I found two lovely young "Rauli" trees this morning at The Grove, a woodland from the
old Redleaf Estate. The Rauli or Alpine Southern Beech is known scientifically as Nothofagus or since 2013 Lophozonia alpina (or nervosa or procera)
The apparently deciduous leaves were beautifully oval with rather variable tiny serrations set over an undulate margin. The key from Gandolfo and Romero, 1992 mentions that the sinus of the leaf margin lies just beneath the vein end rather than just above the vein end. They were mid-green on the upper surface, paler beneath. The upper surface has tiny "spots" on them, looking rather like miniature rivet heads, and these may also represent the tiny hollows apparent on the underside of the leaves. It seems strange that these are not commonly mentioned in the texts.
The leaf veins are quite deeply impressed, and 15 - 20 pairs seems quite common. The shape of the leaves and the numbers and appearance of the veins together are quite diagnostic.
The leaf veins are quite deeply impressed, and 15 - 20 pairs seems quite common. The shape of the leaves and the numbers and appearance of the veins together are quite diagnostic.
The (initially green for a year) young shoots and also the petioles, up to 12 mm long, are covered in tiny brownish felt-like hairs. Some of the upper surface, such as the midrib, the margins of the leaves and the underside of the leaf veins are also covered in small silvery hairs.
The buds at this time of year are quite small, a mm or two long, but should be much larger by the wintertime, maybe a cm or so in size.
The tree comes from moderate altitude in the Andes mountain range in Chile, extending into the coastal ranges, and also with a few stands just over the border into Argentina. It is quite far to the south, 35 to 42 degrees. It was introduced to the UK between 1910 and 1914 by F.R.S. Balfour of the Dawyck Estate. In this country it appears moderately hardy, with some losses of younger trees in hard winters. Once over 20 years old you can get fairly good seed crops. It generally does better in the wetter west of the UK.
The tree has a noticeably straight trunk, tapering gently from the ground. The bark starts off a very smooth light grey with fairly obvious white horizontal lenticels, which are a little cherry-like, but the bark becomes much more rugged as the tree ages.
It is a little surprising to find the tree growing here in West Kent, as it is said to need an average of 730 mm rainfall, and therefore to do much better on the western side of the UK where the rainfall can be well above this.
The wood is said to be quite a warm reddish-brown, fine-grained and ornamental enough for furniture, etc. Potentially an interesting forestry tree, in the west and also in Scotland providing seed lots with a sufficiently hardy provenance are used.
The buds at this time of year are quite small, a mm or two long, but should be much larger by the wintertime, maybe a cm or so in size.
The tree comes from moderate altitude in the Andes mountain range in Chile, extending into the coastal ranges, and also with a few stands just over the border into Argentina. It is quite far to the south, 35 to 42 degrees. It was introduced to the UK between 1910 and 1914 by F.R.S. Balfour of the Dawyck Estate. In this country it appears moderately hardy, with some losses of younger trees in hard winters. Once over 20 years old you can get fairly good seed crops. It generally does better in the wetter west of the UK.
The tree has a noticeably straight trunk, tapering gently from the ground. The bark starts off a very smooth light grey with fairly obvious white horizontal lenticels, which are a little cherry-like, but the bark becomes much more rugged as the tree ages.
It is a little surprising to find the tree growing here in West Kent, as it is said to need an average of 730 mm rainfall, and therefore to do much better on the western side of the UK where the rainfall can be well above this.
The wood is said to be quite a warm reddish-brown, fine-grained and ornamental enough for furniture, etc. Potentially an interesting forestry tree, in the west and also in Scotland providing seed lots with a sufficiently hardy provenance are used.
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