A shortlist of 12 trees has been compiled for the annual contest run by the Woodland Trust from the charity s hall of fame for very old and important trees, the Ancient Tree Inventory (ATI).
The plants require a cool climate at high altitude but due to increasing global temperatures, species are moving to higher ground with drooping saxifrage now found 50 metres from the top of Ben Lawers.
The orange wildflower was given the scientific name extinctus because experts suspected it had died out following the widespread destruction of the Ecuadorian forest where it had been found.