This European/Asian introduction has been used extensively by the Forestry Commission in plantations all over the British Isles and particularly extensively in Scotland. So the problem is to determine whether or not the specimen you are examining is wild or planted. This tree was had escaped into private grounds just across the River Nairn. It had been planted on the opposite bank.

The BSBI distribution map shows this as one of the commonest species in these islands but Stace says it only occasionally seeds itself. So either botanists have been recording planted trees instead of wild naturalised ones or it is more fertile than Stace thinks....but which?

Craggie House grounds, Daviot, Scotland 6th June 2006

Added on 21st october 2006, updated 18th June 2011