The Camphor Tree of the Glorieta de Doña Sol

As far as one dedicated local record can tell, this camphor tree has no rivals anywhere in Seville. It stands in the Glorieta de Doña Sol, a quiet clearing in Parque de María Luisa, described as the only confirmed Cinnamomum camphora growing in the city, a species more commonly associated with temple courtyards in Japan and southern China, where individual specimens are known to live well past a thousand years. No planting record has surfaced for this particular tree, and no formal age estimate exists yet, since it was only proposed for Seville's singular-trees catalogue in 2016. What sets it apart is entirely botanical rather than historical: camphor trees produce an aromatic oil in their bark and leaves, once distilled commercially for the same compound used in mothballs and topical liniments, and crushing a leaf releases a sharp, medicinal scent unlike anything else growing nearby. The glorieta gained a small dedicated corner in 2023, the Rincón de Pepe Elías, named for a local garden historian, close enough to the camphor tree that visitors reading the memorial plaque stand in its shade without necessarily knowing which tree is the rare one. Being the only example of something is a modest kind of fame, and this tree has held it for years without anyone making a fuss about it.