Trump has removed something from the Oval Office that has been there for 50 years – but why?

For more than half a century, one thing has been constant in the Oval Office: Swedish ivy (Plectranthus verticillatus), the Swedish plant above the fireplace – until now.

As the second Trump administration moved forward, it replaced a few things.

It is reported that the plant had seen a host of visitors since it was first placed in the Oval Office, including Nelson Mandela, Pope John II, Margaret Thatcher and Whitney Houston.

During the presidencies of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, it was larger, before being cut short during the reigns of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush.

She appears in Bill Clinton's presidential portrait, writes yahoonews, the Telegraph reports.

When George W. Bush came, the plant was divided into three bushes.

It grew into a wider, hedge-like plant during Barack Obama's presidency, before splitting into two smaller plants during Trump's first term.

During President Joe Biden's time in the White House, the plant grew again.

But while it was still there when Trump returned to office in January, it was gone by last month.

On March 8, Mother Jones reported in a headline that “the country’s most famous houseplant is missing.”

So why the change? Each new president decorates the White House according to individual tastes, and the second Trump administration has replaced the plant with artifacts from the White House collection, including a bronze basket made in France in about 1815, given to the Nixon administration in 1973. /Telegraph/