Here's a less than fun fact for you:
The ash tree, fraxinus excelsior, is being wiped out by a disease called ash dieback. It's an airborne fungal infection that kills the tree off from the outside in.
It was spreading across mainland Europe back in 2011, when coilte, the irish semi-state body dedicated to "forestry" sent ash saplings to the Netherlands because their nurseries were overstocked with sitka spruce, a non-native cash crop they've been destroying our landscape with
Well, ash dieback was first detected in Ireland in 2012, when we got those saplings back, and still hasn't been detected in England, which you'd expect from a disease like that if it was coming from Europe.
But I'm sure that's just a coincidence and coilte would never bring something that damaging into the country, destroying the population of a hugely culturally significant tree for a tiny amount of profit
Edit: check this video out for more info
https://youtu.be/vCXPZNMDbDw
@tree-offical
