Anyone else grow native trees?

[stephenprudence]

Holly can work in a Mediterranean type garden. I see it in the woodlands here and the way it grows, it wouldn't look out of place in a Mediterranean scrub area. Of course Holly is native to the Mediterranean basin as well.

wow Ive just dug up a rotting thread

[Rabbie]

Out of interest, how many generations does something need to be growing to be thought of as native?

Doesn't work like that - it is based on the means of arrival (whether it got here by itself, or with human assistance), not the length of time it has been here. So the answer does not change with time.

How do they determine what was human assisted? The british isles was once under a sheet of ice and before that humans and friends were there and some. They cant even figure out human arrivals never mind plants. I would consider any plant that can live out its full life cycle and reproduce without overwhelming and becoming a mono culture to be native. I mean, N Ireland is industrial farmland from east to west. Nothing natural, native or alien on this island that is not under the control of mankind.

Its like the Scottish telling the English to go back to Germany and totally forgetting that they themselves came from Ireland after leaving mainland Europe.

[doncasterpalmguy123]

Out of interest, how many generations does something need to be growing to be thought of as native?

Doesn't work like that - it is based on the means of arrival (whether it got here by itself, or with human assistance), not the length of time it has been here. So the answer does not change with time.

How do they determine what was human assisted? The british isles was once under a sheet of ice and before that humans and friends were there and some. They cant even figure out human arrivals never mind plants. I would consider any plant that can live out its full life cycle and reproduce without overwhelming and becoming a mono culture to be native. I mean, N Ireland is industrial farmland from east to west. Nothing natural, native or alien on this island that is not under the control of mankind.

Its like the Scottish telling the English to go back to Germany and totally forgetting that they themselves came from Ireland after leaving mainland Europe.

Well they do it using the pollen record. Basically soil testing of undisturbed sites (depending on how deep you go) will tell you what pollen from what species was around at each time. When man became more developed and started bringing more plants in from abroad was when they also appeared on the pollen record. We also have historic evidence, for instance ancient writings state that the romans introduced the sweet chestnut to britain (they described us as a less fruitful land, so they brought their fruit with them )

Thanks to us now there is musa basjoo and trachycarpus fortunei pollen for future generations to analyse and determine when they was introduced (in our top soil).