Matthew Collins with Thomas Rutter, The Tree Atlas: the world’s most amazing trees and where to find them (Lonely Planet, 2024)
The head gardener at the Garden Museum in London, Mathhew Collins, has collaborated with Thomas Rutter, horticulturist and garden writer, to choose 50 of the most impressive tree species from all parts of the globe. Their choice is presented in a large-format coffee-table edition, beautifully illustrated by full-page photographic tree portraits. Some pages also have helpful hand-painted identification hints by watercolour illustrator Holly Exley.
The book is divided geographically, with profiles of selected species in Africa and the Middle East, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. The range of each tree is shown with a map, together with an indication of lifespan, average height and conservation status. There’s advice about the best locations to see the trees and at what time of the year. Travel tips are included to encourage visits.
The text is clear, informative and thoughtful, giving insights into how each tree species fits into its ecosystem and what makes it so special. The front of the book provides further guidance to find trees ‘to make you feel small’, ‘with blossoms to wow you’, ‘quirky trees’, ‘longest living trees’ and ‘most vulnerable trees’.
The Oceania section of the book features Australia’s mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans), the wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis), karri (Eucalyptus diversicolor), Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria heterophylla), snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora), and Moreton Bay fig (Ficus macrophylla).
The book certainly presents some of the most beautiful, impressive and unique tree species you could hope to find on your coffee table. Don’t be put off by the rather strange tree on the cover!
The Tree Atlas should motivate us all to value the world’s heritage of trees and forests. The introduction stresses that trees are not only beautiful and essential to good environmental health. They are also health-giving to people in a variety of ways: by calming the spirits, arousing feelings of awe and inspiring creativity. Trees are vital to life and their conservation in the face of diverse threats is becoming more urgent. This book seeks to promote that conservation by increasing understanding of trees and encouraging readers to experience trees in their natural environments as well as between the covers of a book.