New tree named after road sign - 09/03/09

A newly discovered species of tree is to be named "No Parking" after a sign found nailed to the first example of its kind.

Botanists came across the tree down a remote countryside road in north Devon while working on a project that saw the discovery of 14 new species and hybrids across the British Isles.

Scientists writing in Watsonia - the scientific journal of the Botanical Society of the British Isles - named the tree the No Parking Whitebeam because locals referred to it as the "No Parking Tree".

Its Latin name is Sorbus admonitor, meaning to admonish or tell off, and it grows at Watersmeet, between the villages of Lynton and Lynmouth.

The research project, led by Dr Tim Rich, head of vascular plants at the National Museum Wales, involved academics from the University of Wales, Bristol University, Exeter University, Oxford University and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.

Of the 14 new types of tree, some were named after those who found them, others after the place where they were discovered and some according to what they look like.

Dr Rich said: "The No Parking Whitebeam was first noted to be different from the more widespread Devon Whitebeam in the 1930s, but has only recently been demonstrated to be a different species using biochemical analyses."

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New tree named after road sign - 09/03/09

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