Trees of Paris

It's finally nice weather. My apartment is cold, inside thick stone walls, so when I went outside yesterday I dressed warmly as I had the day before. I almost melted coming home, and had to sidle along on the shady side of all the streets.

The lilacs and wisteria are in bloom all over Paris, and sometimes, as you walk along, you catch a wonderful fragrance and look up to see them on a balcony or behind a wall. The horse-chestnut trees that line the streets of Paris are blooming too, with high stalks of white flowers; but the sidewalks underneath are messy and slippery with smashed yellow buds that look disgusting.

Did you know Paris has more trees than any other capital city in Europe? Unfortunately too many of them are plane trees (platanes), the ones the French like to lop off unmercifully every year so they're flat on top. I've never understood why: it makes them look amputated and militaristic.

The platanes are in danger from a new disease called the colored canker (chancre coloré), which is progressing inexorably northward each year. I remember when the beautiful elm trees of North America started to die from Dutch elm disease, and then vanished. I hope it doesn't happen to the platanes. I think of them as southern trees, surrounding a shady square in the south of France on a blistering hot day, while you sip your cool drink on the terrace of a cafe near an old stone fountain.

My favorite tree in Paris (almost in Paris) is the majestic elephant-skinned beech tree that towers over the Pré-Catelan, in the Bois de Boulogne. It was planted before the French Revolution and is about six meters around.

My other favorite trees in Paris (sort of) are the two huge cedars of Lebanon that you see near Roissy/ CDG airport. Someone told me they were planted by Napoleon. Supposedly he set two cedars each at the north, south, east, and west "gates" to Paris, but only the northern two remain. It is certainly true that the airport and highway north were designed around the cedars. Here is a different story about them. I don't know which is true.

Comments

[Allegra Berrian]

I'm trying to identify the trees one sees in some parks in Paris, especially in the little park behind the Musee Picasso. They look like the regimented trees in your second photo above. Are they plane trees? Do they have heart shaped leaves? Could they be linden trees? Merci mille fois!

[Steve]

what are the purple flowering trees seen in Paris?

[Keith Tunstall]

Yes, could someone email me with the answer too, please. Wonderful sights (4May 2010) all round Paris and especially good in Luxembourg gardens. People guess they are jacaranda trees, but I'd like an expert view.

[Sedulia]

I wonder if they're jacarandas. Do they look like this?

http://abudigan.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/jacaranda.jpg

[Keith Tunstall]

I have a photo. How do I send it?

KT

[Sedulia]

Send it to my email address and I can publish it.

[Rose from New York City]

http://www.parislogue.com/travel-tips/hug-a-tree-today.html

The purple flowering trees are Princess Trees, also called Empress Trees. According to the article, they are in the corner of Luxembourg Gardens where the Tai Chi practioners meet. They flower before they leaf out and have large leaves. I figured out what they might be and then went searching for references. Jacarandas are tropical so I ruled them out. BTW there are not that many purple flowering trees in temperate climates.

I would be in heaven spending a whole vacation in Paris just doing tree identification.

[charles]

hi
what do you name the big trees in Paris along the road,they are cutting neat.What is the nam of that trees?
Chilly

[Sedulia]

Hi Chilly,
Most of the trees seem to be plane trees or horse-chestnut trees.
Sedulia

[Christiane]

The purple flowered trees one sees in Paris in the springtime are Paulownia trees. I learned this on a tour of the gardens led a gardener - definitely a horticultural kind of tour. Wednesday mornings, 9 a.m.

Thank you for the comment re: the horse chestnut trees and the flowers that drop and litter the pavement and cars. Not nice at all.

[Martha]

We just came back from Paris and are wondering, what tree is it that is dispersing all the white fluffy stuff into the air? Not so great when it goes up your nostrils.