Known As the Stinking Tree Or the Bour Tree As Its Leaves Have an Unpleasant Smell

TREELORE

ELDER

Known as the stinking tree or the bour tree as its leaves have an unpleasant smell.

Grows in the presence of animal remains. Saxons avoided it, as they believed that it grew only where human blood had been spilt.

Opening of the elder leaves is taken as a symbol for seed sowing in the fields.

Beneficial in repelling evil creatures. Elder grown by the house keeps malignant spirits away. Wearing Elder in your hair meant that you would be presided over by benign spirits and wouldn't come to harm.

To please the spirits of the tree, cakes and milk used to be left in its shade by local folk.

Associated with the crucifixion. Said that the Cross was made of elder and in central Scotland the phrase 'ever bush and never tree, since our Lord was nailed t'ye' was used to describe the tree.

Association with other worldly beings who were not necessarily benign i.e. the old lady of the elders.

It was said she could be glimpsed in the spring hobbling along on an elder walking stick and with skin of a greenish hue. She protected the elder groves and cursed anyone who used their timber. A child laid down in a cot of elder would never flourish, fumiture made of elder would warp and distort and a house built of elder would be prone to fire. However if elder was the only wood available the old lady could be placated by speaking the following rhyme' (lId lady of the elder trees, let be borrow some of your wood and when I turn into a tree you can l1a:ve some of mine'

The fruits and flowers of elder are rich in Vitamin C and coughs were treated with tea made from flowers. The extract of the bark was also used as a purgativel

GEAN Gean has a magical and mystical quality to it When a single tree is discovered in remote highland glens it is a portent offate either good or bad Many Gaels wouldn't use the wood or eat the fruit of the gean, though the taking of fruit or suckers to plant a tree near the house was acceptable. Also thought to protect against evil.

Thought of as a native tree, however there is a lack of Anglo-Saxon place names referring to the gean and indeed the first mention of it occurs in 1634.1t is therefore possible that it was introduced by the Romans.

Cuckoo must eat 3 good meals of cherries before it was allowed to stop singing.

Cuckoo, cuckoo cherry tree Good bird prithee tell to me How many years am I to see

The bird then answers the prophetic number of times.

BIRDCHERRY The bark was used in the Middle Ages as an infusion/tonic for upset stomachs. Pieces of bark were hung outside doors and put into drinking water to guard against the plague.

HAZEL

Hazel has always been regarded as a holy tree, closely associated with fertility; because of this it is frequently used as a divining stick for finding water and precious metals.

HOLLY

Grow holly alongside your house as it is considered to be a protection against thunder and lightning.

IVY

Ivy grown on a house will protect the inmates from witchcraft.

LILAC

It is considered unlucky to bring lilac into the house, particularly white lilac, as death to one of the occupants could follow. However, a single lilac flower with five petals, of any colour, is considered to be very lucky.

OAK

When the oak wears his leaves in October you can expect a hard winter.

Little strokes will fell great oaks.

Oaks can fall when reeds will stand in the storm.

Storms make oaks take deeper roots.

You must look for grass on the top of the oak tree.

Great oaks from little acorns grow.

POPLAR

If anyone was suffering from ague or a fever, they would fasten some of their hair to a poplar and chant, 'Aspen-tree, aspen tree, I prithee shake and shiver for me'. This was thought to cure them.

ROWAN

Wood from the rowan tree was considered to have the power to ward off evil spirits. It was often built into houses, usually as a supporting beam over a fireplace. It was also used for making plough handles to bring luck to the user and cast off evil spirits from the fields where the plough had been used.

SLOE

When the sloe tree is as white as a sheet, Sow your barley, fine or wet.

WILLOW

Willows are weak, yet they serve to bind stronger wood.

Forbidden Fruit

Fruit has often been associated with temptation. Although the fruit that caused Adam and Eve's fall is often said to be an apple, the Bible just refers to it as a fruit.

TREELORE FROM A COUNTRY COMPENDIUM

ASH

Ash before oak denotes a wet season.

When the ash is before the oak, Then we shall expect a soak, But when the oak is before the ash, Then we'll only get a splash.

Buy ash logs, all smooth and grey, Bum them green or old;

Buy up all that come your way, They are worth their weight in gold

BEECH

Fell beech in summer, oak in winter.

If a beech is felled on Midsummer Day it will last three times longer than if it is felled in the winter.

If the beech tree shows a large bud at Christmas there wiil probably be a moist summer to follow.

BIRCH

Garlands of birch hung on the wall of a hollSt. will keep away r.temons.

BLACKTIIORN

To take blackthorn in blossom into a house presages death to the occupant.

If you make a crown of blackthorn and bake it in the oven until it has turned to ash, and then scatter i on the fields before dawn on New Year's moming, you can be sure of a good crop.

It is always cold while the blackthorn is in flower.

ELM

Elm wood burns like churchyard mould When the elm leafis like a mouse's ear, Then sow your barley without fear.

When the elm leaves are as big as a farden (farthing), It is time to plant kidney beans in your garden, When elm leaves are as big as a penny, Plant kidney beans if you mean to have any.

When elm leaves are as big as a shilling, Plant kidney beans if to plant 'em you're willing.

When the elm leaf is as big as an ox's eye, Then say 'Hie! Boys! Hie!'

ASH

Scandinavian people worshipped ash before Christianity. It was the sacred symbol of the life force in Norse Mythology. Odin, the greatest of gods, carved the first man out of ash.

Y ggdrasil ,the great ash tree. Its roots are anchored in the depths of the underworld, and watered by the streams of wisdom and fate. It's trunk supported by the earth and its crown touched the arc of heaven, Asgard and the mansions of the Gods.

Ash wood was considered to be effective as a cure for fresh flesh wounds. Sap used as an antidote to snakebites and a distillation of young shoots produced an excellent cure for earache and unsteady hands.

Slavic people believed that snakes are afraid of the constantly shifting shadow of the ash tree. A traveller should therefor be able to rest at ease under its generous shade.

WHTIEBEAM The Anglo-Saxons, who gave the tree its name ('beam') meant tree, and used it as a boundary marker because of its distinctive appearance.

YEW

Highly prized in the Middle Ages for making longbows such as those with which the English won the Battle of Agincourt.

Legends abound to explain the presence of yews in churchyards. In most European mythologies the yew was scared, so the trees may already have been planted at places of pagan worship before the early Christians built their churches on the same sites. Yews were also said to have afforded shelter to early Christian missionaries before their churches were bnilt.

The tree in mythology

All over the world, from the dark forests of Scandinavia to the Banyan groves of India, trees have figured in ancient myths, folklore and rituals. Perhaps because of their longevity, many religions have regarded them as scared symbols, and certain individual trees have been worshipped by Gods. Hindus, for example, revere the Banyan tree, while Druids worshipped the Oak.

Christian Belief

In the Bible, the cross on which Christ died was symbolically linked with the tree of life, which grew in the Garden of Eden along with the tree of knowledge, and offered everlasting life.

Norse Legend

In Scandinavian myths, Y ggdrasil, peopled by fabulous animals and giants, which links the Earth with heaven and hell. As in many trees of legend it is also a source of knowledge; the god Odin gained his wisdom by drinking from the spring at its roots.

Daphne transformed

Greek legend has it that to escape Apollo. The goddess Daphne changed into a laurel tree. Today, the laurel has a symbolic use as a token of victory, just as it did in ancient Greece.

Christmas Conifen

Although trees have been used as ornaments for hundreds of years at Christmas, the custom of decorating Norway spruces and other conifers became really widespread in the 19th Century.

Evergreen decorations however, were used long before the arrival of Christianity; in pagan midwinter Festivals the green foliage of holly or conifers heralded the return of spring.

ELM In Ancient Greece the elm was dedicated to Hermes, the messenger god who watched over merchants and thieves. The winged fruits of elms also accompanied souls who were brought before the Lord of Judgement by Hermes. Shady elms were planted by nymphs in remembrance of fallen heroes.

In the south of France right was once meted out under the shadow of the elm and God's word was preached.

Elm has also been used as cattle feed If there is an early fall of leaves this was said to signify cattle disease the following year.

WYCHELM The name 'wych' comes from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning pliable, and refers to the tree's twigs. It used to be thought good luck for a horseman to carry a riding-switch cut from an elm tree.

LIME According to Greek myth, when Zeus and Hermes took on the form of earthly men and visited a village they found the villagers hostile, but eventually found hospitality in the bouse of Philemon and his wife Baukis. During the meal the couple realised the identity of their guests when the wine in the jug failed to run dry. As a punishment to the other villagers. Zeus sent a flood, which destroyed the village. Only Philemon and Baukis' s hut was left standing, which was transformed, into a magnificent temple. The two hosts were allowed one wish. They asked that when the time came they would be allowed to end their lives together. After their huntan deaths Philemon was turned into an oak and Baukis was turned into a lime. This is where the lime acquired its feminine character.

Another feminine association was the use of lime leaves to weave garlands for Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and love.

scar'SPINE Scot's pine is the warrior of the tree world It is associated with immortality and was used to mark warrior's graves.

Boat builders who used the pine to make boats believed that the sap was tidal and would refuse to fell a tree when the moon was waning as this was supposed to affect the boats seaworthiness.

HORSE CHESTNUT Artificial limbs were made from horse chestnut, as the wood is light and easily shaped.

Conkers were eaten by deer and cattle and the Turks were said to have fed them to horses to cure respiratory disorders.

ASH Christmas custom is to bum an ash faggot bound with green twigs on the hearth, making a wish as each bond snaps.

Burning ash logs were also said to drive out evil spirits from a room.

Magical properties that would cure a child with rickets or hernia. Before sunrise, the naked child was passed through a cleft tree trunk that was then bound and sealed with clay. As the trunk healed so did the child To cure a lame animal, a hole was bored in the ash and a live shrew was sealed inside. As the shrew died and the tree recovered, the animal was healed

As the tree bursts suddenly into life in May, it was believed to have a benign influence on the newborn. To produce a healthy child give tree sap and put green ash twigs on the birth chamber fire.

ALDER

Secrecy, privacy and refuge are all aspects of the alder's role in folklore. Runaways, outlaws, rebels and outcasts have all found refuge in the dimness of alder forests.

The closeness and dimness of alder woods has also led to them inheriting a slightly sinister character.

The darkness of these woods and the bark of the tree itself have all contributed to this sinister reputation. When cut the sap of the tree turns red and this has been linked with blood.

In Greek mythology alders are said to have grown in Calypso's caves well as that of the nymph who loved Odysseus and who detained him for 7 years. Only on the order of the Gods did she release him.

According to Virgil, the Heliades, the sisters of Phaeton were changed into alders by Zeus.

In Homer's Odyssey the island of death, Aia, is skirted with alders belonging to Circe, the sorceress.

Alders playa role in the manufacture of fertility potions, because of their early flowering blooms.

Various afflictions can be cast out and absorbed by the alder e.g. fever, toothache and warts.

During the sowing season, on Good Friday, people place tiny pieces of alder in their mouths, or receives the sacrament through a ring woven out of alder. This is supposed to keep sparrows away from the fields. Mice and moles can be shooed away by placing chips of alder wood in all four comers of a field or barn on Good Friday.

OAK Regarded as the king of the trees.

In Greece and ltaiy it was known as the 'first tree' to which the origin ofm:mkind could be traced back.

Also associated with evil spirits, the Devil, and witches. It was said that witches used alder wood treece it was dedicated to Zeus, in Roman Italy to Jupiter and in Teutonic Germany to the god of thunder of lightning, Donar. The reason for this is no doubt that of all the native trees the oak is most frequently struck by lightning.