Arbutus Technical Consulting
Arbutus Menziesii
This page provides answers to two questions that people often ask us:
- How do you pronounce ‘arbutus?’
- Why did you call the company ‘Arbutus Technical Consulting?’
‘Arbutus’ is pronounced AR-byoo-tuss’ and we gave the company its name because we have fond memories of arbutus trees from when we lived in British Columbia, Canada.
In British Columbia, ‘arbutus’ means ‘arbutus menziesii’, an evergreen tree native to the Pacific coast of North America. It can grow tall in the right conditions but it specialises in dry rocky places, where other trees struggle, sometimes colonising rocky outcrops on the seashore. Under these conditions, it tends to be a rather small and gnarled tree but a striking one, with distinctive reddish-orange bark, white flowers in the spring and red berries in the autumn.
It is well adapted to its environment. It can grow back after fire and is extremely tolerant of drought. If its deep roots struggle to find enough water, it has the ability to peel off its outer bark, revealing a green under bark through which it can photosynthesize with little water loss.
We named the company after the arbutus tree because we liked it, rather than for its qualities but, actually, a small, resilient and successful specialist is not a bad symbol after all.