The Planes of Ile de Bercy

By the city's own dates, these planes are five years older than the island they stand on. The register gives all five a planting year of 1860, and the city's island page agrees. The same city dates the Ile de Bercy to 1865, when Lac Daumesnil was dug out of the Bois de Vincennes. Either the trees were here first and the island was shaped around them, or 1860 is a round figure for the whole stand. No source says which. What nobody disputes is that they are tall. The register measures the five at 32 to 40 metres, and the city's island page, with figures from 2011, gives one plane of 1860 a height of 45 metres. Their trunks run from 395 to 430 centimetres round, close enough in size to read as one planting. The same page mentions a sixth plane, put in around 1895 and 5.10 metres round, wider than any of these; we have not been able to say which trunk it is, so if you find it, tell us. The island covers two hectares and has no cars. You cross a suspension bridge about twenty metres long from the neighbouring Ile de Reuilly, or row over from the west, and a path takes you round. In 2015 the island's trees together received the national Arbre Remarquable de France label. Among them stand a yew from 1870, a tulip tree and a bald cypress from 1930 and a persimmon from 1935.