Brussels' own heritage inventory calls this oak probably the oldest tree of any kind in the entire region, and its evidence is a single number: 6.05 metres around the trunk, measured at chest height.
Ancient trees in Belgium
Belgium keeps a national champion for each species, and one small Antwerp park hemmed in by three streets holds two of them: the thickest black locust recorded in the country at 4.10 metres, and a black mulberry at 1.28 metres, which is what a record looks like for a tree that never grows stout. This page maps 58 remarkable trees across 6 cities in Belgium, each one researched and verified. The oldest of them is The Chene Josephine in Brussels, at close to 400 years.
Brussels runs an inventory of its own, and the first entry in it was a squat evergreen oak in the Parc d'Egmont that most people walk straight past. Six of the trees mapped here stand in that one park, within a couple of minutes of each other. The largest tree in Brussels by girth is not European at all: a giant sequoia in the Parc de Woluwe, measured at 8.66 metres around in 2017. Six cities so far, 58 trees.
Every mapped city in Belgium
1
Brussels30 trees · oldest close to 400 years2
Antwerp10 trees · oldest 196-237 years3Ghent6 trees · oldest roughly 170 years4Bruges4 trees · oldest roughly 250 years or more5Leuven4 trees · oldest roughly 230 to 250 years6Ypres4 trees · oldest roughly 105 years
Brussels30 trees · oldest close to 400 years2Antwerp10 trees · oldest 196-237 years3Ghent6 trees · oldest roughly 170 years4Bruges4 trees · oldest roughly 250 years or more5Leuven4 trees · oldest roughly 230 to 250 years6Ypres4 trees · oldest roughly 105 years36 species grow in Belgium
Oaks Pedunculate Oak 4 · Northern Red Oak 2 · Turner's Oak 2 · Oak 1
Beeches Copper Beech 3
Planes London Plane 3 · Oriental Plane 2
Limes Lime 4 · Large-leaved Lime 2 · Common Lime 1 · Silver Lime 1 · Weeping Silver Lime 1
Maples Silver Maple 1 · Sycamore 1
Chestnuts, walnuts and hazels Horse Chestnut 2 · Caucasian Wingnut 1 · Cut-Leaved Horse Chestnut 1 · Turkish Hazel 1
Figs and mulberries Black Mulberry 3 · White Mulberry 1
Conifers Ginkgo 3 · Cedar of Lebanon 1 · Douglas Fir 1 · Giant Sequoia 1
More broadleaf trees Japanese Pagoda Tree 2 · Mixed species 2 · Tree of Heaven 2 · Black Locust 1 · Black Poplar 1 · Canadian Poplar 1 · European Ash 1 · Kentucky Coffeetree 1 · Pyramidal Holly 1 · Thornless Honey Locust 1 · Tulip Tree 1 · Weeping Ash 1
The oldest tree mapped in Belgium
Trees from Belgium also appear in Europe's Ancient Oaks You Can Actually Visit · The Great Planes of Europe · The Oldest Tree in Every Country We Map. See every city on the map, or open the map to find what is near you.