Arboretum
A place where trees or shrubs are cultivated for their educational or scientific interest.

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)
An area of high scenic quality designated by the Countryside Agency and the Countryside Council for Wales. These have less legal protection from development than National Parks.

Bryophytes
One of the main groups of the plant kingdom, comprising mosses and liverworts.

Canopy
The uppermost layer of vegetation in woodland, or the upper foliage and branches of an individual tree.

Carr
Woodland in a wet or boggy area, usually containing alder or willow.

Clearfell
Removal of all trees in an area.

Coed
Welsh word for a wood.

Community Forest
The 'Forests for the Community' initiative was launched in 1989 by the then Countryside Commission and Forestry Commission, to promote the vision of forested landscapes on the doorsteps of towns and cities as places for work and leisure. Twelve Community Forests have been established in England.

Conifer
A tree which has needles rather than broad leaves and which typically bears cones eg. yew, pine, fir, spruce. Most conifers in Britain are not native, but have been introduced for commercial forestry.

Coppice
Trees which are cut back to near ground level every few years and which grow again from the stump or stool. The many straight stems which grow from each stool are used for firewood, tools and other purposes. The word is also used as a verb, meaning "to cut coppice trees".

Coppice rotation
The cycle of cutting back and regrowth in coppiced woodland, usually between 3 and 25 years.

Coppice-with-standards
A two-storey woodland management system where among the coppice (or "underwood") some trees are left to grow on as larger size timber ("standards").

Dutch elm disease
Fungal tree disease first introduced to this country in the 1930s, carried by beetles. Since the 1960s it has devastated the elm population of the UK.

Exotic species (non-native species)
Species from other countries not naturally found growing in Britain. (See Native Species)

Field layer
Layer of small non-woody herbaceous plants eg. bluebells, daffodils, ferns.

Glade
An open space in a wood.

Green Belt
An area of open land retained round a city or town over which there are wide-ranging planning restrictions upon development.

Habitat
Natural environment of a plant or animal.

High forest
Method of woodland management to encourage straight, single-stemmed trees which are often felled for timber when mature.

Limestone pavement
Areas of limestone broken up by deep cracks known as grykes. Grykes can harbour a wide range of species which are not found in the surrounding countryside.

Mixed woodland
Woodland made up of broadleaved and coniferous trees.

National Tree Week
An annual celebration of trees and tree planting promoted by the Tree Council.

National Forest
An initiative of the Countryside Agency to create nearly 500 square kilometres (194 square miles) of forest in Leicestershire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire.

National Nature Reserve (NNR)
Areas which represent the best examples of different kinds of countryside or contain unusual communities of plants or animals or important natural features such as rock exposures or gorges. Designated by English Nature, Countryside Council for Wales or Scottish Natural Heritage.

National Parks
The first National Park was designated in 1949 to preserve and enhance the natural beauty of certain areas whilst promoting their enjoyment by the public. There are now II National Parks in England and Wales.

National Scenic Area (NSA)
Scottish designation which is comparable with the AONB designation in England and Wales.

Native species
Species which arrived in Britain in prehistoric times after the last Ice Age and before the English Channel formed.

Natural regeneration
The perpetuation of a tree or plant species without human interference, i.e. from seed, suckering etc.

Pollard
Tree which is cut at eight to twelve feet above ground level and allowed to grow again from the stump to produce successive crops of wood.

Primary woodland
Land which has never been anything other than woodland since the end of the last Ice Age, although it may have been regularly harvested.

Raised bog
Raised bogs develop from valley mires where the rainfall is over 1,OOOmm per year. Here peat builds up until it is above the ground water table. The biggest may spread over hundreds of hectares and can be 6-9m higher in the centre than at the edge.

Regeneration
Perpetuation of a species by natural or artificial means.

Replanted ancient woodland
Ancient woodland which has at least once been cleared and replanted with new trees (usually conifers to replace broadleaves). This has generally taken place over the last 200 years.

Rides
Open trackways cut through woods originally for the extraction of timber.

Rods
The wood taken from coppiced trees and used to make hurdles.

Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM)
An archaeological site of importance listed by English Heritage.

Secondary woodland
Woodland formed on sites since 1600 AD which have formerly been under farmland, moorland or some other nonwoodland use.

Semi-natural ancient woodland (SNAW)
Woodland dating back to at least 1600 AD comprising mainly native species which appear not to have been planted, but which may well have been managed at some period during history.

Sessile
Without a stalk [e.g. sessile oak, so called because of its stalkless acorns]

Shelterwood system
A stand is cleared in two or more successive fellings (known as 'regeneration fellings'). The new stand is established between the first and the last regeneration fellings, often by natural regeneration. Although stands are more-or-less even-aged, a two-aged structure is temporarily created during regeneration.

Shrub layer
Formed by woody plants between 3 and 30 feet tall.

Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
SSSI's are notified by English Nature, Countryside Council for Wales and Scottish Natural Heritage because of the presence of important plants, animals or geological or physiographical features.

Spinney
A small wood or thicket.

Stand
Trees of one type or species [e.g. coppice, alder] grouped together within a woodland.

Standard
A woodland or hedgerow tree having a single stem, and left to grow for several coppice rotations, so as to be suitable for timber.

Stool
Permanent base or stump of a coppiced tree.

Succession
The gradual alteration of an area of vegetation changing by more or less natural processes, usually involving the arrival and decline of species.

Tithe
A small part or tenth of the produce of the land, originally paid as rent to the church.

Tithe map and award
Documents, mostly compiled between 1830 and 1845, recording the ownership, value and use of land within a parish.

Tree preservation Order (TPO)
An order made by a local planning authority which in general makes it an offence to cut down, top, lop, uproot, wilfully damage or wilfully destroy trees without the planning authority's permission.

Tumulus
A mound dating from prehistoric times built over a burial place.

Understorey
Layer of small trees and shrubs beneath the main tree canopy.

Underwood
An alternative name for an area of coppice trees, particularly in the coppice with standards management system.

Water table
Level within the ground below which the pores of soil or rock are saturated with water.

Wet flush
An area of soil in which nutrients accumulate due to water inflow.

Wildwood
The original forest which developed in Britain as the glaciers melted at the end of the last Ice Age.

Windblow/Windthrow
Damage caused to trees by the wind.

Woodbank
A boundary bank surrounding a wood or subdividing it internally.