Trees: whether you think about them or not they help define and inform your travels. Rainforests, jungles, mountainsides, autumn leaves,. flowering branches in spring, fruit for summer harvests, trees forming a quiet park in the midst of a city, and much more.
Jonathan Drori loves trees.
He grew up near the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, in London. His parents were not botanists — an engineer and a speech therapist, rather — but they both loved plants, and inspired that same love in their children. in Jonathan’s case that has led to a lifelong career making science documentaries and sharing his love for trees and plants as a trustee of those very gardens at Kew as well as of the Eden Project, the Woodland Trust, and other nature focused organizations.
It has also led to the book Around the World in 80 Trees .
Drori envisioned the idea for the book as a traveler, thinking of setting out eastward from his home in London and journeying around the world.
The result is a compendium, sort of, and reference, sort of, and group of travel tales. It’s not only any of these things, though. There is plenty of botany and other science involved, along with history, humanities, and off beat hard to categorize pieces of information.
“For me. the most satisfying tree stories are the ones in which a piece of plant science has surprising human ramifications,” Drori writes. That was one of the ideas which guided his choices of species and locations to include.
You will know some these species already. Even with those which are familiar, though, it is likely than you will learn something new.
Rowan, for example, is common in Scotland . It shows up in folklore, music, and legend as well as in more conventional tellings of history. Did you know, though, that those bright red berries contain an acid which has anti bacterial properties?
Perhaps you have walked the avenue Unter den Linden in Berlin. Did you know that in medieval Germany, towns often had a linden tree at the center of the community where legal judgements were given out as it was considered a place of truth?
Have you seen those photographs of goats standing on top of trees? You will find out about why they do that in the story of the Argan tree in Morocco.
Do you remember reading the book Under the Baobab Tree when you were a child? When you read about the baobab tree of Botswana you will get an idea of the tree’s place in stories which have been passed own over time, as well as about its botany.
Oman, Yemen, and especially Somalia are the home territory of the tree whose resin becomes frankincense. You’ll learn a bit about the history of trade in the substance as well as how it is harvested.
You may have seen pomegranate juice at your grocer’s. On Drori’s journey, he finds the pomegranate tree in Iran. He explores its botany, taste, and uses in food, as well as its appearance.
Speaking of appearance: Lucille Clerc, who is a French artist based in London, provides illustrations for Around the World in 80 Trees.
Her art adds much to the text, showing trees, leaves and berries which are botanically correct and also whimsical enough to allow readers to engage with them. There are those human interactions with trees now and again in her art, also.
As Drori continues his exploration of trees he meets coastal redwoods in California in the US, as well as wild apple trees in Kazakhstan, date palms in Egypt, balsa in Ecuador, avocado in Mexico, lodgepole pine and sugar maple in Canada, bald cypress in the southern US…
There are less familiar trees and/or in less familiar locations, too.
There’s a reason why Norway spruce turns up in Italy (it has to do with violins).
Had you heard of coco-de-mer tress? They are in the Seychelles. Neem trees turn up in India, while you will find Kauri trees in New Zealand .
If there are younger readers in your life, or if you’d like a good refresher on the story and biology of trees. then you will also want to take a look at the book The Magic and Mystery of Trees by Jen Green.
If you’d like to learn other perspectives on trees and travel and perhaps listen to learn, the radio show To the Best of Our Knowledge has done several broadcasts and podcasts about trees you may find of interest. Thee include scientist Suzanne Simard on ways trees communicate and author Richard Powers on writing the inner life of trees in his novel The Overstory.
Speaking of that inner life of trees, I’ll leave you with the song Heartwood. Karine Polwart sings it, as part of the Lost Words: Spell Songs. project.
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