National Trust creates living gene bank of endangered native black poplar

The National Trust’s Fi Hailstone planting a black poplar tree at Killerton estate in Devon. Photograph: James Beck/National Trust Images

Captured by John Constable in one of his most celebrated paintings, the black poplar tree was once as common as oak and beech in Britain.

Now the rarest and most threatened native species in the country, the National Trust is creating a living gene bank of the black poplar to ensure Constable’s The Hay Wain does not become a tribute to an extinct breed.