All trees are divided into individual families and each tree has a common name and also a scientific name. The scientific name is universal across the world. For example, Common Alder, part of the Betulaceae (Birch) family may only be known as Common Alder in the English language but is known as Alnus glutinosa in every part of the world.
Some trees may exist as different sub-species, for example Pedunculate Oak and Sessile Oak, both of which appear slightly different but as far as our bushcraft uses are concerned, these will usually be the same. They are Oak! Therefore we will only refer to the families and the names of the main species which will make the subject far more manageable.
We will look at each relevant family individually in the following pages. The families of interest to us as far as bushcraft in the UK is concerned are:
Deciduous Tree Families
- Aceraceae (Maple)
- Betulaceae (Birch)
- Fagaceae (Oak and Beech)
- Juglandaceae (Walnut)
- Oleaceae (Olive)
- Rosaceae (Rose)
- Salicaceae (Willow & Poplar)
- Tillaceae (Lime)
Coniferous tree families
- Pinaceae (Pines)
- Cupressaceae (Cypress)
- Taxaceae (Yew)
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