The Black Locust of Lindevangsparken

Cut this tree into fenceposts and they would still be in the ground long after the fence had gone. Black locust is among the most rot-resistant timbers that will grow in northern Europe, hard enough to be used where oak gives up. The tree itself is less invincible. The Danish register surveyed it in the southeastern corner of Lindevangsparken in 2023 and recorded a large bark wound on the south side along with the measurements: a single stem, 2.92 metres round, 21.5 metres tall. It is a legume, which is the part people struggle with in front of a 21-metre tree. It fixes nitrogen at the root the way a pea does, which is how it takes over poor ground so easily, and in June it hangs chains of white pea flowers with a scent that carries across the park. That lasts ten days or a fortnight, and it is the only stretch of the year anybody looks up at this tree deliberately. The species is named for Jean Robin, a French royal gardener who was among the first in Europe to grow it; it came from the Appalachians and has been spreading through European cities ever since. Nobody has dated this one. Frederiksberg's own park records may carry a planting year, and we would take it.