Country diary: The beach tree yearns to be back on land | Sara Hudston

Porlock Weir, Somerset: Once part of a horse paddock, this sessile oak now has been left stranded by the retreating coast, and endures hard coastal wintersSessile oaks are emblematic of the south-west, where they grow mossed and twisted in the region's acidic soil and plenteous rain. Their Latin name, Quercus petraea, means "oak of rocky places" and they thrive in the shallow clitter of Exmoor's steep, misty hillsides.Sessile means immovably fixed in position, and refers to the way the acorns grow attached directly to the twigs. This differs from pedunculate oaks (Quercus robur), which dangle their acorns on pendular stems. Continue reading...