Arbutus; the great survivor

 it has been a hard winter here in the south-western corner of BC (stop laughing, rest of Canada!) and the signs of that are everywhere. In fact it somewhat reminds me of Edmonton in spring: brown and boring... but not quite as bad. And at least we don't wrap our trees in hessian here so the landscape doesn't quite look like uncovered left-over sacks of christmas presents when the snow finally disappears.

the prolonged cold weather has particularly hit our Arbutus trees hard and instead of the dark, imposing waxy green, most trees are now dominated by frost-bitten brown dead leaves. There's no denying Arbutus has had a real hammering this year and it remains to be seen how well or to what extent they will recover.

it seems almost impossible to write excitedly about a plant instead of animals. They don't seem to do much, other than standing stoically, and be useful, be it as shade, food, shelter or just being pretty, but there are a few local ones here that for some reason have struck a chord with me and are close to my heart. Arbutus is one of them.

not our "national" tree, the Pacific Dogwood, which is "all top-show and no knickers" as we say in England, but the Arbutus to me epitomizes BC.. in fact in some respects a very Canadian tree.. multicultural to the core. It is by no means as exciting as one of my other two favourite plants, Dull Oregon Grape, an ever-changing riot of colour although it does it slowly throughout the year, but then plants have so much more time and a sedate lifestyle compared to the frenetic and hectic pace of the animal world. But it is the only plant (and a tree at that!) that can beat or at least match the capacity of the Orange Trumpet Honeysuckle to fill the air with an overpowering, sweet, omni-present aroma when in flower, although it takes a lot more of Arbutus than honeysuckle to do that. Flower for flower much weaker, but strength in numbers for Arbutus.

Arbutus (Arbutus menziesi), or the Pacific Madrone to give it its proper, rest of north-America common name, is a strange tree with a long history and an even more unexpected lineage. Officially the Arbutus has representatives or family members in north America and the Old World, as do most Canadians, at least up to now, and strangely enough sits in the family of Ericaceae, the heathers, at first sight not a very imposing and odd one but it also includes the rhododendron so it can be excused. The North American species are called the Madrones (but not in BC where we stick to Arbutus) whereas the European, predominantly Mediterranean ones are called "strawberry trees". Although they are related, the split between the two groups seemed to have occurred about 23 million years ago and the current European species are more related to the tiny, ground-covering bearberry or kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) , another ubiquitous BC species, than to the north American Arbutus species. What they all have in common though is that each of them grows extremely well, best in fact, in harsh, nutrient deficient conditions, mostly thanks to a "special relationship" with a small root fungus which helps extract what little nutrients are available from their environment.

much has been written and complained about the apparently unexplained and general decline of Arbutus, and all kinds of causes are proposed although most usually a badly defined disease (if it actually exists....): Arbutus Decline. More likely though are changes in its environment, in particular soil/water relationships (not climate change, thank god!) to which Arbutus seems to have such great difficulty adapting, which seems odd for a tree which is so used to and capable of growth in what most would say are impossible circumstances. Crack in a bare rock face, seaward cliffs, isolated patch of dirt somewhere.. Arbutus says hi! As long as it can get light it will do over here. And its companion fungus of course.

"apparent difficulty to adapt to change", because when you look closely that may just not be the case. In fact it seems to adapt extremely well, although perhaps not as quickly and magnificently as we expect them to be at first, as long as the place is not concreted over. And of course, typical for a plant with a long term view, it does so leisurely and slowly, with no regard for our desire to get the view back as soon as possible, or at least within our lifetime.

when Arbutus is disturbed, and in particular the existing soil water relationships seriously altered, its first response seems to be to die, to much dismay of all who loved and admired him/her so much. It appears to be the end of Arbutus in that location or area. But look closely; everywhere around new shoots sprout out of the ground. They don't look much and won't look much for a long time yet but they are there. Usually they are referred to as new seedlings and indeed some, even many of them are. But if you, like me, poke around a bit, you'll notice that a good many of those seedlings actually seem to have surprisingly large and developed root systems already... how or when did this happen?

the story seems to be that when conditions change Arbutus sheds its top-show but keeps its knickers.. The mature tree-growth disappears but the root system, a serious store of nutrients, regenerates new outgrowth, taking over where the old guy left off. All in good time of course. No need to rush. As long as the roots don't get disturbed too much the original plant survives and starts dressing afresh.

and that is why Arbutus is one of my favourites. Whither Arbutus? Like hell! It is a survivor and capable of living in circumstances where other, lesser botanical brethren would long have given up. A fighter. It will be interesting to see what our winter has done to it, whether it regenerates above ground or retracts, for a human generation or so, below, to start improving our view all over again. I'll be watching the one in my back garden and a few others very closely over the next few months to see what happens. And to collect firewood of course if it decides to go... give it a decent funeral, as someone of that age deserves.