the big
picture.
If you can’t go down to the woods today (for
obvious reasons) you can still explore the wilds
with Jonathan Drori’s Around the World in 80
Trees, with illustrations by Lucille Clerc, which
explains how people and plants are connected.
We know they have curative effects – a
canopy of just 10 additional trees in a street
raises residents’ sense of health by one per
cent. And they’re calming too. Moves by the
National Trust, Wildlife Trust and RSPB to keep
gardens and nature reserves open throughout
the Covid-19 crisis may literally prove a breath
of fresh air for an anxious nation.
This silver birch is the Finnish entry, voted
the country’s national tree in 1988 because
its ghostly appearance means it crops up
frequently in local folk tales and superstitions.
Some 12,000 years ago, as the last ice age
thawed, the birch was one of the first trees to
colonise newly exposed earth, which is why its
native range extends so far.
The UK is represented by London plane,
Leyland cypress and the rowan, joining an
international forest, which includes India’s
sacred banyan tree and the giant redwoods
that have lived through countless crises in the
past and will still be standing tall long after the
current one is over.Around the World in 80 Trees by
Jonathan Drori, illustrated by
Lucille Clerc, is out now in hardback
and paperback (£17.99/£12.99,
Laurence King Publishing)SPECIAL
BRANCHES
22 | BIGISSUE.COM 23-29 MARCH 2020