This is a guide to the essentials for identifying trees commonly found in the UK, with key facts Designed initially for teachers and educators, but also useful for those who work with trees, e.g. architects, surveyors, estate managers and those keen to know more.
Presented in a succinct an accessible, illustrated form, with input from Kevin Martin, Keeper of the Tree Collection at RBG Kew, it covers the trees commonly found in the UK, with key facts.

Accessible, authoritative and very readable
The Tree Manual is an accessible, authoritative and very readable guide to the most common trees found in Great Britain. The photographic illustrations are excellent and very clear. Accompanying text provides straightforward and jargon-free information on where the individual tree will thrive, what it is used for, how long it is likely to live, how large it will grow and what problems might affect it. At the end of the book is a useful section on the law, poor health in trees and photographic illustrations of various fungi which might affect trees.
The authors are to be congratulated on a long overdue and extremely useful guide. For academia and both the construction and insurance industries it provides a handy guide which will fit easily in a pocket and which can be used in class and on site. It should also be required reading for both professional and amateur gardeners and landscapers.
Highly recommended.
Anna Kingsmill-Vellacott
MA(Oxon), TrinityCertTESOL5, FCMI, MIRM (Ret’d)
Forestry Journal
Do you have an interest in trees but don’t know where to start? Then a new pocket-sized guide could be for you.
The Tree Manual: An Essential Guide features a host of information on some of the UK’s best-loved trees – both native and introduced.
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Written by author Mark Chester and RGB Kew’s Kevin Martin, the book includes an easy-to-identify guide (with buds, leaves and bark illustrated), plus key facts.
Readers will discover details regarding:
Trees and the Law
Poor Health
Fungi and Trees
Described by Simon Lloyd, formerly CEO of the Royal Forestry Society, as ‘worthy of a wide circulation’, and Dougal Driver from Grown in Britain as having ‘a great, concise layout’, the Tree Manual was launched at the recent APF Exhibition.