There’s a whole world in every tree, says Jonathan Drori. Travelling eastwards from his London home, he chooses 80 trees from the 60,000 or so species on the planet. He starts with the London Plane, “a tree of pomp and circumstance”, first planted in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, in 1789. A hybrid of the American sycamore and the Oriental plane, they have set an example to urban planners around the world.

The smooth bark of the beech has long been associated with writing: beech boards once enclosed vellum books and in many languages the words for this tree and for the written word are similar.

Botswana is home to “one of the blobbiest trees on the planet”. The baobab can live for 2,000 years and it stores thousands of litres of water in its pulpy trunk. Its weird appearance is explained by one folk tale as due to the tree having ideas above its station: “The Creator exasperatedly flung the baobab upside down with its roots in the air.”

Each tree is beautifully illustrated by Lucille Clerc using a subdued but rich palette of greens and browns, with occasional splashes of more vibrant colour. This is a wonderful tour of the Earth’s trees, revealing their unique characteristics and the vital roles they have played in human life and culture.

• Around the World in 80 Trees by Jonathan Drori (Laurence King, £12.99). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.