Thinking that he was a trusty tree

[venta]

Yesterday one of my colleagues asked - apropos of nothing - whether anyone knew where he could find a beech tree. He'd been told that a bottle of gin is much improved by having a few beech leaves pushed into it to infuse and was keen to try it but, like so many people, can only identify the larch.

I drive through a clutch of beech trees to get to work, so agreed to bring in some leaves. This morning I paused briefly, snapped off the end of a twig, and brough in a few leaves which are now sitting in a glass of water on my desk.

Except... I'm now suffering from a terrible crisis of confidence. I've picked what I've always believed to be beech leaves. But someone is going to imbibe them... what if I've collected, I dunno, deadly nightshade instead ?

Yes, I know there are tree-identification sites online. The trouble is that pictures on those sites never seem to match anything. Plus they all show mature beech leaves, and I've got extremely juvenile ones here. Besides, all the characterstics do match. I was reasonably sure in the first place that it was beech; having consulted the web I'm still reasonably sure.

But... if you hear of unexplained deaths in the Wokingham area, don't be surprised if I leave the country suddenly.

Comments

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

I don't know what a larch looks like.

Remember the wood you go through just after Nettlebed? All those trees are beeches. They have that smooth, slightly greyish bark. And the young leaves look the same as the mature leaves, but a much lighter, brighter green and (if memory serves) perhaps very slightly fuzzy.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

In fact, if you have a photo, I may be able to tell you with some confidence whether what you have is beech.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Sadly, my phone doesn't seem to be up to taking a photo which would show more than it being something green and blobby.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Sounds like beech leaves to me :)

[venta.livejournal.com]

If you were to go and look at today's photo on new_brunette's LJ then I reckon that's a beech tree ;)

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

So do I.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I don't go through Nettlebed any more (unless you mean after on the way home). However, around the turn for the Highwayman there are woods I believe to be beeches, and would (and did!) unhesitatingly identify them as such in normal circumstances.