The Turkish Hazel of the Hortus roughly 230 years
Turkish Hazel (Corylus colurna). Bomenstichting, the Dutch tree foundation, calls this the oldest and thickest Turkish hazel in the Netherlands: planted in 1795, and three metres around today.
Ancient Trees in Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam
The Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam has been growing rare plants on the same corner of the Plantage since 1638, and five of its oldest trees now form a proper collector's walk inside the garden gate.
A Turkish hazel planted in 1795, the country's oldest and thickest according to the Dutch tree foundation, flowers with pollen-shedding catkins every January while the rest of the garden sits bare. A few paths over, a shellbark hickory sourced from the wet river bottoms of the American Midwest and a southern catalpa whose trunk corkscrews as it climbs sit close enough to visit in the same stroll, followed by a Turner's oak that keeps its leathery leaves through the whole Dutch winter and a ginkgo, the last living branch of an entire plant order older than the dinosaurs. All five stand a few minutes' walk apart, on the one Hortus ticket.
All 5 stand in Amsterdam, which maps 17 remarkable trees in total.
The Turner's Oak of the Hortus roughly 131 to 161 years (sources disagree on planting year)
Turner's Oak (Quercus x turneri). This oak does not drop its leaves in autumn.
The Ginkgo of the Hortus roughly 96 to 136 years (sources disagree, and the exact specimen match is uncertain)
Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba). Ginkgo is the only surviving species of an entire order of plants, a lineage already old when the first dinosaurs appeared and one that outlived them by sixty-six million years.
The Twisted Catalpa of the Hortus roughly 116 years
Southern Catalpa (Catalpa bignonioides). The trunk turns as it rises, a slow corkscrew that the national guide to Amsterdam's monumental trees singles out as the reason to stop.
The Shellbark Hickory of the Hortus roughly 76 to 114 years (sources disagree on planting year)
Shellbark Hickory (Carya laciniosa). The Dutch tree foundation calls this the oldest shellbark hickory in the Netherlands.
Opening times and visitor information: Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam.
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