Around the World in 80 Trees

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Each of these strange and true tales - populated by self-mummifying monks, tree-climbing goats and ever-so-slightly radioactive nuts - is illustrated by Lucille Clerc, taking the reader on a journey that is as informative as it is beautiful. Jonathan Drori is a Trustee of The Woodland Trust and The Eden Project, an Ambassador for the WWF and was for nine years a Trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Perfect for fans of Peter Wohlleben's The Hidden Life of Trees, this new book will certainly whet the appetite of any tree lover to take an around-the-world trip, or simply visit your local botanic garden. The strawberry tree is native to the western Mediterranean and the southwest of Ireland – but not Britain. By day, the distinctive monochrome pattern of snow-clad birch forests is dazzling and disorientating, but during long boreal nights, their moonlit, ghostly forms take on an eerie power. The classic Christmas tree is also prized for its ‘tonewood’, which is used to make the soundboards of the world’s most valuable stringed instruments. Stiff materials make the best soundboards because they can transmit vibration efficiently from molecule to molecule; in a more elastic material, energy is squandered as the sound waves travel through it.Each tree is beautifully illustrated by Lucille Clerc using a subdued but rich palette of greens and browns, with occasional splashes of more vibrant colour.

In a confined space the smell of the durian fruit can be overwhelming, and signs telling people not to bring durians into hotels or aircraft are common in Malaysia and Singapore. As the book takes the reader on a journey around the world, it reveals trees that give us food and medicine, trees with ancient legends, record-breaking trees and more. After a brief rest, the female also exits, dousing herself in pollen produced by male flowers as she goes.

He starts with the London Plane, “a tree of pomp and circumstance”, first planted in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, in 1789. The edible date originated somewhere between northeast Africa and Mesopotamia and may have been cultivated in the Middle East for six millennia. Bestselling author and environmentalist Jonathan Drori follows in the footsteps of Phileas Fogg as he tells the stories of 80 magnificent trees from all over the globe.

A hybrid of the American sycamore and the Oriental plane, they have set an example to urban planners around the world. Stops on the trip include the lime trees of Berlin's Unter den Linden boulevard, which intoxicate amorous Germans and hungry bees alike, the swankiest streets in nineteenth-century London, which were paved with Australian eucalyptus wood, and the redwood forests of California, where the secret to the trees' soaring heights can be found in the properties of the tiniest drops of water. View image in fullscreen ‘The Creator exasperatedly flung the baobab upside down with its roots in the air’ … baobab trees near Rufisque, Senegal. From the trees of Britain, to India's sacred banyan tree, they offer us sanctuary and inspiration - not to mention the raw materials for everything from aspirin to maple syrup.Whether by accident or design, Neolithic sailors are thought to have brought the species with them from the Iberian Peninsula some time between 10000 and 3000 BC. Its clusters of pretty cream flowers have a strong scent and plenty of nectar to attract hordes of pollinating insects. From India’s sacred banyan tree to the fragrant cedar of Lebanon, they offer us sanctuary and inspiration – as well as raw materials for everything from aspirin to maple syrup. The smooth bark of the beech has long been associated with writing: beech boards once enclosed vellum books and in many languages the words for this tree and for the written word are similar.