Trees of the year 2022: Portugal chooses its candidate – Society
Portugal once again participates in the European Tree competition, which has 16 countries. Voting at the national level is resumed this month, after the suspension due to irregularities in the process, which is done online and organized by Unac – União da Floresta Mediterranean.
Ten emblematic trees of the most varied species are in competition: from an olive tree over 3000 years old in the Moorish region, to another in Pedras D’El Rey, in which five men are evaluated to embrace its hollow trunk; a giant cork oak in Arraiolos, or a maritime pine with 25 meters in height that withstood the great fire of 2017 in the forest of Leiria.
The European grand final is in February. Last year, 606,000 votes were registered, having won the Millennial of Lecina Azinheira, candidate from Spain. Portugal took 4th place, with the Plátano do Rossio de Portalegre. In 2018, a winning tree was Portuguese: the Águas de Moura Whistling Oak Tree, in Palmela. The Whistler owes its name to the sound originated by the birds that land on its branches. Planted in 1783, this cork oak tree has been stripped more than twenty times. It is inscribed in the ‘Guinness Book of Records’ as “the largest cork oak in the world”.