The Red Oak of Shooters' Island

An American tree turns the best colour in central Prague, on an island where Bohemian archers used to practise. Strelecky ostrov, Shooters' Island, is named for the crossbow and longbow ranges that operated on it from the reign of Charles IV, and its northern half is now a lawn under big trees with the Vltava running past on both sides. The red oak in the middle of that half arrived from North America by way of the European nursery trade, and at 352 centimetres around it is the largest oak on the island and, by the city's own reckoning, the largest red oak in the centre of Prague. It was added to the register of significant trees in 2013 at an estimated 125 years, which places its planting close to the landscaping that converted a shooting ground into a public park. Red oaks do one thing better than any native Czech tree and they do it late: the leaves go scarlet and then deep rust through the second half of October, long after the limes on the embankment have given up. Thousands of people cross Most Legii directly above this tree every day. The staircase down to it is on the bridge itself.