Friday, 22 January 2010

Himalayas in Thornbury

I have never been to the Himalayas but I would expect to see cedars, birches and snow like this. In fact I took this photo on 6th Jan in Thornbury, my home town.
Conifers look tremendous in snow. It emphasises their form and they somehow look right.
The tree on the left of the picture is a Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara) native to the Himalayas. It is typical of a semi-mature Deodar with its drooping branches and the drooping tip to a long, slender leading shoot. Only a few conifers have drooping leading shoots: Lawson Cypress, Western Hemlock, the 'pendula' variety of Nootka Cypress and Deodar Cedar. So if you are trying to identify a conifer with a drooping tip it must be one of these.