When is a forest not a Forest, and a wood not a copse but a spinney? I’ve put together a list of collective nouns for trees from the English language from arboretum to woodland. Perhaps some will be new to you; maybe I’ve missed one that you know.
| collective noun | description |
|---|---|
| arboretum (plural arboreta) | botanical collection of trees, often supporting public education and science activities, including genetic conservation. See list of UK arboreta |
| avenue | row of trees, often a double row, marking an approach to a feature or lining the sides of a road. e.g. lime avenue |
| beare | an old Anglo-Saxon name for a small wood. e.g. Black Tor Beare, Dartmoor |
| bush | wooded area but usually not densely populated with trees |
| cant | block within a woodland (usually 2-5 acres) often used to described an area under coppice management, with the number of cants equal to the rotation length (e.g. with 14 year coppice rotation, there will be 14 cants) |
| chaparral | dense thickets of trees in the Mediterranean region (Europe), California (USA) and Mexico, usually comprising evergreen broadleaved species adapted to hot dry summers |
| clearing | an area clear of trees in a wood or forest, sometimes created when trees are felled for timber or kept free to enhance biodiversity or landscape |
| clump | hilltop group of trees, often prominent in the landscape |
| compartment | management unit of a forest, used as a technical term among foresters to define areas under similar management or with discrete mixtures of tree species |
| coupe | an area within a woodland where the trees are to be felled |
| coppice | refers to the management practice of coppicing, although sometimes used to describe an area managed as a coppice crop e.g. sweet chestnut coppice |
| copse | technically an area managed as coppice but commonly used to describe a small wood. e.g. Piles Copse |
| dell | small valley or hollow, usually ( but not always) covered with trees |
| dingle | steep-sided wooded valley, commonly used in Wales |
| forest or Forest | With a capital ‘F’ refers historically to a royal hunting forest (e.g. Forest of Dean, New Forest), but in modern usage with a lowercase used widely describe a large area of trees, although often interchangeably with wood or woodland |
| grove | a small group of trees, generally of an attractive nature |
| hagg | a clearing in a wood or forest, from Old Norse and used still in northern England |
| hanger | small group of trees on a hillside or slope |
| hedge or hedgerow | a line of trees, often comprising shrub species, traditionally planted and maintained to mark a boundary or to contain livestock. In some part of Britain (e.g. Devon) they are planted on top of soil-filled double stone walls. Traditionally managed by laying, and sometimes with occasional large trees left uncut to grow as ‘standards’ |
| holt | a wooded hill |
| krummholz | trees growing at high latitudes and in exposed situations where their growth is stunted by extreme cold and wind, creating dwarfed and contorted forms |
| monoculture | a group of trees consisting of a single species (e.g. in a plantation) or genetic similarity (e.g. a natural group of clonal aspen grown from suckers) |
| orchard | an area of trees planted and managed for their crop of fruit or nuts, typically using specific varieties to improve food quality and volume production |
| pinetum | a collection of pine (Pinus spp.) trees or more often conifers generally, forming a special type of arboretum |
| plantation | an area of trees deliberately planted by man as a forest operation, typically for timber production although not exclusively |
| Quercetum | a collection of oak (Quercus spp.) trees forming a special type of arboretum |
| roundel | a small group of trees circular in shape (cf. clump) |
| shelterbelt | a band of trees planted or managed to protect soil, crops, and livestock from damaging winds |
| shrubbery | an area of small trees (shrubs) in a garden |
| spinney | a small area of trees, like a copse or wood but traditionally created and managed for hunting game |
| stand | a forestry term used to describe an area of a forest with uniform tree species, structure, age, size etc., similar to a compartment |
| thicket | a dense area of trees, often impenetrable to people |
| withy | a group of willows, often in a damp or boggy area |
| wood or woodland | both terms are used interchangeably, see also forest |
| xylarium | This doesn’t belong here but I like the term! It refers to a collection of woody specimens, as a ‘herbarium’ is for plants. |
Have I missed any terms for groups of trees?
Please add comments below and I will update the list. Thanks