Kew Publishing, in association with The Tree Register, May 2011, ISBN: 978 1 84246 452 6, Paperback, RRP £25.00

The Oriental plane tree at Corsham Court (Wiltshire) covers an area the size of a football pitch, with a spread of over 64 m

The Turkey oak at Shute House (Devon) has the largest unsupported crown up to 54 m across, 70% wider than the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral

These are just two of the record breaking trees featured in Champion Trees of Britain and Ireland, a new book that introduces the finest examples of every kind of tree growing in the British Isles, from ancient yews and towering sequoias to the rarest of recent introductions.

Produced by Kew Publishing in association with The Tree Register, Champion Trees is packed with personal insights, local knowledge, and photographs of individual trees, drawing together thousands of facts amassed over the last decade. Over 5,000 trees are described in this new book, 60% of which are newly discovered or re-recorded since the first publication of the Tree Register in 2003.

Part one of the book is an A-Z listing of tree species, a flora that attempts for the first time ever to capture all species in cultivation in Britain and Ireland. Part two is an essential gazetteer to visiting Britain and Ireland’s finest specimens that are accessible to the public, listing trees by geographical region and county, enabling the reader to discover populations of veteran trees, especially gardens with notable specimens and outstanding public parks. A checklist of all native trees is included, as are indexes of synonyms and common names, and to the counties, parishes and many gardens where they grow. Chapters on 'superlative trees' - the biggest, tallest, thickest, rarest and most spreading - and expert instruction on how to measure trees, add special insights.

This book is an indispensible travelling companion and handy resource, for all nature lovers and tree hunters, as well as professionals, and as an inspiring, wide-ranging guide to our largest, most spectacular and beloved of life forms that have a culture and history interwoven with man.

Superlative trees

Oldest trees

1136 ‘foundation tree’ at Dryburgh (Scottish Borders)

5000 year old churchyard yews in Fortingall (Perthshire), Discoed (Powys) and Llangernyw (Conwy)

1300 year old ‘King Offa’s Oak’ at Windsor Great Park

Tallest trees

64.3 m Grand fir in Ardkinglas Woodland Garden (Argyll)

60 m Douglas firs in Dunster Woodlands (Somerset) and Cragside (Northumberlnad)

57 m Douglas fir at Powerscourt, Wicklow (Ireland)

Biggest trees

Sessile oak in Croft Castle Park (Herefordshire), 35 m tall and 274 cm thick

‘The Monster’ silver fir in the Ardkinglas Woodland Garden (Argyll), 46 m tall and 303 cm thick

Grand fir at Murthly Castle (Perthshire), 53 m tall and 239 cm thick

Thickest trunk

‘Majesty’ oak at Fredville Park (Kent), trunk 390 cm thick

Most spreading trees

Oriental plane at Corsham Court (Wiltshire) covers an area the size of a football pitch, with a spread of over 64 m

Turkey oak at Shute House (Devon) has the largest unsupported crown up to 54 m across, 70% wider than the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral

Fastest growth

Silvertop at Harcourt Arboretum (Oxfordshire) – 20 m in 6 years

Hybrid poplar at Kingscliff Wood (Somerset) – 30 m in 17 years

Grand fir at Coed y Brenin Forest Park (Gwynedd) – 60 m in c. 74 years

Rarest trees

The Franklin tree is extinct in the wild but continues to grow in gardens

The Audley End oak planted around 1772 is still there, but grafts never survive

Golden Siberian elm – only two examples are known to survive, the finer in Bute Park (Cardiff)

About the author

Since the age of 13, Owen Johnson has measured over 60,000 trees. As Registrar to The Tree Register, he maintains the definitive database of trees in Britain and has written The Collins Tree Guide among other books. He lives in Hastings, dividing his time between trees and nature conservation.

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