1 Hotel Mayfair's Tree Walk

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Step 1: Come out of the hotel and cross the road carefully to meet the red telephone box and the tree standing behind it.
Step 2: This is an Italian alder. It's a fast growing tree from the southern Mediterranean region that has glossy heart-shaped leaves.
Step 3: Alders, unique among deciduous trees, bear cones rather than fruit or nuts. They're also associated with life and soil improvement due to their nitrogen-producing soil bacteria.
Step 4: You can also see that this tree is bending away from the buildings which is due to careful formative pruning, which is essential in urban areas to ensure trees can thrive whilst not causing problems for local people.
Step 5: Cross over the road to meet the smaller Chinese privet!
Step 6: This tree is actually a 'variation' of the naturally found Chinese privet, meaning people have developed it through selective breeding. In this case, it was to give it variegated leaves - green on the inside and cream on the outside.

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