150. Beer Belly
Carlisle’s finest tree appears to like a drink…
Did you catch me on Cerys Matthews’ show on BBC 6Music today? If so, today’s tree is one of those we chatted about, and if you missed it, you can catch up here (starts around 2:04). I was thrilled Cerys played a couple of tracks I’d suggested, Joni Mitchell’s lovely Big Yellow Taxi, and a tree hunting companion track, Supernature by Cerrone – if you liked these tracks, you might like my Spotify playlists which you can read more about here.
Baobab planes are so called because of their dramatically swollen trunks, which resemble the massive trunks of Madagascan baobab trees. They are short, fat cultivars of the London plane and are immediately distinguishable from their lofty siblings. It is astonishing to find one outside a pub on such a busy road in Carlisle: they are frequently found near churches, and usually much further south.
Species details
Baobab London plane
Platanus × hispanica 'Baobab'
Where to find it
St Nicholas Arms, 47 London Road, Carlisle CA1 2LE
///cards.lists.race | 54.888031, -2.924705
A pair of Irish baobab plane trees
Coming soon: Long Reads
I have two new Long Reads for you, first up there will be a piece from campaigner Gio Iozzi about a tree in north London that is in imminent danger of felling, despite it being a perfectly healthy 120 year old plane tree. Look out for Gio’s piece very soon. Also in the pipeline is an in depth article about Brighton’s wealth of elm trees from Vivienne Barton.
See you in Nottingham?
Next Thursday, I’ll be at the Five Leaves Bookshop in Nottingham talking about Tree Hunting, and I have other events lined up too, read about them here.