What trees are on both sides of King's Avenue in Game of Thrones?

Fagus sylvatica is better known as the European beech, which is often used in various European literary works, and the name sylvatica and Sylvanas, the dark queen of magic, are derived from the Latin sylva, meaning "forest."

Leaves wither but not wither

Fagus europaea is one of the most common forest trees in europe and is widely distributed throughout the continent west of the balkan peninsula. The highest recorded plant height exceeds 50 meters, and ordinary plants can easily grow to 30 meters.

The crown shape of European Fagus is related to the environment. In the forest, it tends to be narrower because of the closed light. If it is planted in a sunny park or roadside, it will generally grow into a wide sphere.

European beech in roadsides and forests. Photo by Willow & Ben Skála / wikimedia

The root system of European Cyclobalanopsis is extremely large, the bark is smooth, and the edges of the leaves have small obtuse serrations. It can be vaguely seen that it is of Fagaceae origin.

Leaves of Cyclobalanopsis europaea. Photo by Willow / wikimedia

Although it is a deciduous tree, the leaves of European Fagus do not fall off every autumn, some will stay on the branches and dry up until the next spring when new buds sprout. This phenomenon has a special word marcescence in English, Chinese can be translated into withering or withering, the specific evolutionary meaning is not clear now, there is a view that it can be used to protect the new buds from being eaten by animals.

Autumn European beech. Photo by Jean-Pol GRANDMONT / wikipedia

One material for many purposes

Generally, the European water green oak will not bear fruit until more than ten years old. Their flowers are monoecious unisexual, the male flowers grouped into pendulous dichasium, the female flowers growing in the involucre-cupule at the leaf axil.

Erect hairballs are female inflorescences, pendulous are male inflorescences. Photo by Kenraiz / wikimedia

The shell of European Cyclobalanopsis has raised appendages, but neither chestnut spines nor oak scales, but covered with gray coarse hair. When the cupule ripens, it cracks, releasing the two triangular nuts inside.

Shells and nuts. Photo by Frank Vincentz / wikimedia

As a distant relative of chestnut, the seeds of European Cyclobalanopsis can also be eaten, but because they contain a lot of tannic acid, eating them directly is bitter and irritating to the stomach. However, in times of food scarcity, people still could not give up this important source of calories, so they ground the seeds into powder, soaked and washed with water, removed tannic acid, and then ate the precipitated starch. Their seeds also contain oil, which the British used in the 19th century to press oil for lamps.

The shelled seed looks like this. Image: healthbenefitstimes.com

The trunk of Cyclobalanopsis europaea is tall and sturdy, the wood is hard and dense, and can be used as building materials or indoor furniture raw materials. Heartwood most central color red, in our market is not very popular, but in Europe origin people do not care, but will be regarded as a unique color.

The wood has a red heart in the center. Photo: beky.eu

Different from oak, which is also a family of Fagaceae, the wood of European Cyclobalanopsis decays easily when exposed to water. It cannot be used to make barrels or wine barrels without preservation treatment, nor is it suitable for making outdoor furniture that will be stained with rain.

However, the wood of European beech is good fuelwood. The cellulose extracted from its wood can also be used to make modal fibers with high moisture absorption and high air permeability-the kind often used in thermal underwear.

European beech wood. Photo by Jean-Pierre Chéreau and Roger Culos / wikimedia

In Holmes 'series "Four Signatures," there is a detailed description that Holmes discovered footprints left by treading on creosote, which was a common medical product in Britain in Victoria era, mainly obtained by burning wood such as European Cyclobalanopsis into charcoal and then drying.

Creosote contains phenols such as guaiacol and phenol. It is a powerful antiseptic, but it can cause damage to skin and mucous membranes. Now it has gradually withdrawn from the ranks of mainstream fungicides. Japan has an over-the-counter treatment of diarrhea called Zhenglu pill, the active ingredient is creosote, contained in the mouth when brought about by the burning sensation is precisely because of the stimulating effect of creosote.

"Dark hedge"

The natural forest of European Cyclobalanopsis is often very dark, dense branches and leaves cover the ground tightly, few shrubs grow, and their own seedlings are very adapted to this environment, prefer shade and fear sun, must be in the direct sunlight to thrive.

In oak economic forest, the seeds of European Cyclobalanopsis tend to take root and germinate in the shade. Because they grow fast and easily exceed the height of oak trees, blocking the sun from affecting the growth of oak trees, one of the daily tasks of oak forest workers is to pull out the seedlings of European Cyclobalanopsis.

Fagus europaea seedlings. Photo by wikimedia

Because of its beautiful tree shape, it is often used in European gardens. Over the years, people have cultivated varieties of tree shape, leaf shape and leaf color. There is a very famous tree wall in Edinburgh Botanical Garden, England, which is planted with a row of European Cyclobalanopsis and then pruned out. It is more than 100 meters in length, three stories high, green in spring and summer, red in autumn and winter. It is very spectacular.

A wall of beech trees at the royal botanical gardens, edinburgh. Photo: cookiebuxton.com

Swipe left and right to see the color leaf varieties "Purpurea Tricolor" and "Rohan Weeping." Photo: Аима ина с икари & Elektryczne jab? ko / wikimedia

The "King's Road" scene, which appeared in the first episode of Game of Thrones Season 2, is also flanked by European beech trees. The scene is located on a country road in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The trees on both sides are planted in the 18th century. Every time you step into it when the light is dim, you will feel the feeling of a different world, and this section of the road has a special name Dark Hedges-"Dark Hedges".

"King's Road" in Game of Thrones. Image: winteriscoming.net

Dark hedges. Photo by Colin Park / wikimedia

European water green oak accompanied the ancient Europeans from wilderness to civilization, people make the best use of it, gratifying is not exhausted fishing.

Many parts of Europe now retain large areas of European Cyclobalanopsis forest, and a number of nature reserves have been established. The original forest of Carpathian Mountain, which spans several countries, has also been listed as a World Heritage Site for protection.

European beech forest listed as world heritage. Image: allaboutworldheritage.com

This article is the 154th article in the 4th year of the Species Calendar from Species Calendar Author @ Desert Porcupine.

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