The White Poplar of Broersepark

The register that protects this poplar says plainly that it is no longer impressive. Its own entry drops the word monumental and then keeps the tree on the list for one reason: with a planting recorded between 1860 and 1870, it is probably the oldest thing growing in the Broersepark. The park in Amstelveen is much younger than that. It was designed in 1926 and laid out over the following years as a Wandelpark, a place made for walking, and only in 1967 took the name of Chris P. Broerse, the garden man who had worked there since the first season. On the dates in its file the poplar was already sixty years old before anyone drew a line on the plan. Nobody wrote down who put it there. It wears the years openly. The crown has been knocked about, the trunk leans, and the root plate has lifted enough to raise a hump at the foot. In 1999 honey fungus, a wood-rotting parasite, turned up at the base, and the condition has been rated moderate ever since. What it still does as well as anything younger is the trick white poplars are named for: a gust turns the leaves over and the whole crown flickers silver. You will find it on the south side of the park, at the edge of the pond. Only the national register describes this tree, so if you know more of its story, tell us.