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Buckthorn

 

 

 

The initiative to choose a ”tree of the year” came from professor Viktor Masing, and the venture started in 1996 in journal „Eesti Loodus“.

 

The buckthorn is not very well known, and it is confused with the alder buckthorn, or the other way about. It grows in dry alvar areas in North and West Estonia; there we see them more often than elsewhere.

 

Despite the "puu“, meaning tree, in the Estonian names they both usually grow as dense shrubs. On the buckthorn the distinctive spines sticking out in the tips of twigs show well just now. The fruits are berry-like drupes, black and small, with 2 to 4 seeds. The taste is bitter and disgusting, and they are weakly poisonous.

 

Compared to the alder buckthorn fruits, the fruits of the buckthorn are quite poisonous and a part of them stay reddish, without turning black. Compare the photos: the leaves are quite similar, and on the north-western coast they can sometimes grow side by side.

 

We will certainly present the trees of the year more in detail when spring progresses.

 

Alder buckthorn 

 

Our Trees of the Year:

1996 – juniper  kadakas  Juniperus communis

1997 – spruce   kuusk  Picea abies

1998 – oak    tamm  Quercus robur

1999 – birch    kask  Betula pendula

2000 – rowan    pihlakas  Sorbus aucuparia

2001 – pine     mänd  Pinus sylvestris

2002 – lime tree   pärn  Tilia cordata

2003 – maple     vaher  Acer platanoides

2004 – alder      lepp  Alnus glutinosa

2005 – aspen     haab  Populus tremula

2006 – willow     paju  Salix caprea

2007 – ash     saar  Fraxinus excelsior

2008 – yew     jugapuu  Taxus baccata

2009 – hazel    sarapuu  Corylus avellana

2010 – bird cherry    toomingas Prunus padus

2011 – elm & whych elm  jalakas & künnapuu  Ulmus glabra,  Ulmus laevis

2012 – (crab) apple  õunapuu  Malus domestica;  Malus sylvestris