God save the
queen. Without British royalty Wentworth
Elms might be extinct. It even came as a surprise to the trees that they weren’t extinct.
In the 1970s, Britain was being ravaged by
the Dutch elm disease — an epidemic which claimed between 25 to 75 million
trees. Yes, tree epidemics are a thing, and they’re really bad news for us and
the species that rely on those trees for food and board. Ulmus Wentworthii
Pendula, or the Wentworth elm, was tragically wiped out of the island nation by
the affliction.
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Lubomir Mihalik / Pixabay
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Or, so we thought. Two Wentworth elms were
(unknowingly) found (several thousand times) hiding in plain sight in
Edinburgh, adorning the Queen’s gardens. While it took a botanical survey of
the grounds surrounding the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the royal residence in
Scotland, to identify their species, the trees are by no means inconspicuous.
Standing some 30 meters (100 feet) tall, the elms are one of the most
photographed trees in the gardens — it’s just that no one ever noticed they’re
“extinct” before.
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