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This is one of very few Trees of Heaven planted in recent years. The species, Ailathus altissima, is notorious for suckering and seeding itself wherever it can get a foothold, and once it has, it grows rapidly - a metre or more in a year is common. This behaviour, along with its unpleasant smelling male flowers, and its ability to poison other plants around it has led to it falling out of favour. But it is the species associated with Bermondsey tree planting heroine, Ada Salter. She was the mayor of this poor, overcrowded and industrial corner of south east London in the 1920s and 30s. During her tenure, she planted thousands of trees in a bid to beautify the borough. Many or those trees were Trees of Heaven, then thought to be an ideal urban tree: a handsome species that could survive Bermondsey's industrial pollution while growing rapidly too. It wasn't long though before the tree's less desirable characteristics became apparent and effectively put an end to it's street-side planting.⠀ So how come this one was planted? It's a memorial tree, marking the vault where Ada and her husband, Alfred's ashes were interred after their deaths in the 1940s. It is a fitting arboreal tribute to their pioneering work improving the lives of the urban poor.⠀ ⠀ #UrbanForest #londonstreets #Treestagram #treesoflondon #LondonPop #lonely_tree_love #Treesofinstagram #instatree #tree_captures #lotiloves #londonbylondoners #london_enthusiasts #ilovelondon #Southwark #Bermondsey #AdaSalter #ThisIsLondon #TreeCharter #sharenaturepics #maybeLDNer #prettycitylondon #allkindsofnature #treesplease #infrontoftrees #urbanarboretum #urbanlandscape #LondonisaForest #Treeofheaven #Ailanthusaltissima #greattreesoflondon

Coldfall Wood is one of London's remarkable surviving tracts of ancient woodland. Located between leafy Muswell Hill and East Finchley, it's a small oasis filled with fascinating natural and social history. Until about a century ago it was larger (but it has, mercifully, stopped shrinking), and would have been managed to produce a sustainable supply of wood coppiced from the trees within. Most of those are hornbeams (Carpinus betulus) with mature oaks also present. The hornbeams have been uncoppiced for 100 years and have grown up to become dark, muscly props for a dense green canopy. But one of Coldfall's most remarkable features is the ancient woodbank, an earthwork many centuries old that would once have demarcated a boundary. It's just discernible still, and all along its course are twisted marker trees like this fabulous veteran hornbeam. It shows signs of having been laid as a constituent of a hedge and of having been coppiced too. What must it have witnessed over the course of its long, long life I wonder?⠀ ⠀ #UrbanForest #ancientwoodland #Treestagram #treesoflondon #LondonHistory #Hornbeam #Carpinusbetulus #Treesofinstagram #instatree #tree_captures #lotiloves #nationaltrust #london_enthusiasts #ilovelondon #Haringey #MuswellHill #ColdfallWood #sharenaturepics #maybeLDNer #prettycitylondon #allkindsofnature #treesplease #infrontoftrees #urbanarboretum #urbanlandscape #LondonisaForest #urbannature #naturewriting

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