(genus Larix), spruces (genus Picea), hemlock-spruces (genus Tsuga), Douglas firs (genus Pseudotsuga) and pines (genus Pinus).
| SALICACEAE (WILLOW AND POPLAR FAMILY)A very widespread group of trees and shrubs, numbering well over 300 species, with many more hybrids that are often difficult to place. Male and female flowers are found on separate trees and usually take the form of catkins. Leaves are alternate, and long and pointed in the case of willows. Most species, apart from Goat Willow and Grey Willow, propagate easily from cuttings. Many grow in wet habitats such as stream sides, and small shrubby species are often found in upland regions. Wind-dispersed seeds make them rapid colonisers of new habitats. Most members of this family are vigorous, fast-growing trees and tolerant of much bad treatment from both man and natural disasters like storms. Many are of great importance for wildlife, supporting large numbers of insect larvae. A number are grown for ornament, having a weeping habit, bright foliage or colourful winter twigs. |
| JUGLANDACEAE (WALNUT FAMILY)A family of 7 genera and about 60 species spread across the Americas, SE Europe, SE Asia and Japan. Leaves are usually alternate and pinnate, flowers are without petals, small and grouped in catkins, with males and females on the same plant. The fruit is usually a nut, sometimes large and edible, or sometimes small and winged. The family includes hickories (genus Carya), wingnuts (genus Pterocarya) and walnuts (genus Juglans). |
| MYRICACEAE (BOG MYRTLE FAMILY)A family of 2 genera and 35 species of trees and shrubs; only one in our region. The simple leaves have resinous glands and the flowers are borne in spike-like catkins. |
| BETULACEAE (BIRCH FAMILY)A large family of 6 genera and about 150 species of medium-sized trees and shrubs. Flowers are in the form of catkins, with the separate sexes growing on the same tree; the male catkins are the more conspicuous. Seeds are borne in smaller cone-like catkins, or in the form of nuts with hard shells or sometimes wings. In the British Isles, the family is represented by birches (genus Betula), alders (genus Alnus), hornbeams (genus Carpinus), hop-hornbeams (genus Ostrya) and hazels (genus Corylus). Some authorities place the genera Carpinus and Ostrya in a separate family, Carpinaceae, while the genus Corylus is sometimes placed in the family Corylaceae. |
| FAGACEAE (BEECH FAMILY)A large family containing many well-known trees. More than 1,000 species, in 8 genera, occur, mostly in the northern hemisphere, but many far to the south. The flowers are small, sexes are usually separate and on the same tree. Fruits are in the form of nuts, protected by a cupule. The family is represented in Britain and Ireland by beeches (genus Fagus), southern beeches (genus Nothofagus), Sweet Chestnut (genus Castanea) and oaks (genus Quercus). |
| ULMACEAE (ELM FAMILY)Includes about 150 species of both deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs occurring in tropical and northern areas. The leaves are normally alternate, the small flowers lack petals and the fruits may be winged, in the form of a nut, or fleshy with a single stone. |
| MORACEAE (MULBERRY FAMILY)A large family from the tropics with around 1,000 species, 12 of which are known as mulberries. Two of these are hardy in Britain and Ireland; their male and female flowers are in the form of separate catkins, but growing on the same tree, and the fruits are edible berries. |
| BERBERIDACEAE (BARBERRY FAMILY)A family of shrubs with alternate leaves and flowers with 6–9perianth segments in whorls. Fruits are berries or capsules. Only one species is native to the British Isles; it seldom achieves great stature. |
| PROTEACEAE (PROTEA FAMILY)A large family of over 1,000 evergreen trees and shrubs, mostly native to the southern hemisphere, but introduced widely around the world. Leaves are alternate and sometimes pinnate. The flowers can be very showy, although petals are very small, the main display being provided by a large divided calyx. |
| CERCIDIPHYLLACEAE (KATSURA FAMILY)A very small family with probably only a single species, once thought to be closer to the magnolias, but now considered to be more primitive and perhaps nearer to the planes. |
| MAGNOLIACEAE (MAGNOLIA FAMILY)A family of 12 genera and up to 200 species, most occurring in Asia, particularly the Himalayas, China and Japan; a few also occur in the south of the USA and further south into South America. They can be either trees or shrubs, deciduous or evergreen, with alternate, untoothed and occasionally lobed leaves. The flowers are often showy and sometimes scented. |
| LAURACEAE (LAUREL FAMILY)Mostly evergreen trees and shrubs. The family numbers about 1,000 species, mainly found in the tropics, but with a few hardy species occurring in more northern areas. Many are aromatic. |
| HAMAMELIDACEAE (WITCH HAZEL FAMILY)Contains about 25 genera and 100 species that occur in temperate and subtropical regions. They range from trees to shrubs and may be evergreen or deciduous. Many are very popular ornamental garden plants. |
| PLATANACEAE (PLANE FAMILY)A family of 8 species of large deciduous trees, mostly native to the USA and Mexico, apart from one that occurs in the Balkans and one in SE Asia. Leaves are large and normally palmate. Male and female flowers are in separate pendulous clusters on the same tree. |
| ROSACEAE (ROSE FAMILY)A very large and important family of over 100 genera and about 3,000 species of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. The trees can be deciduous or evergreen, and have alternate, simple leaves or a range of leaf types including complex pinnate leaves. Flowers are usually 5-petalled, with the ovary beneath the petals, but the fruits are very varied and the family is divided mainly on the basis of the types of fruits produced. Tree and shrub representatives in Britain and Ireland are brideworts (Spiraea), Quince (Cydonia), Medlar (Mespilus), pears (Pyrus), apples (Malus),
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