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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

The Essay Podcast

The Essay

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

The Essay: The Meaning of Trees

The Essay: The Meaning of Trees: Episode 14: Birch

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

The Meaning of Trees

Episode 14

Episode 14: Birch

Birch

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, The Meaning of Trees, Birch

Birch trees provide punishment, beauty, versatility and wine, but are very short-lived.

Professor Fiona Stafford discuss birch, very short-lived trees which represent punishment, beauty and versatility, and can be used to make wine.

The immediate meaning of Birch to British ears is punishment. Frequently in archaeological finds of Neolithic and later peoples, Birch is present as weapons, canoes, spears, bowls, rope, carts, furniture and most importantly its bark and root funguses as antiseptics and wound dressings. She is known as the 'watchful tree' for the lenticels on her oily, almost indestructible bark have been interpreted as eyes' - overlooking everything happening in the forest. But Birch really is a sentinel, when spring comes, the birch is one of the first trees to come into leaf. The silver birch is a symbol of beauty, much prized in literature, poetry and photography. Birch sap can be drunk neat, or used to brew wine, beer or vinegar. Birch wine is said to prevent gall/kidney stones, a remedy for rheumatic diseases, a cleansing mouthwash, and an acne remedy. 

This third series of these popular tree essays is again written and presented by experienced essayist Fiona Stafford, Professor of Literature at Somerville College Oxford, and explores the symbolism, importance, topicality and surprises of five more trees common in the UK.

Producer - Turan Ali 
A Bona Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 3.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Fiona Stafford explores the symbolism, importance, topicality and surprises of trees

Professor Fiona Stafford of Oxford University explores the symbolism, importance, topicality and surprises about different trees, as well as our ambiguous relationship with them.

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Episode 14: Birch

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