The winner will be selected from among 15 trees from different corners of Europe that have won national competitions.
Representing Poland is a 200-year-old beech that in 2023 was chosen as the local Tree of the Year, according to state news agency PAP.
Nicknamed Serce Ogrodu (Heart of the Garden), the beech grows in the village of Wojsławice some 50 km south of Wrocław in Poland's southwest.
Wojsławice’s arboretum, a collection of trees of a variety of species, is a part of the University of Wrocław’s botanical garden.
The tree was likely planted in the late 18th or early 19th century when the park was owned by the von Pritwitz family, said Jacek Bożek, head of environmental and animal rights NGO Klub Gaja, a local coordinator of the event.
Online voting, which takes place at treeoftheyear.org, was launched on Thursday and will run until February 22.
The winner will be unveiled on March 20 during the Tree of the Year 2024 awards ceremony held in the European Parliament in Brussels, Bożek said.
Organised by the Environmental Partnership Association (EPA), the competition each year attracts over 300,000 participants across Europe.
Poland’s winner last year, a 180-year-old oak nicknamed Fabrykant (Factory Owner), which grows in the central Polish city of Łódź, went on to win the European Tree of the Year 2023 contest.
(mo/gs)
Source: PAP
