Photograph Notes: I would like to call this 'The Alchymist's Willow' - but that would be stretching a point. The tree stands - a little precariously - on the bank of the Thames, a few feet from where Dr John Dee once lived. John Dee was Queen Elizabeth I's astrologer, and an alchemist. By claiming occult powers he was able to influence affairs of state. But he cannot possibly have seen this tree - it can't be much more than 60 years old. What is more, there is general agreement that the weeping willow wasn't brought to western Europe until about 1730. At about that time - with Psalm 137 in mind - Linnaeus named the weeping willow Salix babylonica, in the belief that the tree grew 'by the waters of Babylon'. It seems that he was wrong, as its ancient origins were in China. But it is hard to imagine that the error will ever be put right - 'babylonica' and the biblical images it conjures up are just too persuasive. A photo taken from the same spot shows flooding at a time of spring-tides, with the Thames Path under water: [[7099460]].

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Copyright (Photograph and text in Photograph Notes): � Copyright Stefan Czapski and licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0 details available here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

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