What wood?

[JimB]

As I said, the name fascinated me. I don't think anyone is going to get it so I'll name it - Wild Service Tree, sorbus torminalis. It turns beautifully.

 

[Neil Farrer]

Aka chequer tree, the origin of the pub name "the chequers"

 

[JimB]

Aka chequer tree, the origin of the pub name "the chequers"

I looked that up Neil and they say that the name either comes from the fruit breaking open or the bark but the way the grain goes surely that is in with a chance. Better than coming from a chancellor's visit.
I remember the Chequers near Cambridge.

 

[Grahamshed]

I was never going to guess that, never heard of it under any of the names

 

[JimB]

I was never going to guess that, never heard of it under any of the names

As I said earlier Graham, I only ordered it to make up a parcel of box. The name fascinated me and I doubt I'll forget it now; like Rose Bay Willow Herb it sticks in the mind. Probably never see a piece of it again.

 

[Grahamshed]

It puzzles me how a native tree, obviously very widespread at one time judging by pub names and prime ministers country house, can be totally missing from lists of trees I am trying to familiarise myself with. I will have to research this one.

 

[JimB]

The firm I bought it from in Turkey list it with their tone woods for clarinets and so on.

 

[KimG]

I have heard of it, it's a small tree with white flowers and brown berries in the Autumn which used to be made into a drink called Chequers ( Apparently it was added to beer according to my reference, though I did not know that, I just this second read it in my tree book).

It is apparently not a common tree, I have never seen one for real, and occurs only sporadicly in woods from the South East up to the Pennines. Not mention is made of the timber usage, being small and scarce it is likely that it only ever gets used for the occasional it of turning.

As such Jim, I would prize that bit, your not likely to see another for some time is my guess! Thanks for posting it up, very interesting indeed.

 

[Woodmonkey]

They're not uncommon around these parts, I've pruned a few in the past, never turned it though.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Chequers 500 yards from my house

I'll have a closer look at the trees in the garden next time I'm having a pint in there.

 

[JimB]

Sounds as if they prefer the south.

 

[KimG]

They're not uncommon around these parts, I've pruned a few in the past, never turned it though.

Possibly the trees by you are the hybrid version WM, Also called a Service tree , a cross between the Wild service tree and Whitebeam and found among other places in the Avon Gorge at Bristol, but different both in appearance and distribution from the Wild Service tree, just a notion based on what I have been reading as the Wild tree seems by the text to be found only in woodland, and old woodland at that, to the point that if the tree is found, it is likely that the wood has always been there and the land has never been ploughed.

Your mention of pruning seems to suggest a garden planting, is that right?

 

[Woodmonkey]

Yes sorry I meant uncommon in gardens where they would have been planted, they are available in decent tree suppliers, eg.http://www.chewvalleytrees.co.uk/index. ... AiOiIyIn19

 

[winemaker]

found this interesting http://www.euxton.com/wildserv.htm

 

[Phil Pascoe]

They're not uncommon around these parts, I've pruned a few in the past, never turned it though.

Possibly the trees by you are the hybrid version WM, Also called a Service tree , a cross between the Wild service tree and Whitebeam and found among other places in the Avon Gorge at Bristol, but different both in appearance and distribution from the Wild Service tree, just a notion based on what I have been reading as the Wild tree seems by the text to be found only in woodland, and old woodland at that, to the point that if the tree is found, it is likely that the wood has always been there and the land has never been ploughed.

Your mention of pruning seems to suggest a garden planting, is that right?

I read somewhere that that hybrid was exclusive to the Avon Gorge area, but I can't remember where I read it. It might have been the Oxford Dictionary of Trees, but all my books are in storage at the moment (It's driving me nuts!).

 

[KimG]

Apparently there are several forms Phil, each specific to an area, Avon Gorge, North Exmoor, Wye valley and the Brecon Beacons.

I got all this from the Collins pocket guide to trees of Britain and Northern Europe. Possibly your source too eh?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Might have been. I have got it as well.

 

[JimB]

And all because I liked the name. Still it is a member of the rose family according to wiki.

 

[Grahamshed]

This has been an interesting and informative thread, who would have thought so many of us would come across a 'new' tree ?
Thanks for posting.

 

[JimB]

Thanks for listening (reading).