Earthly Treasures - Symmetry Magazine

As we get caught up in modern-day wonders, Adam McCulloch reminds us that some of the world’s greatest treasures are remarkable ancient trees that have survived everything from time to atomic blasts.

Communing with nature isn’t just for eco-tourists. Throughout history, philosophers, world leaders, prophets and scientists have all sought shade or enlightenment under spreading leaves.

The secret to the preservation of many arboreal wonders has been their religious significance. Buddha achieved nirvana under a fig tree at the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya, India, some 2500 years ago. The current planting is the fourth descendant of Buddha’s tree and not surprisingly, a popular pilgrimage site. At Saint Catherine’s Monastery on the Sinai Peninsula stands what is purported to be the real burning bush — the very shrub that so freaked Jesus out.  (Though any future holy pyrotechnics will be brief at best, thanks to the very large fire extinguisher mounted nearby.)

The boughs of many trees have acted as outdoor classrooms and, on occasion, teachers in their own right. The famed Greek physician Hippocrates, whose Hippocratic oath is still referenced today, taught medicine under the shade of a now 2400 year old oriental plane tree on the Greek island of Kos. Why this tree? Well, he planted it. Sir Isaac Newton observed a falling apple while luxuriating in his parent’s orchard in Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire in 1666 and discovered gravity. The manor, now a museum, still contains a direct descendant of the original tree. The apple species known as the ‘Flower of Kent’ is so rare that all apples of this variety can likely trace their roots to Newton’s garden.

When a tree becomes useful it also tends to enjoy a degree of longevity. The hollow interior of the Chapel Oak (an 800-year old oak with a ten metre girth, located in Allouville, France) has provided shelter for worshipers since 1669. As the bark shed from the gnarly trunk, villagers protected it with oak shingles giving it the appearance of a goblin’s house. A tree can also make for perfect camouflage. Robin Hood hid out in a thousand year old oak near Edwinstowe in Sherwood forest. The location was a closely guarded secret but now attracts around 600,000 tourists a year. In Western Australia during the 1800s the police in Derby used the hollow interior of a 1500 year-old boab as a makeshift jail while transporting prisoners. In spite of the spacious 15 metre girth, the 40 degree desert heat and no daylight made for a formidable prison.

One tree remarkable for its resilience is the Housenbou Ginkgo. Located outside a temple less than a kilometre from Hiroshima’s ground zero, the building was obliterated by the atomic blast, yet the ginkgo survived. Come spring of 1946, it even budded.

But the oldest living thing on earth, hidden high on an exposed ridgeline in California’s rugged White Mountains is a tree so ancient it is named Methuselah. This bristlecone pine predates the birth of automobiles, trains and very nearly predates the domestication of horses. The date of Leonardo Da Vinci’s zany contraptions occupy a spot near the very outer edge of its growth rings. When this tree sprouted almost 5000 years ago Roman Chariots were considered a high tech invention. Methuselah and many more trees have survived centuries of deforestation and abuse by man and can be visited today. Hopefully in another five millennia we’ll still be able to visit them – although it’s anyone’s guess what we’ll be driving. 

Words by Adam McCulloch. Originally published in Symmetry magazine. The format has been altered to suit Tumblr.