Trees species

There are estimated to be about 3 billion trees in the UK, although in terms of the number of native species (i.e. those that have been here since the end of the last glaciation and were not introduced by humans) Britain is rather impoverished, with only about 32 species. However a vast number have been introduced since, with more than 3000 having been identified as growing successfully in the British Isles, as listed in  the Tree Register of the British Isles.  Most of these have been introduced in relatively recent time, but shown below is a list of tree species that existed before 1900, showing the periods when they were believed to have been introduced. Non-native species that have been present since before 1500 are known as Archaeophytes. Some of these may have been brought to these islands by early humans, others by later visitors to these shores, or indeed by invaders such as the the Romans. They brought us walnut and sweet chestnut and possibly sycamore, although some maintain this didn’t come over from its native European range until the Tudor era in the 1500s.

NATIVE & INTRODUCED TREE SPECIES IN BRITAIN
(Excluding species introduced after 1900)