The Amur Cork Tree

Either Manchester has the tallest Amur cork tree in Britain, or somebody's tape was wrong. The council's tree survey calls this one a glorious specimen standing at 55 feet, which is 16.8 metres. The tallest Phellodendron amurense on the national record stands at Forde Abbey in Somerset and measures 14.90 metres. Both cannot be right, the two figures may simply have been taken in different ways, and nobody has been back to settle it, so this page states the disagreement rather than picking a winner. What is not in dispute is that the tree is a surprise on its own terms. Phellodendron amurense comes from northeast Asia, reached Britain in 1885, and is generally reckoned to need the south of England to do well. This one is in a Didsbury botanical garden, doing well. It is named for its bark, which is thick, deeply ridged and corky enough to give under a thumb. One caution. The council's survey is the only source we could find that names this tree, and it does not say where in Fletcher Moss it stands, so the pin is the garden rather than the spot. The garden is small, free and open in daylight, and a tree of that height in it is not hard to find.