Following a report that much of the tree fell down yesterday (18 July) Dr Johnson’s mulberry (Morus nigra) on the Streatham Park Estate in south London was visited this evening.   As a post elsewhere on this website explains, the dictionary-compiler Dr Johnson is said to have known this tree when he visited his friends Henry and Hester Thrale.

In fact a substantial part of the tree’s crown remains intact, and although the centre of the trunk is hollow inside and obviously rotten there is a healthy layer of hard wood around the outside.  There are also small twigs emerging from the trunk below where the bulk of the crown broke off, so with careful treatment the tree should survive.