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Tree of a lifetime would hardly be an exaggeration for the camphor trees at Vergelegen, near Cape Town, the country mansion of the first Dutch governor of the Cape, Simon van der Stel. The governor planted them in about 1700, but a mere 300 years has been enough for them to become giants. Cinnamomum camphora is a native of China, Japan and Indonesia, important as the source of camphor but also a magnificent evergreen shade tree. I first met it reaching immense branches over the gate of a Kyoto monastery (where all other trees are kept in strict control) and made a special journey to visit the famous grove at Vergelegen. 

They are alarmingly vigorous trees, not only forming vast ballooning boles and spreading wide canopies but colonizing acres with their suckers and seedlings. In Florida and parts of Australia the 'camphor laurel' is considered a noxious introduction, though it does not seem to have proved hardy anywhere in the British Isles. Worth another try in Cornwall, perhaps?

At Vergelegen a wild wood of camphor trees is used as a picnic place, with elegant tables and chairs at intervals, like Glyndebourne in the jungle.  The camphor-laden leaf-litter apparently suppresses rival vegetation, though orange-flowered watsonias light up little clearings.