Fabulous FESTIVE flora

Discover what makes these plants popular around Christmas time

- AILSA HARVEY

O CHRISTMAS TREE

How to identify your Christmas tree and other common cone-bearing evergreens

PINE

This tree is rather variable in appearance, as different species hold different shapes. This means you can choose your Christmas pine tree according to preference. Some are sleek and narrow, while others are fat and festive. Pine trees have thin needles that grow in bundles of two, three or five. They are joined together by a papery sheath. These bundled needles are unique to pines, which makes them easy to pick out from spruce and fir trees. In pine trees, the scales on the cone are attached to the central stalk and seeds are produced in between them. Pine cones usually have thicker scales than spruce cones.

FIR

Fir trees are identifiable by their classic conical shape. The branches are usually quite evenly spaced and the top tapers into a smooth point. A fir tree's needles are soft and flat, or two-sided, and grow individually from the branches like a spruce tree's. However, when these shed, they leave behind a smoother branch in place of a spruce's rough surface. The base of a fir tree's needle is round, and when these shed, a light-coloured circular scar is left behind. If you were to crush this tree's needles, it would release a citrus scent. A fir cone's scales break away from the main stalk while the cone is still attached to the tree. This means that you will almost never see an intact fir tree cone on the ground.

SPRUCE