Guernsey Press

Scottish Tree of the Year shortlist unveiled

The Woodland Trust has named six specimens in the running for a £1,000 prize.

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The only tree on an island, an elm that travelled the world and a willow from Napoleon Bonaparte’s grave are among the contenders to be named Scotland’s Tree of the Year.

Six trees in all – the Camperdown elm in Dundee, the “filo pastry” tree in Stranraer, the Flodden tree near Coldstream, Malloch’s oak at Strathallan, Napoleon’s tree in Ecclefechan and Netty’s tree on Eriskay – are in the running to scoop the 2018 title in the competition organised by the Woodland Trust.

The tree that wins the public vote will win a £1,000 care package from the People’s Postcode Lottery.

Camperdown elm
The Camperdown elm ‘travelled the world’ (Niall Benvie/WTML/PA)

The first contender, the Camperdown elm, is a unique mutant form of contorted weeping elm that was discovered in woods near Dundee in 1835. It is thought to have been replanted and is now within the city’s Camperdown Park.

Camperdown elms went on to become popular in gardens and parks around the world, with cuttings grafted onto wych elm roots. The source of them all is the Dundee tree which is now more than 180 years old.

Napoleon's tree
Napoleon’s tree still grows in Ecclefechan (Niall Benvie/WTML/PA)

The Ecclefechan tree was grown from a cutting taken from a weeping willow tree near Napoleon Bonaparte’s original grave on the Atlantic island of St Helena, before his body was repatriated to France.

The “filo pastry” tree, so-called because of the way its bark looks, is the largest of the species polylepis australis in the UK. The species grows at a higher altitude than any other flowering plant on earth, up to 3,000m.

Filo pastry tree
The filo pastry tree has peeling bark (Niall Benvie/WTML/PA)

The Flodden tree is a sycamore at the Hirsel Estate in the Borders, which is thought to have been planted in tribute to the Scottish dead at the battle of Flodden.

Sanjay Singh, senior programmes manager with People’s Postcode Lottery, said: “From botanical oddities to trees with historic connections or simply at the heart of their communities – these are great examples of trees which are cherished. I hope the competition will encourage more people to seek them out, enjoy them and vote for them.”

Online voting at www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/treeoftheyear opens on Monday and runs until October 7.

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