Trees have aroused the fascination of many cultures throughout history. Great myths, stories and legends involve gardens and parks, whose main protagonists are, basically, trees.

Two trees gave birth to the world in The Silmarillion: Laurelin and Telperion. Two also stood out in the mythical Garden of Eden: the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge . A fig tree suffers the punishment of Jesus Christ in a New Testament story. The Yggdrasil is a huge ash tree that connects the nine worlds and forms the backbone of all Norse mythology. And it is a tree that is the protagonist of many cultures to celebrate the winter solstice, or Christmas in the modern West.

Some trees are emblems, symbols and living monuments that last for generations. Stories are told sitting in a circle around its roots, and ceremonies are held in its shadow. These emblematic and monumental trees usually have their own history, and in some cases, their own myths and legends.

In Spain there are hundreds, if not thousands, of trees that can be described as emblematic. Please note, therefore, that the list in this article is incomplete, as space is limited, and selection is necessary.

Pino Carranza, in Valladolid

In the southeast of the province of Valladolid and the north of Segovia, around the city of Cuellar, the so-called Mudejar island in a sea of pine trees, lies the region of Tierra de Pinares . Today cut out by cereal fields, resin pine ( Pinus pinaster ) and stone pine ( P. pinea ) extend across the Castilian plain as far as the eye can see.

Under the watchful eye of booted eagles and buzzards, hoopoes, ocellated lizards and red squirrels hide among its branches, while foxes and badgers search for prey on the ground, among the thyme, hawthorn and lavender. A rich ecosystem dominated by two species of trees, traditionally exploited by the localities of the region , for the extraction of resin or for obtaining piñon.

Among the forest, in the municipality of Aldeamayor de San Martín, and less than 4 km from the town center, a specimen stands out for its enormous size. With a trunk with a perimeter of almost five meters and a height of 22 metres, the Carranza or Doña Hilaria pine rises above the pine forest. With its crown up to 26 meters in diameter, this more than 270-year-old stone pine specimen is visible even from satellite images. Undoubtedly, an emblematic tree, recognized in the “catalogue of plant specimens of singular relevance in Castilla y León”, which is worth visiting.

Teixo, the thousand-year-old yew tree from León

Collected in the same Castilian and Leonese catalogue, and traveling to the region of El Bierzo , a relic of ancient times is found. Teixo is found in the municipality of San Cristóbal de Valdueza, probably one of the oldest yew trees in Europe.

The yew ( Taxus baccata ) was a sacred tree for the Celtic peoples, including those who inhabited the north of the Iberian Peninsula, although it is unlikely that this specimen is so old. Yes, there are quotes that place his birth “long before the first stone of the cathedral of León was laid”. However, checking the age of these trees in a non-invasive way is really difficult, there is a lot of scientific discussion and few conclusions. Some venture the age of Teixo in more than 12 centuries .

What we do know about this specimen is that, as in most Iberian yews, it is a relict specimen. A relict species or population is one that was very widespread in the past, but that suffered a very significant reduction due to natural causes —such as a change in climate—, and that now remains as a survivor, with a restricted distribution, as a witness. alive that resists extinction. When, during the last glaciation, the peninsula was colder, the yew trees formed abundant forests, but today there are only small refugee populations left in enclaves as characteristic as San Cristóbal de Valdueza.

The Holy Chestnut, in Malaga

A root that traces an arch before burrowing is a witness that, in the past, the ground was higher. The owner of such a spectacular tree structure is a chestnut tree, the Saint , they call it. It is located in the Sierra Bermeja National Park , in Malaga, and its name alone is more than 5 centuries old.

According to some sources, it was called that way from the year 1501, when King Ferdinand II of Aragon, “the Catholic”, ordered a memorable mass to be celebrated under its branches after reducing the Moorish rebellion in the Sierra del Arboto, today known as Sierra Royal. By then, the tree must have been about three centuries old. 516 years after the supposed event, in the year 2017, the Environment and Territorial Planning Commission of the Junta de Andalucía approved the proposal for the Holy Chestnut to be declared a Natural Monument of this autonomous community.

Unfortunately, there may not be many more generations to enjoy the imposing presence of this chestnut in the future. Soil erosion, which exposes its roots, constant disturbance caused by people climbing on its branches, and especially, attack by the chestnut wasp (Dryocosmus kuriphilus) could put an end to its long life.

The (not) thousand-year-old dragon tree, in Tenerife

Legend has it that a merchant who arrived on the Canary coast captured a young Guanche. When she escaped, she hid behind a huge tree whose multiple branches loomed as if armed with thousands of swords. The merchant threw his dagger, but panicked when he saw that the tree was bleeding. In this way, the imposing dragon tree of Icod de los Vinos , in Tenerife, became the protector of that young woman.

In the Canary Islands, the dragon tree ( Dracaena draco ) is a relatively common tree; It is endemic to the Canary archipelago, Cape Verde, Madeira and Morocco, although all the specimens on the island of Gran Canaria are extinct. The species is listed as endangered , and in the Canary archipelago it is included as a species under a special protection regime. There are several particularly striking specimens on the islands, but among all of them, this tree, the so-called Millennium Drago , the largest , has become little less than a symbol of the island and the archipelago.

Despite its name, it is estimated to be about 800 years old, and has been considered a Natural Monument since 1917 . Since 1985, a fan has been installed inside the hollow trunk that favors air circulation and reduces the attack of pathogenic fungi.

La Farga de l’Arion, the ancient olive tree of Tarragona.

According to an analysis carried out in 2015 by a team led by Antonio Prieto Rodríguez, Professor at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, and using laser telemetry revealed that the Farga de l’Arion, an olive tree specimen from the municipality of Ulldecona , in Tarragona, estimated that at the time he was a whopping 1,701 years old . If this dating is correct, it would be the oldest living tree in all of Spain, born in the year 314.

However, other research groups disagree with that date, and date La Farga de l’Arion, with its perimeter from 8 meters to a meter high, and up to 17 meters at ground level, at about 700 years old . Which is not negligible either.

Whatever its age, there is no doubt that this olive tree is spectacular . It was declared a monumental tree by the Generalitat de Catalunya in 1997 and winner of the first prize for the best monumental olive tree in Spain in 2006 .

REFERENCES:

Environment Area. 2004. Where the pines dream . Aldeamayor de San Martín.
Cabildo de Tenerife. 2016. The Millennium Dragon .
Martínez-Vilalta, PJ et al. 2009. The age of the monumental and singular olive trees of Montsià. Rails, 208-221 .
Environment and Sustainability. 2022. Fargues de l’Arion . Government of Catalonia.
El Castaño Santo de Istán needs help . 2019. Platform Sierra Bermeja National Park.
Prieto Rodríguez, A. 2015. Result of the olive dating study nº 1878 – Ulldecona. Mancomunidad Taula del Sénia.
Tejo in San Cristóbal de Valdueza . 2017. City Council of Ponferrada.
Thomas, PA et al. 2003. Taxus baccata L. Journal of Ecology , 91(3), 489-524. DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2745.2003.00783.x