When a Tree Tells the Story of the World

Robinier the First is Paris's oldest tree, brought over from America in the sixteenth century. It has seen everything, from the risky process of acclimatization to encounters with kings, scholars, and poets. What does it have to tell us about ourselves—humans who uprooted it from its homeland and admired it for its beauty, spread it across continents, and now entrust it with the role of shielding us from our own excesses?