Orchards and blossoming trees lost from the landscape are enduring through street names, a study suggests.
The proportion of place names linked to blossom has doubled in the past century, despite a loss of more than half of orchards in that time.
The National Trust suggests the phenomenon shows an ongoing connection to blossoming trees.
London, Plymouth, Nottingham and Newcastle all have blossom gardens aimed at returning trees to cities.
The study found that of the 912,000 place and street names recorded in survey areas across England and Wales, about 6% are associated with blossom, including terms like orchard, apple, petal, bloom, as well as grove and copse.
That compares to 3% of place names in 1900.
At the same time, more than half of traditional orchards have been lost since 1900, leaving just 4,017 hectares (9,926 acres) still growing today, the National Trust said.
The places are more likely to be near a lost orchard than a surviving one. The National Trust calls them "fossil blossoms" and says they could point a way to bring back fruit trees to local areas.
Prof Matthew Heard, from the trust, said: "They are like imprints of the past.
"This fossil blossom is an important part of our cultural memory."
New blossom spaces in Birmingham, Leeds and Swindon were planted over 2022 and 2023, while further blossom trees are due to be planted in Belfast, Durham and Cardiff and a blossom garden is about to open in Coventry as a City of Culture legacy.
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2024-04-20T07:08:00Z dg43tfdfdgfd