The Robinier of Square Rene-Viviani

The oldest tree in Paris was planted in 1601, before the Mayflower sailed. Jean Robin, herbalist to King Henri IV, raised it from seed sent from the Appalachians by the English naturalist John Tradescant. The entire genus Robinia was later named after him. The tree stands in a small square facing Notre-Dame, which had already stood for centuries when the sapling went into the ground. It has since lived through the Commune, lost its crown to a German shell in the First World War, and watched the cathedral burn in 2019. Concrete props now hold up its heaviest branches and ivy hides much of the trunk, but it still flowers every spring. Parisians walk past it daily without a glance. It is protected by a low fence and a plaque that undersells it considerably. In 2021 National Geographic profiled it as a lesson in urban resilience, four centuries of city life absorbed by one imported American tree.