The Field Maple of Hans Tavsens Park

Denmark's third-thickest field maple grows in a Norrebro park, and it may in fact be the second. The Danish Tree Register puts it third nationally; two of the maples ranked above it, both in Dragsholm Park, are flagged in the register itself as two entries for what is probably one tree. The arithmetic behind the ranking is the register's own, and it is worth reading with that caveat attached. What is not in doubt is that this is a strange thing for an Acer campestre to become. Field maple is a hedge plant across most of northern Europe, cut back every few years and rarely allowed to be a tree at all. This one is 4.03 metres round and 12 metres tall, with the small five-lobed leaves the species keeps whatever size it reaches. It has had work done. The register's field notes from April 2019 record several of the larger branches sawn out of the crown and some of the smaller ones dry, which describes a tree being managed rather than one left to itself. It is alive, and it is not in its prime. No second source describes it, and nobody has dated it. It stands in Hans Tavsens Park, a few steps from the wall of Assistens Cemetery, where the rest of Norrebro's old trees are. If you know when this one went in, tell us.