The Black Locust of Emile van Loonpark

This black locust opposite the post office on Roosendaal's Markt has a trunk 4.06 metres round under a crown just 14 metres high. That is close to the 4.30 metres of the black locust we map in Barcelona's Parc de la Ciutadella, a tree with a far warmer climate to grow in. The Landelijk Register Monumentale Bomen bands its planting to the decade 1910 to 1920, so it has stood here a little over a century, through both world wars. Like the silver maple behind the library a short walk away, it is recorded as a kandelaber: at some point its crown was cut back to a frame of upright limbs, and it has grown on from there. The register's inspector did not flatter it. The entry notes plenty of dead wood and says the main limbs need thinning. The last inspection it records was in March 2023, which is the most recent word on its health we have. If you pass it, tell us how it is doing. The reason to time a visit is early June. Black locust is a North American tree, and in its flowering fortnight it hangs out strings of white pea flowers with a strong, sweet scent; on a trunk this size the crown is worth standing under. It stands on the grass at the Markt end of Emile van Loonpark, free and open daily, about ten minutes on foot from Roosendaal station.