Remarkable Trees of the World

Thomas Packenham, 2003
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2003.
Hardcover, ISBN 0-297-84349-4, 186mm x 225mm, 192 pp, R164.00/£12.99

Until fairly recently Thomas Pakenham was best know for his influential The Scramble for Africa, a history of European colonialism in Africa, and particularly the ‘land grab' that occurred over the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the initial stages of the twentieth. His overwhelming passion for trees, first revealed in 1996's Meetings with Remarkable Trees, was therefore something of a surprise to me. It's a passion, however, that has now seen the publication of the above tribute to some of the exceptional trees of the world. First published in 2002, 2003 saw the release of a smaller format of the book (reviewed here) that appealed far more to me. Aside from the fact that fewer trees were required for its printing, the compact format lends itself to easier reading and, perhaps, surprisingly nothing is lost in the representation of the images of some enormous trees.

As Pakenham himself remarks in the introduction, Meetings' struck a chord with the public - both those who had already openly loved trees and those who hadn't yet realised their own passion - and there is no doubt that trees have an incredible power to awe and move us. Why this should be is perhaps different for everybody, but I imagine there is a common trend that reveres the oldest for their age, size, witness to change (in climate and surrounds for example), ability to survive and other similar qualities. Discovering an old, gnarled and, sometimes, massive tree in some isolated, fire-sheltered location never fails to affect me. It is this ‘wow-factor', together with the fact that the tree must still be standing and be reasonably photogenic, that Pakenham has made his main criteria for choosing sixty trees for inclusion in this offering.

These sixty trees vary from Baobab, to Ginkgo, Giant Sequoia, Kauri, Larch, Juniper, Red Tingle, Monterey Cypress and many others and the search covers countries in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America. Some of the trees really are spectacular and the ‘wow-factor' translates fluently to paper. Others are historically significant, and of course the oldest, tallest and largest are featured. Through it all, Pakenham writes in an easy and subtly witty style that can be dipped into whenever the notion strikes.

- Chris Roche -

Posted: Plants by CC Africa, Date: 22 November 2006