Trees in London

 When I go away for a holiday, or any other trip that takes me away from home, I have the habit to look at trees just as much as (and sometimes more) at normal tourist attractions.

This time I have been on a short trip to London. Before we went I wondered about all different species of trees that I would see. Then it turned out the whole city is planted with the same sort of tree; we were always surrounded by them, they had these interesting hanging, hairy, round fruits.

The trunks had this nice patterned bark.When you see a pattern like this on a textile, it is usually called "camouflage pattern".

- The bark belongs to the plane tree.

So I have been walking around in London looking at plane trees.

The trunks can be really funny looking.

One bonsai-related thing you can say about the shape of the trees is that they have a clearly visible taper from the roots up the trunk. More on some, and others less of course.

After coming home I have read that these trees are planted in London because they are tolerant to all bad conditions that a tree has to survive in the middle of a big city, like polluted air and compaction of the soil.

Here is a beautiful and interesting site where you can read about the plane trees in London - with many beautiful tree-pictures!