Vergelegen Wine Estate Somerset West Champion Trees

SIGNIFICANT TREES
As well as extensive gardens, Vergelegen is home to many significant trees, the most important of which are:

1. Five historic camphor trees, “guarding” the historic Vergelegen Homestead, believed to have been planted in 1700 by Willem Adriaan van der Stel and declared National Monuments in 1942; the other camphor trees on the Estate are all seedlings from these five magnificent specimens;
2. Old English Oak, over 300 years old and believed to be the oldest living oak tree in Africa;
3. White Mulberry (Morus Alba) dates back to 1700 and the only surviving relic of van der Stel’s attempt to start a silk industry in the Cape;
4. The “Royal” Oak, planted in 1928 from an acorn originating from the last of King Alfred’s oak trees at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.

Source: Vergelegen

Camphor Trees planted by William Adriaan van der Stel, Governor of the Cape. These 300 year old trees were imported as seeds from Java, India.