Following the devastating news that the fungal pathogen Chalara fraxinea is rampant in the British countryside, our ash chapter requires now a major rewrite.
We had completed the section on ash (Fraxinus excelsior and other ash species) just one month ago, and had included a significant section on the potential dangers from this disease which was looming in continental Europe, little-knowing that within one month hundreds of British woodlands would be discovered to have trees infected with ash dieback.
Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) shoot with emerging leaves. Drawing by Sarah Simblet for The New Sylva.We have now just a few months of writing and drawing remaining before the book is put together by publishers Bloomsbury. Let’s hope that the news does not get much worse for this beautiful and graceful tree species before we go to press in late 2013.
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