Before the beech advanced, following the retreating glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age, it was the Scots Pine that ruled the Forest.
Native to Belgium, known as Pin sylvestre and Grove den, it has long accompanied human settlement. Its timber served for construction, its resin yielded tar and turpentine.
Steep the young needles, finely chopped, in hot water for a fresh, resinous tisane rich in vitamin C. In spring, the soft pale-green buds can be layered with sugar or gently warmed to produce a dark, aromatic syrup. In France and Belgium this is sold as sirop de bourgeons de pin.
Therapeutically, pine may be added to baths, where it relaxes muscles, stimulates circulation and lends a steadying scent. Needle preparations ease coughs and congestion. The resin can be worked into a simple salve.
Up here above the Vuylbeek, where the first settlers made their homes several thousand years ago, it is not difficult to imagine an early barley brew flavoured with pine, perhaps sharpened with Creeping Charlie.
Now it is being replanted on the sandy, poorer soils of clearings and margins, restoring something of a resinous note to the Forest, more in keeping with its deep past than the introduced larch.