I think the term for this is 'miscellany' . See Ben Schott's Original Miscellany, and follow-on books. One stand-out is 'Untimely Deaths of Pop Stars' with columns for recording 'Overdose', 'Defenestration' etc. (Check all that apply.) It also organizes weird units of measure, 50 US state conventions for dashed road lines (great example of graphical chart) and day of the week toasts onboard a ship.
Take the following link which is part of an Defra (UK gov) funded initiative called 'Trees Outside of Woodlands' and constitutes a public map showing lone trees, groups of trees and small woodlands across England.
I noticed the "bicycle tree" in Scotland which has encapsulated a bicycle amongst other things as it has grown. It reminded me of a very old graveyard I would play in as a kid. The oldest side was all old trees and one day I noticed one of the trees had a couple of gravestones up in its boughs. I always wondered if these were really lifted up there by the tree and if so whether that's unusual.
However obscure this page might be, I was there just a few days ago. Clicked on it from this article about a tree that was cut down, and it was apparently a big thing in the UK.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycamore_Gap_tree
Why is Pippi Longstocking's "soda pop tree" not on the list? It's dying and the whole of Sweden are freaking out. We're putting tax payer money on solving its disease. We're developing a vaccine to try and save it for gods sake. Yes, this is a very LOL type of situation to the rest of the world, I know that. But it's not a laughing matter in Sweden: https://www.slu.se/nyheter/2025/11/pippis-sockerdrickstrad-r...
The Tree of Ténéré was a solitary acacia that was once considered the most isolated tree on Earth. It was a landmark on caravan routes through the Ténéré region of the Sahara Desert in northeast Niger, so well known that it and the Lost Tree to the north are the only trees to be shown on a map at a scale of 1:4,000,000. The tree is estimated to have existed for approximately 300 years until it was knocked down in 1973 by a drunk truck driver.
Growing up I would see authors listing particular species of trees when describing a scene, and I’d marvel at the idea of someone getting all the references. It seemed so old-timey. But during the pandemic, my wife and I got into plants because it was an outdoor activity. I used an app to identify all the trees in our neighborhood (then we found out our town has a map online of them all). I have my favorite ones I like to go by on walks. In a given area there are really only 10 or 15 species you have to know to cover most of the trees you see. Being aware of these things adds depth to the world as you experience it.
The saddest part of this is that we really have no idea just how many or the oldest redwood trees that were felled in California and on the western cost of the USA that were possibly multiple thousands of years old, i.e., 4000 years, possibly even 6000 years based on old images and accounts of trees, and that's just what we do have signals about.
Side note; there are several places in Europe where Sequoias were planted at various times and are basically infants at 150-200 years old, having been brought back to Europe by explorers and aristocrats.
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[ 1.6 ms ] story [ 51.8 ms ] threadhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Individual_physical_o...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Lists_of_individual_a...
The mind boggles haha
I can't believe this got past the Wikipedia editors.
Take the following link which is part of an Defra (UK gov) funded initiative called 'Trees Outside of Woodlands' and constitutes a public map showing lone trees, groups of trees and small woodlands across England.
https://ncea.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/sidebar/index.html...
https://www.ts-adyar.org/banyan-tree
“The Hungry Tree is an otherwise unremarkable specimen of the London plane, which has become known for having partially consumed a nearby park bench.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Ent_of_Affric
https://ourworldindata.org/deforestation
some of which could have made it to this list of special trees :-(
The Tree of Ténéré was a solitary acacia that was once considered the most isolated tree on Earth. It was a landmark on caravan routes through the Ténéré region of the Sahara Desert in northeast Niger, so well known that it and the Lost Tree to the north are the only trees to be shown on a map at a scale of 1:4,000,000. The tree is estimated to have existed for approximately 300 years until it was knocked down in 1973 by a drunk truck driver.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_T%C3%A9n%C3%A9r%C3%A9
Side note; there are several places in Europe where Sequoias were planted at various times and are basically infants at 150-200 years old, having been brought back to Europe by explorers and aristocrats.