Alan Mitchell
Alan F. Mitchell was a British forester, dendrologist and botanist, and author of several books on trees.
He almost single-handedly measured every notable tree in the British Isles, founding the Tree Register of the British Isles, which held records of over 100,000 individual notable trees at the time of his death.
During the Second World War, he served with the Fleet Air Arm in the Far East. Returning by troop ship in the Red Sea at the end of the war, he pondered his future and decided it would be trees. In 1976, the Royal Forestry Society of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland awarded him its Medal for Distinguished Service to Forestry during a Society meeting at Westonbirt..
His 1987 book The Guide to Trees of Canada and North America is dedicated to his sister Christine. The book makes occasional oblique reference to a trip to North America in 1976.
Mitchell's Rule states: "If there are tree stumps or felled trunks nearby, count the annual growth rings and measure the trunk circumference to find local growth rates".Selected bibliography
- 1972. . Forestry Commission Booklet 33.
- 1974. . Forestry Commission Booklet 42. Written with John Jobling.
- 1974. A Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Northern Europe. Collins.
- 1980. Native British Trees. Forestry Commission Research Information Note, 53/80/SILS Forestry Commission, Edinburgh.
- 1981. The Gardener's Book of Trees, illustrated by Joanna Langhorne. J.M. Dent, London.. First published in paperback, with corrections, 1993.
- 1982. The Trees of Britain and Northern Europe. Collins.
- 1984. Decorative Trees for Country, Town and Garden. Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Written with John Jobling.
- 1985. Champion Trees in the British Isles, with V. E. Hallett & J. E. J. White. Forestry Commission Field Book 10.
- 1987. The Guide to Trees of Canada and North America, illustrated by David More. Dragon's World, Limpsfield and London. .
- 1996. Alan Mitchell's Trees of Britain. HarperCollins.
