The Yew of the Bath of Venus the register says 150 years, its own note implies 250 or more
European Yew (Taxus baccata). This yew was already a grown tree when it was carried into the garden, which makes it older than the garden.
Maria Carolina of Austria wanted an English garden and got one of the first in Italy, which is why the trees here are strange.
She commissioned it in 1786 at the top of the Reggia's enormous formal park, and the English gardener John Andrew Graefer filled it with species the country had barely seen: a camphor tree from Japan, a cork oak, a Douglas fir from the American northwest, a sweet osmanthus. Seven of them are on the register today. The oldest is a yew by the Bath of Venus that was carried in fully grown, which makes it older than the garden it stands in.
All 7 stand in Caserta, which maps 7 remarkable trees in total.
European Yew (Taxus baccata). This yew was already a grown tree when it was carried into the garden, which makes it older than the garden.
Cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani). Seven and three quarter metres around the trunk, and sixteen metres tall.
London Plane (Platanus x acerifolia). This tree is too small to qualify and the register listed it anyway.
Cork Oak (Quercus suber). This is the one tree on the walk you can put a hand on and be surprised.
Camphor Tree (Cinnamomum camphora). Thirty-eight metres is a strange height for a camphor tree.
Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). At forty metres, only one other tree in Caserta's register stands as tall, and this one's stated age does not quite work.
Sweet Osmanthus (Osmanthus fragrans). The national register credits this tree with six and a half metres of trunk.
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