Species		Characteristics	Picture
Alder	Alnus glutinosa	Fast growing, small to medium sized tree. Requires good light.
Ash	Fraxinus excelsior	Large tree that can live for over 300 years. Nutrient and light demanding. Prefers moist, neutral, rich soil.
Aspen	Populus tremulus	Medium sized tree. Lives to around 100 years. Slow growing tree.
Beech	Fagus sylvatica	Large tree. Can to live to over 300 years. Gregarious in habit, growing in small groups or forming large woodlands.
Silver Birch	Betula pendula	Birch is one of the most versatile of Scottish native trees. It makes a magnificent spectacle en-masse as a single species woodland - changing colour in the winter sunshine from purple to almost orange and russet.
Crab apple	Malus sylvestris	Occurs naturally in old woodland throughout the lowlands but is not common in the north-east.
Wych elm	Ulmus glabra	Scotland's only native elm. It arrioved in Scotlan before the Romans introduced the common elm to England. The wych elm is not as tall as the common elm but is more robust - both live for up to 500 years.
Field maple	Acer campestre	Field maple is not common in Scotland. It is used mainly as a shrub in hedges rather than a small tree.
Holly	Ilex aquifolium	Holly is a small hardy tree growing up to 15 metres. It is one of the few Scottish native evergreen trees and is notable for its prickly leaves and red berries.
Common oak	Quercus robur	More common than the Sessile oak in the South of Scotland. A large tree than can survive for 1000 years.
Sessile oak	Quercus petraea	More common than the Common oak in the North of Scotland. A large tree than can survive for 1000 years.
Rowan	Sorbus aucuparia	Small tree. Widespread through Scotland up to 1000m altitude
Scots pine	Pinus sylvestris	Scots pine is the most important British coniferous tree. A large long-lived tree - growing up to 45m and living up to 450 years.
Willows	Salix sp.	A wide variety, from the large White willow to the shrub like Grey Willow. All willows prefer damp wet sites.
Yew	Taxus baccata	Yew is a primitive native evergreen conifer that can outlive all other native species in Scotland. Many old trees in churchyards are over 1000 years old.

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