With its century of age, this plane tree was considered a minot by its people since the life expectancy of this tree varies between 500 and 2,000 years. This Monday afternoon, Place Richelme, in Aix-en-Provence, one of the plane trees which inhabit this emblematic place of the city with its colorful market, was felled before the eyes of passers-by. Using a truck equipped with a forestry arm, pruners cut down the more than six meter high tree in less than two hours. “This solution for us is the last resort“, says Olivier Zouggart, supervisor of tree heritage works at the City.
Danger of falling trees
An arboricultural expert determined that the tree was affected by tinder, a wood-eating fungus. Also called firestarter polypore, “it is very virulent because it decomposes the interior of the wood which becomes spongy and causes the wood to lose all mechanical strength so it can represent a danger of falling“. The roots, which can reach up to two meters deep, will be pulled out in a second phase this winter. The wood from the tree will be recycled by the company commissioned to fell it.
Unlike Cours Mirabeau where several plane trees were cut down and then replaced by maples, another plane tree approximately 5 meters high will be planted in the same location at Place Richelme. “On the course the trees were affected by colored canker, national regulations therefore prohibit us from replanting a plane tree because this fungus spreads quickly. In this case today we are not on the same type of mushroom, we can therefore replant the same variety of trees.”
An atmospheric particle filter
Emblem of the south of France, the plane tree has several advantages. Scientific studies have shown that its deciduous trees filter particles contained in the atmosphere, but also that the shade it casts on the ground, associated with plant transpiration inherent to photosynthesis, contributes to reducing the ambient temperature. Its interest is therefore essential in a sunny region like Aix-en-Provence.
