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Once a familiar site, these Manchester-marvels are now a much rarer find, and one of the UK's most endangered Native Trees. Four native Black or 'Manchester' Poplars can be seen here in the grounds of Limehurst Farm, dating back to the early 1600's.
It was estimated that between 5000-7000 of these trees remained in Britain in 2002, with a vast majority of these occurring in Greater Manchester. However, by 2005, half of these were felled due to a blight of Poplar Scab disease.
The tree's connection with Manchester originates from the 19th century, when it was found to be one of the few trees that could resist the smoky, polluted air of the city. As a result, black poplars were planted all over Greater Manchester. However as the city grew, the tree's natural habitat of the flood plain, was slowly drained in order for the land to be cultivated for livestock. This caused a decline in Manchester Poplars along with many other species of trees and plants.
As the city devoured its natural home the tree needed to find a new one in the urban sprawl, but sadly, they have struggled to produce healthy seedlings – trees of both sexes are needed and even when present, viable seeds and seedlings aren’t often produced.
The female tree creates masses of white fluffy material that surrounds the seed allowing it to disperse long distances. Though this might be a very effective method of spreading genetic material far and wide, it made the female variety very unpopular with farmers, urban gardeners and municipal planners. This led to only male trees being planted creating a very low genetic stock in our trees today.
Trees play an incredible role in combating climate change by removing planet-wrecking emissions from the air around us. Despite their great importance, just 13% of the UK’s total land area is covered with trees (compared with Europe's average land cover of 35% and Finland's 75%) This drastic decline is mainly due to livestock grazing and urbanisation.
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Easily identifiable by it's rough, deep furrowed, grey-brown bark
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Manchester Black Poplars (Rear) Limehurst Farm
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| Lombardy Poplar (Left) Manchester Black Poplar (Right) |