In Queen’s Wood LNR, a pear tree toppled by wind has survived its fall: a portion of its roots still reach into the soil, allowing it to endure. It’s behaving like a laid hedge, when the stems of trees are partly severed and eased over to the ground, shooting upright growth along the now horizontal trunk. In full bloom, this pear ‘hedge’ is a glorious sight, if a slightly odd one.
Though a fragment of ancient woodland, Queen’s Wood is not without the occasional ornamental specimen. I don’t mean garden escapes, but deliberately planted shrubs and trees such as Forsythia and London Plane. The woodland was not always managed s a local nature reserve, so such plantings weren’t considered inappropropriate. But it is doubtful that this wind-thrown pear tree is a cultivated type. It is thorny which suggests Pyrus pyraster, the Wild Pear. It doesn’t fruit very often, making identification tricky. From what I’ve heard, the infrequent fruit is rock hard and definitely not pear shaped, another indication that this is P. pyraster. According to ecologist David Bevan, “the jury is still out” as to the exact identification of the pear hedge. Maybe that slight ambiguity is part of its charm.
Leaf Encounter 