Naming our trees: a call for voices from sound artist John Levack Drever

I am currently developing the soundscape approach to the Common Line digital experience, and in that endeavour, I request your participation.

Below is a list of the names of shrubs and trees in English and in Linnaean plant taxonomy that we may consider planting on the line, or perhaps are already there. You may know names for these species in other languages, Scots, Welsh, Gaelic, or other languages and dialects that you speak, or maybe you have unique names that only your family use.

Without compromising social distancing rules, please make recordings of you and/or your family and friends announcing the names of the shrubs and trees. You may want to work through the list below (it doesn’t matter if you can’t pronounce the Latin, have a go!). You are more than welcome to include names in other languages and dialects that you know.

Please upload your recordings and send a link to j.drever@gold.ac.uk. Please include the names of the announcers so we can credit them. The deadline to submit recordings is the 30th June 2020. I look forward to hearing your voices.

Best wishes,

John

  • Common Alder (Alnus glutinosa)
  • Alder Buckthorn (Frangula Alnus)
  • Aspen (Populus tremula)
  • Common Ash (Fraxinus excelsior)
  • Common Beech (Fagus Sylvatica)
  • Downy Birch (Betula Pubescens)
  • Silver Birch (Betula Pendula)
  • Blackthorn (Prunus Spinosa)
  • Sweet Chestnut (Castanea Sativa)
  • Horse Chestnut  (Aesculus Hippocastanum)
  • Bird Cherry (Prunus Padus)
  • Wild Cherry (Prunus Avium)
  • Crab Apple (Malus Slvestris)
  • Dog Rose (Rosa Canina)
  • Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea)
  • Elder (Sambucus nigra)
  • English Elm (Ulmus Procera)
  • Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus)
  • Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)
  • Common hazel (Corylus avellane)
  • Holly (Ilex aquifolium)
  • Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus)
  • Small-Leaved Lime (Tilia cordata)
  • Large-Leaved Lime (Tilia platyphyllos)
  • Field Maple (Acer Campestre)
  • Common Oak (Quercus robur)
  • Sessile Oak (Quercus petraea)
  • Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris)
  • London Plane (Platanus x hispanica)
  • Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia)
  • Spindle (Euonymus europaeus)
  • Sycamore – Acer pseudoplatanus
  • Common Walnut (Juglans regia)
  • Whitebeam (Sorbus aria)
  • Eared Willow (Salix aurita)
  • Goat Willow (Salix caprea)
  • Crack willow (Salix fragilis)
  • Yew (Taxus baccata)