Gamb oak

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The Gambseiche in Dieburger Forst in March 2017
Signpost to the ND on the forest path from Altheim to Richen

The Gambseiche was a striking pedunculate oak that stood in the Dieburger Forest on Semder district in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district in southern Hesse , between Groß-Umstadt and Dieburg , was a relic of forest grazing and has been a natural monument since 1932 .

Location

This striking oak is located in the southern part of the Dieburger Forst - the so-called Mittelforst , which lies east of the B45 between Groß-Umstadt and Dieburg. The natural monument is located on the outskirts of the Umstadt district of Semd, but lies in the southeastern part of the contiguous forest in the direction of the Umstadt district of Richen . The tree stood not far from the remains of a villa rustica (no longer visible above ground ) at Kuhlippsborn at a former crossroads. At the location of the oak and a few meters south-east are the remains of two prehistoric barrows . The tree is located on “Hauptwanderweg 8” of the OWK “ Darmstadt - Groß-Umstadt - Mömlingen ” (sign: yellow = ).

description

history

The single tree got its name after a forest warden of the 19th century who was based in Semd and whose name has been transferred to the tree since around 1875. It is a relic of forest grazing , which was not characterized by an often impenetrable forest, as it is today, but was characterized by the systematic removal of wood and many free areas for keeping animals and grazing.

Dimensions

The tree is estimated to be around 400 to 450 years old. Its height was around 40 meters at the beginning of the 21st century and was visibly above the rest of the forest area. Its trunk circumference was given as about 6.20 meters. Of the at least three main crowns that still existed into the 1970s, only one was preserved, a second still visible in the middle of the broken main trunk. The tree was thought to be dying. Deep cavities at the break of the main branch were visible.

In the directory of the "1898 inventoried oaks and beeches according to the department for forest and cameral management (1904)" ( Hessisches Baumbuch , Province Starkenburg p. 53), however, the "Gambs oak in the middle forest near Dieburg" (tree number 33) is still called " alive ”and indicated with measurements of 5.26 meters in circumference at chest height, a diameter of 1.67 meters, a total height of 31 meters and an age of 400 years.

It is proven that in 1922 the king oak, referred to as "giant oak" with other trees, was used for further thickness measurements and age estimates. Comparative measurements of the chest height diameter were carried out, which showed that the oak had a diameter of 1.68 meters in 1902 and 1.74 in 1921, i.e. at the beginning of the 20th century it was still gaining more than 3 millimeters in thickness per year. The oak has been designated as a natural monument in the Dieburg district since 1932 . In 1959 it was again designated as a natural monument. The Gambseiche was often used by groups of children in the surrounding villages as a starting point for walks in the forest.

lightning strike

The king oak after the emergency felling in June 2019

On June 6, 2019, the English oak was by lightning in the central area of the broken main branch during a thunderstorm in fire fall. Due to the chimney effect and rotten openings and hollows, the tree burned down in part despite attempts by the local fire brigade to extinguish it. In consultation with the head of the Lower Nature Conservation Authority, Matthias Kisling, the latter then approved the felling, which took almost two hours. The oak and the source of the fire could then be completely extinguished. The gamb oak now remains in the forest as dead wood .

By felling and revealing the annual rings , an age of around 400 years can be estimated, so the tree was created around the beginning of the Thirty Years War .

Mention in the literature

The king oak is mentioned in a regional and historical crime story, the alley spike by author Thomas Fuhlbrügge.

Web links

Commons : Gambseiche  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Kuhlippsborn is an old spring that the Romans safely used as a water supply for the manor.
  2. ^ Directory of the hiking trails of the Odenwaldklubs eV . Issue 2014, p. 12; accessed on June 13, 2019
  3. ^ Ordinance on the safeguarding of natural monuments in the Dieburg district. (pdf; 26 kB) The district committee of the Dieburg district, May 27, 1959, accessed on July 21, 2016 .
  4. ↑ At the same time, a forester from the Electoral Palatinate of the same name from the middle of the 18th century is known in the former Electoral Palatinate Oberamt (R-Rep. 26e No. 32/33 of the Baden-Württemberg State Archives, Wertheim State Archives)
  5. ^ Andreas Mölder: Yearbook Nature Conservation in Hesse 17: 55–62 , Appendix 2; accessed on June 13, 2019
  6. ↑ Journal for Forestry and Hunting , Volume 54, Springer, 1922, p. 388 f.
  7. ↑ Dorothee Dorschel: Natural monument falls victim to lightning , online article in www.echo-online.de (Darmstädter Echo) from June 6, 2019; accessed June 6, 2019
  8. ↑ Mission report: Burning tree after lightning strike , information from the Dieburg volunteer fire brigade, June 6, 2019; accessed on June 14, 2019
  9. ↑ Thomas Fuhlbrügge: Gassenspieß , BoD, Norderstedt 2017, ISBN 978-3-741252-78-5 . P. 28

Coordinates: 49 ° 53 ′ 31.8 "  N , 8 ° 54 ′ 6.9"  E