Environment

Botanists discover new species of tree and call it 'No Parking'

by Amy Judd | March 6, 2009 at 03:47 pm

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Botanists have found a new species of tree growing by the side of a road in North Devon, and have named it after a 'No Parking sign' that was nailed to it; it is officially called the 'No Parking Whitebeam'.

This tree has very strong lobed leaves and it is now confirmed as a separate species from the Devon Whitebeam.

So the No Parking name has stuck and 110 examples have been identified at Watersmeet, which is between the twin villages of Lynton and Lynmouth in Devon.

Dr Tim Rich, Head of Vascular Plants at the University of Wales said it was first noted to be different from the more widespread Devon Whitebeam in the 1930s.

'It was by the great botanist Heff-Warburg, who knew it was different from the Devon Whitebeam, but wasn't very sure about whether it was different enough,' he said.

'They have much more strongly lobed leaves, so they are easy to identify.'

The task of identifying new species is part of the celebrations to mark Charles Darwin's 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origins of Species.

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