Apple trees at Glentrool of national importance

GLENTROOL is one of three sites which are part of a national effort to conserve wild apple trees.

Forestry and land Scotland (FLS) recently planted a share of 500 ‘pure’ apple trees donated by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) at the Wigtownshire forest.

The wild apple trees are one of the focal species in RBGE’s Scottish Plant Recovery project, which aims to increase the numbers and distribution of ten threatened native plants.

Aline Finger, conservation geneticist with RBGE, said; “These trees will be great for seed production in the future and will help secure this species’ future properly.

“Because of the nature of the project, we need to be extra meticulous with our record work so each seedling will be labelled with its unique identifier, details of its provenance and also its exact planting location.

“Once labelled, the 500 seedlings can be sent on to colleagues at FLS for planting out.”

Because apples hybridise easily, FLS is planting the donated seedlings at least 500 metres from other apple trees.

Kenny Hay, FLS tree nursery and seed resource manager, added: “These trees will serve as a valuable seed bank that will allow us to grow and plant wild apples across our forests and increase the genetics of wild apples in Scotland.”