A king is said to have given this tree a court rank.
Ancient trees in South Korea
South Korea's Cultural Heritage Administration keeps close enough tabs on its old trees to catch a legend in the act: an oak in Sillim-dong said to have grown from a general's walking stick in 1019 measured out, on survey, to about 250 years, a successor standing near where the legend took root. This page maps 11 remarkable trees across 3 cities in South Korea, each one researched and verified. The oldest of them is The Ginkgo Tree of Yongmunsa Temple in Yangpyeong, at roughly 1,100 years.
Seoul carries eight of the eleven trees mapped so far, among them the Siheung-dong ginkgos, two or three trees at the center of a traffic circle marking a vanished royal way station, and a Changdeokgung juniper the palace itself is built around. Busan holds a fortress pine and a stand of crape myrtles, eight hundred years old by tradition. An hour east in Yangpyeong, a ginkgo King Sejong is said to have granted a court rank turns the mountain road gold each autumn, and by most measurements is the tallest of its kind in the country.
Every place we map in South Korea
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Seoul8 trees · oldest nearly 880 years (local tradition, unaudited)2Busan2 trees · oldest roughly 800 years (traditional dating)3Yangpyeong1 tree · oldest roughly 1,100 years
Seoul8 trees · oldest nearly 880 years (local tradition, unaudited)2Busan2 trees · oldest roughly 800 years (traditional dating)3Yangpyeong1 tree · oldest roughly 1,100 years8 species grow in South Korea
Oaks Oriental Cork Oak 1
Elms and zelkovas Saw-leaf Zelkova 1
Conifers Ginkgo 4 · Japanese Black Pine 1 · Lacebark Pine 1
More broadleaf trees Chinese Juniper 1 · Crape Myrtle 1 · Japanese Pagoda Tree 1
The oldest tree mapped in South Korea
Trees from South Korea also appear in Autumn Worth the Trip · The Thickest Trunks We Have Measured · The Oldest Trees We Have Mapped. See every city on the map, or open the map to find what is near you.