and their lengthy, lengthy lives as our inspiring and liked usual companions.

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Whether the threat comes from new roads, High Speed rail, supermarkets or plant pathogens, the urge to defend the environment, to stand up for ancient rights and save the trees for future generations is widely felt. The opposition to the draft bill proposing to dispose of many of Britain’s forests in 2012 was symptomatic of a long-standing and widely shared attachment to trees. There may be less reliance on wood-gathering for domestic fuel than was once the case, but the need to live in a land filled with trees remains as deep as ever.

In Maori culture, the God of the Forests, son of the sky and earth, is the huge, 2,000-year-old kauri tree, Tāne Mahuta, which still towers above the Waipoua Forest. In Viking mythology, the entire universe was understood in terms of a great ash tree, Yggdrasil, whose branches were home to the gods and whose multiple roots stretched outwards to Jötenheim, land of the Giants, and down to Niflheim, region of the dead. ) The Druids of ancient Europe gathered mistletoe for their sacred rites, performed in the natural temple of a great oak forest.

Although the timber has long been prized and polished to reveal striking, red-gold, wood-waves for the finest cabinets, suspicions still linger. Some craftsmen are wary of turning yew into goblets, however enticing the rich, golden wood may look, for fear of toxic residue seeping into drinks. The botanical name for the yew sounds rather alarming in itself: for English speakers, Taxus will conjure up thoughts of tax, taxing and toxicity. The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘taxin’ as a ‘resinous substance obtained from the leaves of a yew tree’ and gives the first recorded use as 21 December 1907, in a newspaper report on a death that was unexplained until the post-mortem revealed a large quantity of yew needles in the stomach of the deceased.

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