Taipei Tree Finder

About · Street Tree Knowledge Base

Taipei's Trees Are
More Impressive Than You Think

They stand quietly by the roadside, giving us shade, filtering the air, and absorbing carbon emissions. Every single one has its own ID, species, and story.

🌿 Carbon Storage ⭐ Protected Heritage Trees 🌲 Common Species 📷 QR Codes ❓ FAQ
A row of street trees in Taipei
Taipei has 92,776 street trees across its 12 districts, each recorded in the government's public survey data.

🌿 How Much Carbon Do Taipei's Street Trees "Absorb" Each Year?

Next time you walk down one of Taipei's tree-lined boulevards, have you ever wondered — besides giving shade, these street trees are quietly doing something important: storing carbon.

Through photosynthesis, trees convert atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) into wood, leaves, and roots, "locking" carbon inside the tree. That's what carbon storage means. In short: trees are nature's carbon vacuum cleaners.

📊 Let's do the math:
A mature banyan tree stores about 12 kg of CO₂ per year — equivalent to the emissions saved by driving 60 fewer kilometers.
Add up Taipei's 92,776 street trees, and their annual carbon storage is equivalent to thousands of cars not driving for an entire year!

Even more impressively, besides storing carbon, Taipei's street trees also:

  • 🌡️ Lower the perceived temperature by 3–5°C — something you'll appreciate in a Taipei summer
  • 💨 Filter airborne particulates (PM2.5)
  • 🌧️ Reduce the urban heat island effect and stormwater runoff
  • 🐦 Create habitats for insects, birds, and other urban wildlife through diverse species
  • 😊 Have been shown by research to lower people's stress levels just by being seen
Close-up of sunlight passing through leaves
Through photosynthesis, trees lock CO₂ into their branches and roots — a mature banyan tree stores about 12 kg of CO₂ per year.

⭐ Taipei's Protected Trees — Witnesses of Two Centuries

Taipei has 3,874 protected trees — precious heritage trees that meet certain age, diameter, or height thresholds, or hold special historical or cultural significance. Once designated as protected, a tree cannot be transplanted or removed without authorization.

What kind of tree qualifies as "protected"?
Under Taipei's protected-tree designation criteria, a tree usually meets at least one of the following:
① A trunk diameter (DBH) of 80 cm or more
② An age of 50 years or more
③ Historical, cultural, ecological, or landscape significance

Walking through Taipei, if you spot an especially thick tree with hanging aerial roots and an oval "protected tree" nameplate on its trunk — that tree may have stood there for over a hundred years, quietly witnessing the city's transformation from farmland into a modern metropolis.

Use this site's "Protected" filter button to see the locations of all of Taipei's protected heritage trees on the map (marked with a gold ring) — tap one to see its age and species.

Close-up of a protected tree's oval nameplate
Taipei's protected trees carry an oval nameplate; qualifying requires a trunk diameter of 80 cm or more, or an age of 50 years or more.
The spreading roots of a century-old tree
Once designated as protected, a heritage tree cannot be transplanted or removed without authorization — many have stood on Taipei's streets for over a century.

🌲 Taipei's Most Common Street Tree Species

Taipei's street trees span a wide range of species — from tropical banyans and camphor trees to the seasonal sweetgum and golden shower tree — creating the city's distinctive green streetscape. Here are a few of the species you'll see most often:

Banyan

Ficus microcarpa

The undisputed king of Taipei's street trees! Hanging aerial roots and a broad canopy make it the best summer shade tree, and the most common species across Taiwan.

Camphor Tree

Cinnamomum camphora

Its leaves carry a faint camphor scent, more noticeable when crushed. Taipei has many old camphor trees, quite a few of which have reached protected status.

Madagascar Almond

Terminalia mantaly

An elegant, tiered, umbrella-shaped form reminiscent of trees in Japanese manga. Widely planted on Taipei's traffic medians in recent years.

Indian Rubber Tree

Ficus elastica

Large, dark-green leaves with a white latex sap. Common in parks and on campuses; some specimens have reached a remarkable age.

Golden Shower Tree

Cassia fistula

Bursts into cascades of golden-yellow flowers every May and June, earning the nickname "golden rain" — one of the most spectacular species among Taipei's street trees.

Formosan Sweetgum

Liquidambar formosana

Its leaves turn orange-red in autumn and winter, one of the few Taiwanese tree species with a distinct autumn color change; visible around Taipei's Da'an Forest Park.

Close-up of banyan aerial roots
The banyan (Ficus microcarpa), with its hanging aerial roots and broad canopy, is the most common street tree species in Taipei.
Backlit close-up of camphor tree leaves, sunlight passing through the veins
Crushing a camphor tree (Cinnamomum camphora) leaf releases a faint camphor scent; many of Taipei's old camphor trees have reached protected status.

📷 Taipei Street Tree QR Codes — Every Tree Has Its Own ID

Taipei City Government has built an electronic registry for most street trees and attached a QR code to each nameplate. Scanning it reveals: scientific species name, height, DBH, age, district, annual carbon storage, and more — the complete record.

Looking up this data used to require knowing how to navigate a government system. Now, scan a Taipei street tree's QR code with taipei-trees.org — no app download, no login, just scan and see.

📱 How to scan:
1. Open taipei-trees.org
2. Tap the "📷 Scan" button at the top
3. Aim at the black-and-white square on the nameplate — recognized in about a second
4. The tree's full record appears instantly!
Scanning a street tree's QR code with a phone
Open taipei-trees.org and tap "📷 Scan" — no app download or login needed to look up a tree's full record.
Close-up of a Taipei street tree's QR code nameplate
Taipei City Government has created an electronic registry for most street trees and attached a QR code to the nameplate — scan it to see species, height, DBH, age, and more.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

As of this site's last data update, Taipei has 92,776 street trees across 12 districts, plus 3,874 protected trees, about 11,000 riverside park trees, and about 70,000 park trees. Data source: Taipei City Government Open Data Platform (data.taipei), used under the Open Government Data License (OGDL).
This site automatically syncs with Taipei City Government open data every night, so the data you see is usually current. If the government dataset itself hasn't been updated yet (government datasets are typically updated quarterly or annually), this site keeps the last synced data.
Not at all! Just open taipei-trees.org in your phone's browser, tap the "📷 Scan" button, allow camera access, and you can scan any Taipei street tree's QR code. Works with iOS Safari, Android Chrome, and other major browsers.
A Taipei street tree is a roadside tree planted and managed by the city government; a protected tree is a legally designated, precious heritage tree requiring special protection, usually older or of historical significance. Protected trees cannot be transplanted or removed without authorization. On this site's map, each tree's fill color indicates its species type (dark green for evergreen, brown for deciduous, pink for flowering, etc.), and the ring color indicates its category: white for street trees, green for park trees, blue for riverside park trees, and gold specifically marks protected trees.
This site includes Taipei's street trees, protected trees, riverside park trees, and park trees, all sourced from Taipei City Government's data.taipei open data platform under a clear OGDL license (street trees, protected trees, and park trees are provided by the Parks and Street Lights Office; riverside park trees by the Hydraulic Engineering Office).
This site's data comes directly from Taipei City Government's open data. If you find an error, we recommend reporting it to the Taipei City Government Public Works Department's Parks and Street Lights Office; once corrected, this site's data will update automatically at the next sync.
On this site's homepage, tap "Overview" to expand a table of street tree counts by district, so you can see at a glance which district has the most trees and which has the densest concentration of protected trees.
DBH (Diameter at Breast Height) is the diameter of a tree's trunk measured at 1.3 meters above the ground. It's an internationally standard way to measure trees — a larger DBH generally indicates an older, sturdier tree.
🗺️ Go to the Map to Find Taipei's Street Trees

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