The Röth-Linde

A painter made this tree famous by sitting under it, and the tree has been fighting for its life ever since. Local tradition holds that the linden was planted as a peace tree after the Thirty Years' War ended in 1648, which would put its planting in the mid-17th century, though like most trees on this list its exact age rests on estimate rather than a documented planting record. By the time landscape painter Philipp Röth worked in its shade around the turn of the 20th century, the tree was already reckoned to be some 200 years old, and it now carries his name and a memorial plaque. That long life has come at a cost. A botched fungal treatment in the 1980s left the trunk hollow, and the tree today stands on eight metal crown braces and a branch support, watered and pruned as what one local report calls an intensive-care patient. Winter lindens can live a thousand years under good conditions, which makes the Röth-Linde's current state, still leafing out every spring at 23 metres tall with a trunk over six metres around, as much a story about arboriculture as about age.