Pollen analysis from samples taken from the Lodge Road Bog (Baker, Moxey and Oxford, 1978) has
revealed that although Oak has been a fairly constant feature of the pollen diagram for some 4,000 years,
it is only in the last 1400 years that Beech and Hornbeam have become common in the northern part of
the Epping Forest area, dating back to the Saxon period. For much of the intervening 2,500 years that
separates these periods, the area that was to become Epping Forest is thought to have been dominated by
Small-leaved Lime (Tilia cordata), a feature consistent with other pollen analyses undertaken elsewhere
in western Europe. It is conjectured that the remarkably late decline of Lime in the Forest (then wildwood)
coincided with the rise of the wood-pasture system in Saxon times. Lime is a very palatable tree; it is no
longer found as a native in the Forest, but still occurs in many coppies in north Essex. There are three fine
planted trees with girths of some 6 ft. in the Conservators' Hawk Wood Farm compound on Bury Road.
The pollen diagram also tells us that other tree and shrub species have been present for at least 4,000 years
in the Epping Forest area, among them Hazel, Elm, Birch, Alder and Sallow.
The dense stands of unpollarded Beech on gravels are poor places for tree and shrub growth. You
may find little else other than the odd Holly or perhaps Birch where a pollard has fallen. Much better
are the areas of woodland on London Clay and chalky boulder clay. Here are found species such as
Oak and Hornbeam, and every so often Field Maple, Ash or even Service, which is a speciality of
woods on clay in south Essex. Service is not uncommon in the Forest, sometimes occurring as a pollard
tree, often in small groups (it reproduces mainly by suckers). The Maple-like leaf (Fig. 5)is rather
unusual for a member of the rose family. It is a tree of ancient woodland, becoming increasingly scarce
further north. Even in nearby counties such as Cambridge and Norfolk it is known from only single
specimens. Rowan, another member of the genus Sorbus, is common in the Forest. It may well be a
long-established introduction to the Forest area. There are seemingly few well-grown trees and I don't
know of any pollards (although it is generally only a small tree). It occurs frequently as a colonist of
cleared ground, presumably the seeds being transported by birds.
Birch occurs as two species. Silver and Downy (Betula pendula and B. pubescens). Both are
common in the Forest on burnt or cleared sites and are particularly frequent as colonisers of wet acid
grass-heath sites in the absence of grazing pressure, unfortunately drying out and overshading many
sites to the detriment of the less competitive plants. Intermediates between the two birches also occur.
The abundance of Birch in the Forest is a recent phenomenon. Richard Warner (1771) wrote of Birch
'Found on the Forest between High Beech and Golden Hill in the parish of Loughton: in general, not
very common'. It may be a species susceptible to grazing pressure. Hazel is a very rare shrub in the
Forest today. I know it from only a handful of sites - Warren Hill. Hatch Grove and on Bell Common
(planted at this last site). It has a very palatable leaf and, like trees such as the Elms, is more frequent
in the hedges and woods of nearby farmland, protected from grazing animals. Wych Elm (Ulmus
glabra) is almost certainly native to the Forest. It is rare but occurs along the Ching Brook near Hatch
Grove. In other places is has been planted, for example Wanstead Park. East Anglian Elm (Ulmus
minor) has been found as a standard and pollard tree in the Lower Forest.
Another elm is found as a pollard tree at Woodredon. I suspect it is a very long-established native
elm in the Forest of a type belonging to a group that Oliver Rackham calls Lineage Elm after the wood
in Suffolk which is the centre of its distribution (Plate 25). Wild Crab, the native apple, is not
uncommon in the Forest. It seems to be adept at colonising the Forest's neutral grasslands (with other
species such as Oak and Common Thorn) and persisting. In woodland it is often forced to compete
with Oaks, Hornbeam and Beech and tall spindly trees result.
The Forest has a good list of native Sallows. Willows and Poplars. Several non-native species are
known to have been planted. One of the best places to see members of the Salicaceae is along the
Ching Brook between Connaught Waters and Hatch Grove. Crack Willows (Salix fragilis) are found
here, often with their trunks moss and lichen clad, prostrate over the brook itself. Where the brook
crosses Whitehall Plain an interesting assemblage of willows is to be found including White (S. alba).
Purple (S. purpurea). Grey (S. cinerea). Goat (S. caprea) and Crack and what I suspect are hybrids
between Goat and Grey (S. x reichardtii). Burton (1983) reports the Creeping Willow (5. repens) and
Grey Willow hybrid (S. x ambigua) from the Forest. The Creeping Willow, a small prostrate heathland
species is found on Leyton Flats, Woodford Golf Course and Sunshine Plain and other heathy sites.
Eared Willow (Salix aurita) and Osier (S. viminalis) are both reported as rarities from the Forest. Grey.
Goat and Crack Willows are widespread in the Forest in the vicinity of brooks, ponds and wet ground.
Near the Whitehall Plain willow site grows what is almost certainly the rarest native tree in Forest.
Here there is a superb standard Black Poplar (Populus nigra) identified by its down-curved boughs
which sweep down towards the ground and the huge bosses on the lower trunk. The Black Poplar is
found generally on the flood-plains of rivers. It is a tree of southern England, growing most frequently
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