International Dendrology Society trip – day seven

It was another day of travelling today. We moved from Bakuriani to Batumi, Georgia's second largest city which is situated on the humid Black Sea coast.

Although a large city, the road to Batumi is mostly a winding stone track through the lesser Caucasus mountains, climbing to and falling from the mountain pass at 2025 metres. So whilst the journey was long and very tricky for our drivers, it did afford us stops to see two of Georgia's finest native trees.

Ostrya carpinifolia (Hop hornbeam) and at the higher elevations, the mighty Abies nordmanniana (Nordman fir). The Ostrya was festooned with its super pannicles of bract covered seed, while the Abies dominated a dense mixed forest.

The latter was also found further up in pure, spacious stands of spreading specimens well above 80ft in height.