With leaves a bit like maple, the Wild Service is one of our rarest native trees. So we just planted the one when Filnore Woods was created just over 20 years ago. You can find it near post number 10.
Actually those leaves are different from maple leaves because instead of having all the veins radiating from one point at the top of the stalk, Wild Service has one central vein with three or four pairs of side veins.
Our tree is carrying little bunches of brown fruits at the moment. They resemble rowan or whitebeam berries and these trees are all in the same Sorbus genus.
In bygone years these berries were made into a drink called chequers, which is probably why so many pubs are called 'The Chequers' - nothing to do with chess boards.
I love getting your blog in my emails - it's a reliably cheering arrival amongst much that is not! You might be interested to know of two wild service trees, of fairly local origin, in my Thornbury garden. I planted them, like you, knowing that they have become quite rare in the wild.
ReplyDeleteYou might be interested to know of two other wild service trees nearby - in my Thornbury garden. I planted them over 20 years ago for the same reason as you, knowing they had become quite rare in general.
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