So often as gardeners we talk about shrubs and perennials with trees relegated to the back row of the chorus. Yet, they last far longer than fleeting flowers and, as The History Trees reveals, have played a big part in our history.
(Sent review copy. Not paid.)
This new book by Colin Salter puts the spotlight on some of the world’s remarkable trees, noteworthy either because of their age or size, or for the part they have played in events that have shaped our world.
It’s a journey that takes us across continents as we are introduced to trees in Sweden, America, Sri Lanka and Australia among others. Quite a few from England are mentioned, including Newton’s apple tree in Lincolnshire, and the beech trees in Wiltshire believed to be the inspiration for Tolkien’s Ents.
We meet a pair of Californian giant redwoods (Sequoia giganteum) named for generals in the American Civil War, and a baobab tree in Western Australia that was used as a holding cell for prisoners.
We’re told how five seedling larch gifted to the second Duke of Atholl led to a forest of 14 million and how the third duke planted on difficult terrain by firing seeds from a cannon.
There’s a Los Angeles palm that keeps moving – it’s on its fourth home – and possibly the loneliest tree, a solitary Sitka spruce on Campbell Island, New Zealand.
Many of the trees are truly ancient: a Norway spruce in Sweden is 9,565 years; ‘Methuselah’, a bristlecone pine in California, is 4,856 years; the Ashbrittle Yew in Somerset is 3,000-4,000 years old. Meanwhile, the exact location of the tallest tree in the world, a 115.92m coast redwood in California, is a closely guarded secret.
Some of the trees are noteworthy for their role in world events, both good and bad. The Batheaston Pine in Somerset marks the women’s suffrage campaign, and we’re told that in Virginia, USA “In the shade of the Emancipation Oak, slaves became free men and women and an open-air classroom became a university.”
In contrast, a pear that survived the 9/11 attacks in New York is now part of the Memorial Plaza, while The Red Forest refers to the pine trees at Chernobyl whose needles and bark turned orange as a result of radiation.
If only trees could talk, what tales they could tell.
The History Trees by Colin Salter is published by Pavilion with an RRP of £16.99. #Ad You can buy it here for £12.21. (If you buy via this link, I receive a small commission. The price you pay is not affected.) Alternatively, you may wish to buy from an independent bookseller here. All prices correct at time of publication of this post.
Top photo: the most lonely tree in the world. Photo Ellen Rykers.
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