oak

The five members and the secretary meet in the Committee room of Oslo's Nobel institute, adorned with the same chandelier and oak furniture since the first prize.

The gardens are designed to have more than 200 species of plants and trees, including palms, oaks, sycamores, succulents and olives.

While California live oak trees are protected in Altadena, others emblematic to the area are not.

Other contenders included an oak that may have inspired Virginia Woolf and a lime representing peace in Northern Ireland, a nod to this year's theme of "rooted in culture".

As some heated rocks in the fire and others cracked and used stones to grind acorns into flour, the smell of burning oak logs permeated the air.