Photo: Ordifana75 (CC BY-SA 3.0)
The oldest tree in Paris was planted in 1601, before the Mayflower sailed.
Ancient trees in France
France's oldest tree has a birth certificate rather than an estimate. This page maps 84 remarkable trees across 6 cities in France, each one researched and verified. The oldest of them is The Robinier of Square Rene-Viviani in Paris, at 425 years.
The Robinier of Square Rene-Viviani in Paris was planted in 1601 by Jean Robin, herbalist to Henri IV, from seed the naturalist John Tradescant sent from the Appalachians, before the Mayflower sailed and before the genus that now carries Robin's name even existed. That precision runs through France's other oldest trees, most raised from seed by royal gardeners and university botanists rather than found growing wild: a Cedar of Lebanon that legend says crossed the Channel tucked inside a botanist's hat, a plane tree named for the naturalist Buffon who ran the garden that raised it. Six cities are mapped so far, Paris's botanical lineage alongside Lyon's, Nice's, Bordeaux's, Strasbourg's and Toulouse's own plantings, and French ancient trees tend to come with an actual planting year rather than a growth-ring guess, because someone with a reputation to protect wrote the date down.
Every mapped city in France
1
Paris31 trees · oldest 425 years2
Lyon13 trees · oldest approximately 170 years3Bordeaux10 trees · oldest over 130 years4
Nice10 trees · oldest undated, some individually estimated over 400 years5
Strasbourg10 trees · oldest roughly 290 years6Toulouse10 trees · oldest
Paris31 trees · oldest 425 years2Lyon13 trees · oldest approximately 170 years3Bordeaux10 trees · oldest over 130 years4Nice10 trees · oldest undated, some individually estimated over 400 years5Strasbourg10 trees · oldest roughly 290 years6Toulouse10 trees · oldest 44 species grow in France
Oaks Pedunculate Oak 2 · Turkey Oak 1
Beeches Copper Beech 1 · European Beech 1 · Twisted Beech 1
Elms and zelkovas Caucasian Elm 3 · Field Elm 1 · Wych Elm 1
Planes London Plane 12 · Oriental Plane 4
Limes Large-leaved Lime 1
Maples Cappadocian Maple 1
Chestnuts, walnuts and hazels Horse Chestnut 5 · Caucasian Wingnut 2 · Turkish Hazel 2 · Pecan 1
Figs and mulberries Osage Orange 2 · Common Fig 1
Conifers Giant Sequoia 3 · Atlas Cedar 2 · Cedar of Lebanon 2 · Ginkgo 2 · Aleppo Pine 1 · Bald Cypress 1 · Coast Redwood 1 · Himalayan Cedar 1 · Lacebark Pine 1 · Mediterranean Cypress 1 · Scots Pine 1 · Western Red Cedar 1
Palms California Fan Palm 1 · Canary Island Date Palm 1
Fruit and blossom Olive 2 · Strawberry Tree 1
More broadleaf trees Mixed species 5 · Black Locust 3 · Mediterranean Hackberry 3 · Japanese Pagoda Tree 2 · Southern Magnolia 2 · Amur Cork Tree 1 · Black Poplar 1 · Chinaberry 1 · Judas Tree 1 · Kentucky Coffeetree 1
The oldest tree mapped in France
Trees from France also appear in Europe's 10 Most Remarkable Ancient Trees · Europe's Oldest City Trees Are Mostly Immigrants · The Great Planes of Europe. See every city on the map, or open the map to find what is near you.