The Beauty of Bark

The bark of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) consists of lobed plates that fit together like the pieces of a multi-layered jigsaw puzzle.

 
 
 

Unlike pine and birch, rowan trees (Sorbus aucuparia) have smooth bark which are often covered, as here, by crustaceous lichens.

 
 
 

The bark of aspen (Populus tremula) has diamond-shaped lenticels on it, and the tree is able to photosynthesise through the chlorophyll that gives it this green colour.

 
 
 

Pattern of cracks in the bark of an old eared willow (Salix aurita) in Glen Affric.

 
 
 

Yellow lichen (Chrysothrix candelaris) on the deeply-fissured bark of an old silver birch (Betula pendula) on Dundreggan.

 
 
 

As a downy birch (Betula pubescens) gets older, the smooth whitish bark of the young tree gives way to a more roughly-textured, grey bark.