I’m sorry, I’ll write that again – big trees. This is a Maclura Pomifera named after William Maclure, an American geologist born in Scotland. The Pomifera means fruit-bearing. It should be named after William Dunbar, another Scotsman, who identified it in 1804 when he was travelling from the Mississippi River to the Ouachita River.
It is more commonly called an Osage Orange because it was used by the Osage Indians, or native Americans as they are called these days. They used the wood, as did the Comanches to make bows. The Orange is a red herring; it is more closely related to a mulberry.
Yesterday I was at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, my first visit. It was founded in 1626 and opened to the public in 1640; impressive bearing in mind that Kew Gardens was founded in 1772. However, the cedar at Forty Hall beats it for longevity. Their specimen was only planted in 1734 but they are proud of it.
There is an extensive Alpine garden, some architecture and sculpture.
Bernardin de St Pierre was an 18th century polymath. Inspired by reading Robinson Crusoe he went to the West Indies: on his return he trained as an engineer, fought in the Seven Years War, went to Mauritius to study botany, returning to Paris to manage the Botanical Gardens. As if that wasn’t enough he wrote Paul et Virginie, a novel set in Mauritius. It was jolly famous and spawned an opera but I doubt it is read much now. Anyway Paul and Virginie are the pair canoodling at the base of the statue.
Of course we didn’t come to Paris just to see these gardens but you’ve had your 300 words.