Hiroshima tree saplings planted as symbol of hope

A representative from the city of Hiroshima attended the ceremony in Cornwall

Saplings from a tree descended from a scorched trunk located near where the Hiroshima bomb was dropped are being planted across Cornwall.

The first gingko tree sapling was planted at County Hall in Truro and further saplings are to be planted in coming weeks.

Cornwall Council said they descended from a tree located just 1370m (4,495ft) from the hypocentre of the Hiroshima nuclear attack in 1946.

New buds appeared on the original tree after the bombing and the seeds had become a symbol of peace and renewal, said the council.

Cornwall Council received the saplings - known as "survivor trees" - as part of the Mayors for Peace project, which distributes them as a gesture of hope.

They were nurtured and grown at greenhouses at Penmount Crematorium, said the council.

A plaque mounted on Cornish granite tells the story of the Hiroshima ginkgo tree

Other ginkgo saplings, together with a plaque on Cornish granite telling the story and history of the trees, will be donated to the other beneficiaries of the project.

They include the Fox Rose Hill Gardens, Trewithen Gardens, Trebah Gardens, the Eden Project and Pencarrow House and Gardens.

Cornwall councillor Hilary Frank's husband Shojiro has family from Hiroshima

Cornwall councillor Hilary Frank, whose husband Shojiro is from Japan and has family from Hiroshima, said she was "delighted to get involved".

"That tree sprouting is a real symbol of hope - it tells me that hope will spring eternal no matter what the devastating circumstances are," she said.

Sam Nicholls, a gardener based in Cornwall who wrote to the project asking for the seeds to come to the county, said: "The trees themselves are beautiful.

"There's a message about regeneration and regrowth but also a reminder that we can do horrible things to each other."