Know your ash from your elm from your false acacia? You soon will if you let TreeTalk guide you round London.
The web app is simple. Bung in your location, tell it how off-the-beaten-track you want to go, and hit 'create'. Hey presto, an auto-generated walking map of the area, linking together the most interesting trees. You can also generate a tree-themed walk between two locations.
Let's say you have half an hour to kill in Leicester Square. Instead of sitting in Burger King, dicking about with Facebook, you could set off on an improving stroll around the West End learning about trees.
According to the TreeTalk map, a short walk will reveal a dozen arboreal wonders. We had no idea that, among the ash, lime and plane trees, Theatreland contains such rarities as the foxglove tree, white mulberry, Scotch laburnum, loquat, Bhutan pine, Tasmanian snow gum, olive, variegated Chinese privet, Chinese windmill palm, Japanese Crabapple and stagshorn sumac.
The website can generate tree walks throughout Greater London. Give your home or workplace a spin and see what you discover.
TreeTalk's creators are currently working on a Big Green London Map, which will bring together various listings and information for London's 3000 public parks and green spaces. Learn more about how TreeTalk was put together here.
