Centuries-old cotton tree, a national symbol for decades, felled by storm in Sierra Leone
By SAM MEDNICK
Associated Press
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Sierra Leon’s President Julius Maada Bio says heavy rains felled the centuries-old Cotton Tree that has stood as the country’s national symbol for decades. President Bio said Thursday he looks forward to discussions on how to best use the space. A storm Wednesday evening in the capital, Freetown destroyed all by the stump of the tree. Standing 70 meters tall and 15 meters wide, the roughly 400 year-old tree has appeared on Sierra Leone’s bank notes, referred to in lullabies and visited by royalty, such as Queen Elizabeth the II, to mark the country’s independence in 1961.
