No Parking: a tree by any other name

Scientists who discovered a new species of tree standing beside a country road have named it "no parking" after a sign that was nailed to the trunk.

A team of botanists found the tree in a north Devon lay-by while working on a project in which 14 new species and hybrids across the British Isles were discovered.

It was known locally as the No Parking Tree and the nickname has stuck as it is listed in Watsonia, the scientific journal of the Botanical Society of the British Isles, as no parking whitebeam. The tree's Latin name is Sorbus admonitor, meaning to admonish or tell off, and it grows at Watersmeet, between the villages of Lynton and Lynmouth.

The research project, led by Dr Tim Rich, head of vascular plants at the National Museum Wales, involved academics from the University of Wales, Bristol University, Exeter University, Oxford University and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.