The Senegal Mahogany of Swan Lake

Singapore's first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, planted this Senegal mahogany himself on 2 November 1980, for what was then Tree Planting Day, a young sapling at the time and nothing like the tree it has become. Forty-six years on it has grown to 5.7 metres round and 25 metres tall beside Swan Lake. The species comes from a band of tropical West Africa stretching to Uganda, nothing like Singapore's own flora, and it was planted along the island's streets through the 1980s for how fast it grew and how well it took the dry season. It has since become scarce back home, worked hard for its timber, which is a large part of why West African governments now restrict its export. It stands beside Swan Lake on Main Gate Road, an easy add to the same stretch of the Botanic Gardens that already holds the Tembusu on the five-dollar note and several of the Gardens' other heritage trees.