Tree stories

Two surviving trees – a giant sequoia in California and a Japanese bonsai – illustrate the resilience of nature thanks to the commitment of two people with extraordinary fates. North of California there is a giant redwood called Luna. The tree survived felling thanks to the commitment of a woman: Julia Butterfly Hill. She lived atop it for two years, thus becoming a figurehead for the preservation of a millenary forest. On the other side of the ocean – a few hundred kilometers from Tokyo – it is a centuries-old juniper that mobilizes all the attention and good care of a bonsai master. Shinji Suzuki’s excellence is recognized throughout Japan and the entire world.

North of Tokyo, the flowering of Japan’s eldest cherry tree is awaited by the whole country. In Mexico, the tree in Tule is the largest cypress in the world. An annual festival is dedicated to its longevity. North of Tokyo, the flowering of Japan’s eldest cherry tree is awaited by the whole country. In Mexico, the tree in Tule is the largest cypress in the world. An annual festival is dedicated to its longevity.

A sycamore fig tree is the motionless witness of orthodox rites In Ethiopia while a giant banyan covers multiple hectares in India. The two trees are close cousins; they both have become sacred and carry men’s hopes. In northern Ethiopia – at the heart of the legendary city of Aksoum – a sycamore fig tree has been sitting on the central plaza all while watching over the inhabitants for about two hundred years. It was revered as a god long ago, now it is an immovable witness to the orthodox rites of men – not far from the chapel where the Ark of the Covenant supposedly lies. 4000 km East – in the Punjab state in northern India – the inhabitants of a small village called Cholti Kheri worship an extraordinary tree. A banyan fig tree – also called “the Sage” – is able to develop itself into a gigantic tree to cover multiple hectares by resurrecting itself continuously.

Not far from the Niagara Falls lives the eldest maple tree in Canada. In India, the Dasheri mango tree gave birth to a variety of fruits of unmatched savor. Two nurturing trees cherished by men for their boons. The sugar maple is the emblem of Canada while the Indian Dasheri mango tree produces the national fruit – called king of fruits. The two nurturing trees are both cherished by men for their boons. In Ontario, close to the Niagara Falls, lives the Comfort maple that bears the name of the family watching over it for nine generations. It is said to be the country’s eldest maple tree. In the state of Uttar Pradesh in India the Dasheri mango tree is the mother-tree that gave birth to a variety of mangoes that is renowned the world over for its unequalled flavor. From the fruit that is gathered to the sap that needs to be extracted those two nurturing trees are a source of flavors perpetuated over the generations.

Guardians of a millenary culture, the Chilean Areucaria and the African Baobab are venerable and venerated trees. Refuge for geniuses or incarnation of a spirit, they represent a strong bond to nature and the ancestors. The Araucaria grows on the outskirts of the Andean Cordillera in Chile. It is an endemic species that appeared millions of years ago. This tree has also been called “monkeys’ despair”, its unique figure lasted through survived harsh climatic conditions all while ensuring subsistence for the local inhabitants – the Mapuche. South of Dakar, the old village baobab of Nianing is a testament to men’s future. Simultaneously a burial ground for the Griots, a bat refuge and a “palaver tree” where everyone comes to exchange ideas, it is shrouded in a magical aura that preserves it from felling.