Hi Steve

Are these really naturalised trees or plantings / escapes? I can't find it here in Stace3

Best wishes,
Chris R.

Hi Chris,

Many thanks for pursuing this one a little further - I must admit I am unsure how to answer.  Here in Liverpool, and I am sure in many other cities and large town around the country, there are many plots of open green-space land which are available for the public to wander through.  Some of these 'green' areas comprise areas of council planting of trees and bushes; some are public parks and gardens and others are remains of land left over from previous usage.  Within these areas are many plants (especially woody ones) which one could not, with the best will, call native but which do provide habitat, food and coverage for a wide variety of other organisms.  I feel that it is useful to record these species and their abundance in the given areas.

The particular Oak trees under consideration are in a relatively derelict area of green-space down by the River Mersey and this land used to be a part of Toxteth Park - originally a 'hunting park' for King John - and was a rural beauty spot until the mid 19th Century.  I cannot prove it but I would assume these trees were introduced sometime since the days of being King John's hunting ground but a long time before today (the trees are large).

With introductions such as the plants in the above situations when should they be added to the dictionary to allow them to be recorded ??

The Dictionary already has species such as "Guppy" on it - could this be described as 'naturalised' ??

Further comments on this would be gratefully received - (from all readers).

Cheers and thanks.
Steve

There's a record of an Epipactis being introduced [probably] with Q. trojana in Berkshire. Whether or not Q. trojana is considered 'worthy' of being recorded, being able to record that interaction is useful [i.e. thinking more of species interactions rather than bio recording].

Had a chat with Mark Spencer, who looks after the UK & Irish herbarium and his rule of thumb for whether to record a species is that it must be doing more than just growing after being planted by humans. It must be regenerating to create new plants or it must at least be providing a significant interaction with the rest of the habitat. For instance if it was producing smaller trees through acorns or it was suckering then that shows that it is spreading. Also if it was producing galls or providing an association that needed recording with a natuve UK species then that would be another good reason. Do we know if the Quercus trojana would qualify?