The Bottle Tree, scientifically known as Pachypodium lealii, is a unique native plant to Namibia and Angola.
It’s characterised by its swollen bottle neck trunk which stores water for survival in dry environments. The plant also has slender spiny branches and leaves clustered towards the tips.
But it should not be underestimated, as the milky sap is toxic with a lactic juice that was used as an arrow poison by Namibian hunters causing blindness if it gets into the eyes.
Pachypodium lealii is one of the giants of the genus; it is the largest of the continental African species, occasionally obtaining a height of over 8 metres (26 ft) in height. Of the continental species, P. lealii has the most arborescent form. It grows with a single, or sometimes double trunk, though damaged plants may have multiple trunks. The bark is pale and varies in colour from grey to creamy to tan to pinkish. The trunk is generally conical, tapering gradually from base to top. In very old plants the trunk can be more parallel-sided.
However tall P. lealii grows, it’ll be almost entirely branchless until the very top. The leaves grow on slender branches and are jealously defended from herbivores by sharp spines.
Around May to November the leaves will all drop off as the Bottle Tree diverts all its effort into growing surprisingly extravagant flowers. The flowers are pink to white and dark red towards the centre. It has shiny, leathery leaves which can measure up to 20cm in length.
The plant is protected and listed on CITES 2, according to Namibian.org
The Big Belly Oak is a sessile oak tree (Quercus petraea). It is enormously fat, with a girth of over 11 meters.The oak has a large cavity in its centre, likely an effect of pollarding.
The Big Belly Oak is the oldest oak in the Savernake Forest; Wiltshire, England, estimated around 1,000 years old. It would have been a young tree at around the time that William the Conqueror defeated King Harold in 1066. As part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002, the Big Belly Oak was named as one of 50 Great British Trees, a collection of significant trees in the United Kingdom.
The Big Belly Oak grows by the side of the A346 road between Marlborough and Burbage, but a walk into the lovely Savernake Forest is the best way of viewing this ancient tree. It is one of many ancient oak trees in the Savernake Forest, including the New Queen Oak, the Queen Oak, the Saddle Oak 1, the Spider Oak; the Cathedral Oak, and the King of Limbs
Old growth forest, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Vancouver Island is renowned for its extensive old-growth forests, particularly on the west coast. Popular areas for exploring these ancient forests include Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park, Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, and the forests near Port Renfrew.
Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park: This park is celebrated for its massive old-growth trees, particularly in the Carmanah and Walbran valleys.
Here you will see Sitka spruce and Giant Western Red Cedars. Some of the trees, including the Carmanah Giant (a Sitka spruce), are among the tallest in Canada, with some reaching heights of over 95 meters (314 ft). These trees, along with other species like western hemlock and coast Douglas-fir, contribute to the park’s rich and diverse ecosystem.
Pacific Rim National Park Reserve: The western side of the island, including Pacific Rim, is home to lush rainforests and accessible trails that allow visitors to experience the old-growth forests. Meares Island, accessible through tours, is a noteworthy destination.
You will see Giant Western Red Cedar and Sitka spruce, as well as understory plants like moss, lichen, and ferns.
Port Renfrew: Known as the “Tall Trees Capital of Canada,” Port Renfrew boasts a concentration of large trees and old-growth groves, many of which are accessible through the Port Renfrew Big Trees Map.
You will see the Red Creek Fir (the world’s largest Douglas-fir tree), San Juan Spruce, Harris Creek Spruce, Big Lonely Doug (Canada’s second-largest Douglas-fir), and more!
Hiking: Many of these areas have well-established hiking trails that allow for close-up exploration of the old-growth forests.
Protecting the Forests: There are ongoing efforts to protect and preserve Vancouver Island’s old-growth forests, with organizations like the Ancient Forest Alliance advocating for their conservation.
Other Notable Areas: Cathedral Grove in McMillan Provincial Park offers a magical walk among giant trees. Francis/King Regional Park in the Victoria area also features large Douglas-fir trees.
STUDY SHOWS TREES SYNCHRONISE ELECTRICAL SIGNALS DURING A SOLAR ECLIPSE
In a remarkable discovery, scientists have found that trees may act as a “living collective”, synchronising their internal electrical signals in anticipation of a solar eclipse.
During the 2022 eclipse over Italy’s Dolomites, researchers recorded spruce trees aligning their bioelectrical activity hours before the event began.
This suggests trees don’t just passively experience environmental changes – they anticipate and respond to them as interconnected organisms. The older the tree, the stronger its anticipatory signals, pointing to a potential transmission of ecological awareness across the forest.
Using custom sensors on living trees and even old stumps, the scientists observed coordinated changes in voltage within cells, known as bioelectrical potentials. These signals, driven by ion flows across membranes, indicate trees might communicate and adapt collectively.
The findings lend strong support to the idea that forests are not merely clusters of individual plants, but interdependent systems where ancient trees play a key role in resilience and ecosystem intelligence. The study also adds weight to growing calls to preserve old-growth forests for their unseen but vital ecological wisdom.
(The study is published in the journal of the Royal Society Open Science.)
Long ago, in the heart of the enchanted forest, a majestic stag roamed, its antlers reaching toward the stars, a symbol of the bond between the earth, the skies, and all living things. The stag was no ordinary creature; it carried the wisdom of the ancient world within its spirit, and the forest itself was its home.
The Great Spirit of the Earth called upon the stag one day, for the balance of nature had begun to falter. The harmony between the land and the heavens was at risk, and only the Sacred Stag could restore the flow of life. With a heart full of purpose, the stag set off on a journey to the edge of the world, where the sun touched the mountains and the moon embraced the sea.
As it moved through forests and over rivers, the stag encountered many challenges. The winds of change blew fiercely, and the rivers swelled with the weight of the forgotten spirits. But the stag’s spirit was strong, its heart bound to the rhythm of nature itself. Every step it took, the earth beneath it seemed to sing with life, a reminder that the power to heal the world lay within the most sacred of creatures.
Finally, at the summit of the highest mountain, the stag stood before the Celestial Circle, a mystical altar where the realms of the earth and the sky met. With a deep breath, the stag raised its antlers toward the heavens, calling upon the stars, the moon, and the sun to restore balance. A brilliant light flooded the land as the stag’s cry echoed across the universe, and the forces of nature aligned once again.
The stag returned to the forest, its spirit forever linked with the pulse of the earth, the wind, and the waters. It became a symbol of wisdom, renewal, and the interconnectedness of all living things.
Moral: Just as the Sacred Stag carries the spirit of the earth within its being, so too must we carry the wisdom and strength to restore balance when the world feels out of harmony. The power to heal and renew is within all of us, connected by the spirit of nature.
‘Revenge’ for a planning dispute or the desire to get a souvenir for a newborn girl were the possible reasons two groundworkers cut down Britain’s most famous tree, it can be revealed today as they were both found guilty.
Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, face up to ten years in prison for felling the Sycamore Gap tree during a ‘moronic mission’ which lasted less than three minutes, and causing damage to Hadrian’s Wall in the process.
Jurors found the pair guilty after their friendship degenerated and they tried to pin the blame on each other in court. The verdicts were delivered after five hours of deliberations
The trial previously heard that Carruthers had chopped down the tree so he could present it to his newborn baby girl as a ‘trophy’ – without realising the revulsion this would cause.
Another theory is that the plot to chop down the tree was hatched as Graham was facing removal from his ramshackle home in the shadow of Hadrian’s Wall – branded a ‘shanty town’ by long-suffering neighbours.
Some locals in the remote rural area are convinced that the groundworker’s motive in targeting the iconic tree stems from his grievance with authority over his failure to secure planning approval for the eyesore he created in the unspoilt landscape.
Graham bought a small plot of farmland in Grinsdale Bridge near the Cumbrian village of Kirkandrews-on-Eden in 2015, the Telegraph reported.
There he quickly established a number of buildings on the property and gained planning permission for a stable block, horse shelter and storage units.
But locals complained when Graham moved into a caravan on the site shortly afterwards, using it as the base for his business, DM Graham Groundworks – which lists tree clearance among its services.
Officers instantly recognised his voice as he told them that ‘one of the lads that [did] it, Adam Carruthers,’ had taken his chainsaws back home.
The ‘anonymous caller’ said if police searched Carruthers’ home and workshop they would find the saws and part of the felled tree, along with a shotgun and a pistol. No firearms, chainsaws or the tree wedge were found, however.
On December 1, 2024, days before the trial was originally scheduled to begin, Graham took to Facebook to accuse Carruthers of felling the tree, posting a series of images of his former friend.
‘I truly would not do it,’ he wrote.
‘It’s my picture everywhere. Well, here’s a picture of the man with [the] hidden face.’
In a tense exchange with Mr Wright during his cross examination, Graham tried to justify turning on his friend.
He developed the land – which he named Millbeck Stables – into a sprawling ‘shanty town’.
When neighbours complained about additional prefab buildings erected without planning permission, the noise of his dogs and the constant to-ing and fro-ing of the lorries he used in his groundwork business they were met with aggression.
A neighbour told the Telegraph that Graham had ‘completely destroyed the look and peace of this area’ and that ‘harsh words’ had been exchanged.
‘It was unbelievable that he managed to establish a home there on what had previously been a green field,’ they said.
Graham applied to Cumberland Council for permission to live there lawfully in October 2022 despite never having sought planning permission, the Sun reported.
But after neighbours objected and the local parish council said people felt threatened by his ‘dominant and oppressive behaviour’ it was rejected in April 2023 – leaving him facing eviction.
Just five months later, he and Carruthers chopped down the famous tree.
Now some locals believe the ‘moronic’ Sycamore Gap outrage was his bid for revenge on all those he felt had wronged him.
‘It’s what everyone around here was saying and it makes perfect sense,’ one told the Sun.
‘He considered that caravan his permanent home and had asked the council to legally recognise that.
‘When they refused the only way it could ever have ended for him was being evicted.
‘He’s a tree surgeon, he cuts trees down all the time – what better way, in his eyes, for him to take revenge?’
Meanwhile Graham appealed to the planning inspectorate in a bid to avoid eviction, but that was turned down on April 28, the day before his trial began.
He has six months to find somewhere else to live – however his immediate future is now behind bars.
Richard Wright KC said: ‘Though the tree had grown for over a hundred years, the act of irreparably damaging it was the work of a matter of minutes.’
Graham and Carruthers were ‘best of pals’ at the time and regularly worked together felling trees.
Graham’s Land Rover was picked up on automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras between Carlisle and Sycamore Gap at night on September 27 2023, and returning early the next morning. His phone was traced to cell sites making the same journey.
When police arrested the pair and searched Graham’s phone, they found a two minute and 41 second video which showed the sycamore being cut down at 12.30am on September 28, and had been sent to Carruthers.
They also found photos and videos of a wedge of tree trunk and a chainsaw in the boot of Graham’s Range Rover, although these have never been found.
Messages and voice notes between Graham and Carruthers the next day showed them talking about the story going ‘wild’ and ‘viral’, referring to ‘an operation like we did last night’ and joking that damage looked like it had been done by a professional.
A man named Kevin Hartness posted about the tree on Facebook, writing: ‘Some weak people that walk this earth; disgusting behaviour.’
Carruthers sent this post to Graham, and later sent a voice note in which he said: ‘I’d like to see Kevin Hartness launch an operation like we did last night… I don’t think he’s got the minerals.’
In August last year, Graham made an anonymous phone call to the police in an attempt to implicate his friend and save himself.
He said Carruthers and an associate had tried to intimidate him into taking the blame for cutting down the tree, insisting that the criminal justice system would be lenient towards him due to his mental health issues.
He added: ‘If someone is costing me money and affecting my business then I will f***ing grass.
‘No doubt about it he [Carruthers] is the one holding the chainsaw. Adam felled the tree, I don’t know 100 per cent who the other person was.
‘I was annoyed about my business suffering through his actions.’
To explain away number plate and phone site evidence against him, Graham insisted that Carruthers and an accomplice had taken his car, with his phone inside, and driven to the Sycamore Gap without his knowledge while he had been sleeping in his caravan.
Carruthers, for his part, did not directly accuse Graham of being involved in felling the tree.
But he insisted that on the evening the tree was felled he had tried to take his partner and young children for a meal at the Metrocentre in Gateshead but turned back because their 11-day-old baby was unsettled.
Jurors rejected these flimsy alibis and found the pair unanimously guilty of causing criminal damage worth £622,191 to the tree and £1,144 worth of damage to Hadrian’s Wall, a Unesco world heritage site owned by the National Trust.
They now face up to ten years in prison.
Sycamore Gap timeline: How damage to the landmark tree unfolded
– September 28, 2023
12.32am A video is made on Daniel Graham’s phone showing the sound of a chainsaw, followed by the sound of a tree falling
9.46am Police receive a report that the Sycamore Gap tree has been damaged. The investigation begins
– October 31, 2023
Graham and Adam Carruthers are arrested and interviewed. Police find two chainsaws, and a chainsaw blade and cover at Graham’s house
– November 3, 2023
Graham and Carruthers are arrested and interviewed again. Carruthers’ property is searched and a chainsaw is found
– April 30, 2024
Graham and Carruthers are charged with criminal damage. They both later plead not guilty.
– April 28, 2025
The trial of Graham and Carruthers begins at Newcastle Crown Court
– May 9, 2025
Graham and Carruthers are found guilty of cutting down the tree in an act of ‘deliberate and mindless criminal damage’
Fury as 400-year-old Oak Tree is cut down by Toby Carvery in London over ‘health and safety’ fears
Locals are in uproar after an ancient oak tree thought be one of London’s biggest was felled by Toby Carvery.
The more than 400-year-old tree, located in Whitewebbs Park, north London, is believed to have been felled on April 3.
It is situated next to a car park on land leased to Mitchells & Butler, the pub chain owner of the nearby Toby Carvery.
A spokesperson for Mitchells & Butler said the huge tree, which has a girth of 6.1 metres, was cut back after advice it posed a ‘serious health and safety risk’.
The company said in a statement: ‘The tree was cut back after we were advised by our specialist arboriculture contractors that it caused a potential health and safety risk.
‘This was an important action to protect our employees and guests as well as the wider general public, to whom we have a duty of care.
‘We took necessary measures to ensure any legal requirements were met.
‘We are grateful to our specialist arboriculture contractors for warning us of this potential health and safety risk, allowing us to act swiftly to address it.’
Enfield Council members have reported the matter to police and a preservation order remains in place on the base of the stump.
The felling has sparked outrage among locals and environmental campaigners.
Adam Cormack, The Woodland Trust’s head of campaigning, said: ‘This depressing crime is a reminder to all of us that not every ancient tree is in a safe place.’
Ed Pyne, Woodland Trust senior conservation adviser for trees, added: ‘This is the most shocking fell I think I’ve ever seen in more than a decade working with ancient trees.
‘In my view, this is ecologically much more significant than the Sycamore Gap – and certainly a more irreplaceable tree.’
Local tree surgeon Henry Jordan, 21, who travelled to the park after hearing about the felling, called it a ‘disgrace’. He said: ‘They have absolutely annihilated the oak. When I was younger, I came here with my friends and we used to run about in the woods and this tree was one of the larger ones. ‘It is a disgrace to see it like this. You can tell it was not dying because there is still foliage growing on it.’
Ed Allnut, a local resident and secretary of the Guardians of Whitewebbs group, said: ‘The tree belonged to Enfield and to our national heritage.
‘I am personally devastated. We want answers, and we want guarantees the other trees here are being protected properly.’He added: ‘This was a special tree, there are probably only 100, of its age left in London.’
The tree is thought to have been planted in the 1600s, before the English Civil War. From the English Civil War and the Enlightenment, through the Victorian Empire and two World Wars, it stood. And it was beautiful.
Ed Allnut, a resident of the north London borough and secretary of the Guardians of Whitewebbs group, said local people want justice for the felling.
Dog walker Hayley Pugh, who saw the crew cutting the tree told Metro: ‘There were three blokes with chainsaws and unmarked vans. It’s awful, I’m here every day.
Ergin Erbil, leader of Enfield Council, said they had not been informed about the incident until last week. He said: ‘Enfield Council cares deeply about protecting trees and green spaces in the borough.
‘The council was not informed of this incident until last week. Our teams immediately carried out a full site inspection to assess the damage after receiving reports of the damage done to the tree.
‘We are treating the matter as criminal damage and have reported it to the police. We’ve now placed a legal protection (Tree Preservation Order) on the tree and are looking at ways to help it grow back.’
On Monday, the Tree Council and Forest Research called for a ‘robust and effective system’ to protect England’s most important trees in the wake of the Sycamore Gap tree felling in Northumberland in September 2023.
The trial of the two men accused of felling the Sycamore Gap tree is due to take place later this month in Newcastle Crown Court.
Oak trees are valuable for wildlife and biodiversity, and can support more than 2,300 species including birds, bats and insects.
Dog walkers came to pay their respects to the tree, patting it on its bark. One said: ‘I don’t know what this country is coming to.’
A blogpost by the tree company Thores Trees says: “Ancient trees like this one are living ecosystems in themselves. This oak was a lapsed pollard, a sign of historical land management, left to mature over centuries into a vast and unique habitat. Its sheer size and age meant it was home to hundreds of species, many of which rely solely on old trees like this to survive.”
Tree Weaver 