For over two centuries, this venerable tree’s canopy has provided a haven for songbirds and lovers.
IN THE SMALL VILLAGE OF Águas de Moura, in the Alentejo area of Portugal, lies the world’s biggest Cork oak tree (Quercus suber). The tree, which is well over 230 years old, was planted in 1783, the year the Treaty of Paris was signed, thereby ending the American Revolutionary War. Sobreiro Monumental is also known lovingly as “The Whistler Tree [Sobreiro Assobiador]” because of the noises created by dozens of songbirds when they land and take refuge amid its branches.
The majestic tree reaches a height of about 53 feet and has a trunk diameter of more than 14 feet. The Guinness Book of World Records named it the world’s “biggest and most prolific Cork oak” in 2009. Sobreiro Monumental was named “European Tree of the Year” in 2018.
These plants’ spongy, cork-producing bark has been utilised for almost 5,000 years. Portugal is credited with producing almost half of the world’s cork nowadays. The bark of a Cork oak is collected typically every 10 years, with the first harvest happening when the tree reaches the age of 25. The bark of Sobreiro Monumental has been harvested over twenty times. The tree had its most prolific crop in 1991 when it yielded 2,646 pounds of raw cork. It had enough cork to stopper over 100,000 wine bottles and much surpassed the lifetime output of the majority of other Cork oaks.
Sobreiro Monumental has offered refuge for nomads and travellers for decades, as well as seclusion for lovers’ trysts. Locals refer to the tree as “Casamenteira” or “Matchmaker” due to its popularity as a location for courtship and marriage proposals. Numerous people are said to have been conceived beneath its protecting branches. Perhaps most noteworthy are the hundreds of thousands of gallons of wine that its bark has safeguarded throughout the decades.
The tree came dangerously close to extinction in 2000 when developers began cutting land without permission. Regrettably, 411 trees next to Sobreiro Monumental were killed before the illegal deforestation activity was identified and halted. This Cork oak was granted even greater protection in 2001, and the Portuguese Parliament designated it a national emblem in 2011. The community now has a park-like environment centred on its celebrity tree.
