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The oldest tree in the world, magnolia, decorates the White Palace yard in Belgrade as of today. The tree was planted by athletes Elzan Bibic, Anja Lukic, and Bosko Kijanovic who, on 7 March at the Athletics Meeting, met the norm for taking part in the upcoming World Indoor Championships in Belgrade (18-20 March).
Planting of the queen of flowers, as they frequently describe magnolia, was organised in cooperation with the World Athletics within the efforts for the environment to be preserved. The goal of the initiative is to reduce warming level at the global level and to take care of the environment we live in. The World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade22 Organising Team joined the “Sports for climate action” project. The project’s goal is to use publicity of various sports events and to include as many sports organisations as possible in order to raise awareness of ecology and to indicate the problem of sudden climate changes.
It is believed that this tree’s flower is the first one that has ever bloomed on our planet. The proof for that is found in the fact that magnolia fossils older than 100 million years have been foundall around the world. However, many sorts of this plant are today, unfortunately, endangered.
“Trees are lungs of our planet. That’s why I am really glad to have an opportunity to contribute preservation of the environment and also to make our city prettier. Magnolia has been my favourite tree since my childhood and I like to say that it is a flower that makes the whole world come together.”, Anja Lukic, our young hurdle runner said and added that she was looking forward to the upcoming sporting event in Belgrade. “I believe that this positive energy will make me have the wind at my back to achieve my maximum at the competition and to make all athletics fans in Serbia happy.”
Today, magnolia is one of the favourite flower sorts but few know that this name was used for the first time by the French botanist Charles Plumier while describing a tree on the island of Martinique. The botanist chose the name to honour his colleague Pierre Magnol, professor of botany and Director of the Royal Botanic Garden in Montpellier. The athlete, Bosko Kijanovic, came to planting ready and knowing all the information and also happy to be part of this ecologic initiative.
“I am happy that we managed to link two, to me very important topics, environment protection and a big sports competition. I hope and I believe that there will be more events like this one in the future all around the world.”, said the young athlete who at the Belgrade Indoor Meeting in 400m race broke the record held by Slobodan Brankovic for 30 years thus meeting the norm for the World Championships. He added that he enjoyed events that bring people together.
“I love plants and I think that this tree we planted will make the beautiful White Palace garden prettier and make Belgrade prettier. I hope that in the future there will be more situations like this one that will in a nice way bring people from the whole world together.”, Kijanovic concluded.
During history, magnolia, with its beauty and a huge number of different types has attracted attention. However, it was unknown in Europe until 1570 when Francisco Hernandez, a doctor of the Spanish KingPhilip II, described it as a plant of extraordinary beauty that he saw in Mexico. For many, this flower represents a symbol of peace and satisfaction but also strength and loyalty.
The World Athletics Indoor Championships will be held from 18 to 20 March in Belgrade. This sports competition will gather more than 1000 athletes and coaches from more than 150 countries in the world. Among them, there will be the world record holder in pole vault, Armand Duplantis, the World Champion in 1500m Sifan Hassan, bronze medallist from the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 400m Hurdles, Femke Bol, two-times Olympic gold medallist and the World Record holder in shot put, Ryan Crouser. Tickets can be bought on the website tickets.rs and at the selling points Shopping Centre Usce, Dom omladine and Bilet servis.
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What you might not have known about the magnolia tree:
There are more than 250 sorts of this plant.
Blooms of the majority of the plants are edible and are used in cooking all over the world. In some parts of Great Britain, the petals are pickled and used for seasoning different dishes. In Asia, the buds are used for aromatization of rice or tea while in Japan, young leaves and buds are cooked and used as vegetables.
Flowers do not have stamens and they are pollinated by hymenopterans beetles which are attracted by their intense sense.
Trees can grow to 10m height and they can age up to 100 years.
