luzula

So I'm rereading LotR now, and there's a line about the Old Forest just as they're leaving the Shire, saying that the parts of the forest that are more alive and more malicious are all broadleaved forest with willow, oak, ash, etc. The outskirts of the forests are coniferous with pine and spruce. This struck me as very apt, since the area around the Shire is supposed to be identified with north-western Europe, and in Europe the broadleaved forest definitely has more reason to be angry at mankind.

There used to be a belt of broadleaved virgin forest all the way across middle Europe, and only remnants are left now, such as Białowieża Forest in Poland and Belarus. OTOH, the boreal coniferous forest fared a lot better, at least in Tolkien's day (though it's probably not happy with being turned into plantations in Scandinavia now). So the broadleaved forest would have a lot more reason to take revenge.

Or maybe I'm just making a whole theory out of a throwaway line here--I have no idea if Tolkien thought of it like this. *g*