High Elms Trees, part 2

Giant Redwood, Sequoiadendron giganteum. High Elms Country Park, 5 August 2013.

Also known as Wellingtonia.  Of course, this is just a baby compared to specimens in America.  It's the biggest species of living tree by volume.  But even so, it looks impressive.

I tried several different ways of capturing this tree, but in the end there was no way to get a good view of the whole thing without some branches from neighbouring trees getting in the way.  If I went closer, the tree was far too foreshortened, even using a specialised lens.  (I'll mention the camera equipment at the end of this series.)

Foliage and bark of Giant Redwood.  High Elms Country Park, 5 August 2013.

The leaves are tiny compared to the needles of the pines and cedars elsewhere in this set.  The bark is pretty special; it is spongy and light, and when I was in the Boy Scouts they were introduced to me as "punch trees" because you can give them a hard punch without damaging your hand.  This light, spongy bark insulates the trunks during forest fires - and, apparently, they need these fires to clear out competing trees if seedlings are to grow successfully. 

Coastal Redwood, Sequoia sempervirens.  High Elms Country Park, 5 August 2013

This is even more of a baby, despite already being quite tall.  They can grow up to 379 feet, says Wikipedia.  

Foliage of Coastal Redwood, Sequoia sempervirens.  High Elms Country Park, 5 August 2013

The foliage and bark are quite different.

Corsican Pine, Pinus nigra, and Scots Pine, pinus sylvestris.
High Elms Country Park, 23 August 2013.

I'm not sure which subspecies of Pinus nigra this Corsican pine actually is.  It's a Mediterranean tree. The Scots Pine behind and to the left is native to the UK, but not to this part of it.  But lots of Scots Pines have been planted locally.  They seem to have been used as a landscaping feature and you can often find them at the tops of hills or on ridges. 

Top of a Scots Pine.  High Elms Country Park, 5 August 2013

One way to distinguish a  Scots Pine from other pines is to look for a reddish cast to the bark at the top of the tree.   It's clearly visible here.

More in part three ...