What makes a tree a tree?
Warner Bros/Kevin Reynolds
Last year, vandals cut down a sycamore tree sited at a gap in Hadrian's Wall, imaginatively known as Sycamore Gap. It is, or at least was, a renowned beauty spot and tourist attraction, famed for its starring role in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
But it was still only a tree FFS. And as a species, the sycamore is hardly endangered, quite the opposite in fact, so there are plenty of others available to fill in.
Nevertheless, immediately after it was felled, an emergency horticulturalist sprang into action
, gathering seeds and young, budding twigs for posterity. The gatherings were airlifted sent by His Majesty's postal service to a high security greenhouse…somewhere in Devon
. (spy)
And it was there that the BBC's very own climate and science reporters learnt about grafting plants, with the help of Juliet Stubbington, a propagator working in this top secret establishment.
Grafting binds fresh roots with living twigs that have buds of the same species. The hope is that the two knit together to make one larger living young tree. This was the only way to preserve the beloved Sycamore Gap tree. "It is the same tree," Juliet explains.
Harriet Bradshaw and Georgina Rannard, climate and science reporters, BBC News
Umm, no it isn't the same tree. The top may be the same, but the root is of different stock. So what makes a tree a tree? The bit above ground, the bit below…or all of it?
Fortunately for the purposes of meeting their deadline, neither Harrie nor Georgie cared, or understood, enough to question it further.
I have no idea what the vandalism of a single tree has to do with climate per se, other than to get Harrie out of the office for the day.