Hornbeam trees, Broomfield Hill, Richmond Park
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Hornbeam trees, Broomfield Hill, Richmond Park by Stefan Czapski as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
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Hornbeam trees, Broomfield Hill, Richmond Park
Image: © Stefan Czapski Taken: 7 Feb 2011
A row of hornbeams, Carpinus betulus, showing the typical upward sweep of the branches. This is a native tree, but not one of the best known - easily mistaken for a beech. The name is misleading, as the bark is not smooth and horn-like, but ridged, more like the surface of Red Deer antlers (sorry ! - that's not much help if you've not handled antlers). The slightly spiral tendency of these broad ridges should be visible in the larger versions of this image. (A view in better light shows this more clearly: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2298731 ) The foliage of a true hornbeam wood lets through a lot of light, so that a very attractive ground cover can develop, with species like wood anemone. The best examples known to me are in Hertfordshire: Image In Richmond Park there is a good concentration of hornbeams in Queen Elizabeth II Plantation (in TQ 19 72 and 73) - but deer see to it that ground cover remains poor. And, in any case, a plantation is not natural woodland. Richmond Park is a National Nature Reserve.
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Image Location
Latitude
51.435358
Longitude
-0.261367