Collins Complete Guide to British Trees: A Photographic Guide to every common species. Paul Sterry

(C), often flaking away and revealing greyer patches below.

       A

       B

       C

      DOWNY BIRCH Betula pubescens

      Purplish brown when young (A), becoming mostly smooth and brown or greyish with age and not breaking up into rectangular plates at the base like Silver Birch. The pale blue-grey patches in this picture (B) are lichens, the greenish epiphytes are mosses.

       A

       B

      COMMON ALDER Alnus glutinosa

      Brownish and fissured into square or oblong plates that are of reasonably even width; the pale blue-grey patches in this picture are lichens.

      BEECH Fagus sylvatica

      Smooth and grey in young trees (A), often with horizontal lines, but becoming rougher with shallow ridges in older specimens (B).

       A

       B

      WYCH ELM Ulmus glabra

      Smooth and greyish in younger trees (A), becoming browner with deep, mostly vertical cracks and ridges with age (B).

       A

       B

      DUTCH ELM Ulmus × hollandica

      Brown, cracking into small, shallow plates; the greenish coloration of the bark in this picture is caused by lichens.

      BIRD CHERRY Prunus padus

      Smooth dark and grey-brown, never peeling or fissuring. The greenish coloration in this picture is caused by algae and mosses. The bark releases a strong, unpleasant smell if rubbed.

      WILD CHERRY Prunus avium

      Reddish brown and shiny, with circular lines of lenticels; in older trees, peeling horizontally into tough papery strips, and occasionally becoming fissured. The greenish coloration seen here is caused by lichens.

      WILD CRAB Malus sylvestris

      Deep purplish brown, and cracking into small oblong plates; the green patches in this picture are mosses and algae.

      SWEET CHESTNUT Castanea sativa

      Silvery and smooth in young trees with fine vertical fissures (A); in older trees becoming more deeply fissured with grooves becoming markedly spiralled up the trunk (B).

       A

       B

      HORSE-CHESTNUT Aesculus hippocastanum

      Smooth and pinkish grey in young trees but soon greyish brown, often flaking away in large, rather rounded scales.

      ASPEN Populus tremula

      Smooth and greyish, with small, dark diamonds at first (A), becoming brown, ridged and fissured with age (B).

       A

       B

      WHITE POPLAR Populus alba

      Pale in young specimens and broken by diamond-shaped scars; in mature trees deeply fissured on lower part of trunk. The greenish coloration in this picture is caused by algae, lichens and mosses.

      GREY POPLAR Populus × canescens

      Similar to White Poplar. Whitish with diamond-shaped fissures in young trees (A), but darker grey-brown and deeply fissured at the base of older trees (B).