Ockenheim horse chestnut

Ockenheim horse chestnut (2020)

Ockenheimer horse chestnut is the name of a natural monument in Rhineland-Palatinate. The so-called horse chestnut , which stands in the cemetery in the village of Ockenheim in Rhineland-Palatinate , is considered a particularly striking and “monumental” individual tree. "With a crown diameter of over 25 m, a height of around 20 m and a trunk circumference of around 7 m, this chestnut is the epitome of the tree", writes Franz Böhres in 2011. According to the municipality, it was planted around 1650. The tree is the oldest horse chestnut in Rheinhessen , "if not in Germany".

background

The tree was placed under protection in 1961. An attempt was made to secure the survival of the tree veteran by means of tree surgery, a ring line and support measures for the branches. Like other trees of its kind, the Ockenheim horse chestnut, clearly visible from late summer, suffers from the invasive chestnut leaf miner . In order to fight the moth, the working group for village development hung up tit boxes in 2018 to attract birds that accept these insects as food.

gallery

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  The monumental tree, in the cemetery, in the middle of town

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  The old horse chestnut shapes its surroundings

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  Supports now secure the heavy lower branches

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  Furious through the centuries

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  Despite its age, the tree shows vital bloom in May

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  Cultural and natural monuments together in the cemetery

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Monumental trees: horse chestnut in the cemetery in Ockenheim, accessed on May 5, 2020
2. ↑ Franz Böhres: Trees in Rheinhessen. Alzey, 2011. page 84
3. ↑ see also: "Our 500 oldest trees" by Bernd Ullrich, Uwe Kühn, Stefan Kühn, blv Verlag Munich 2009, p. 202
4. ^ Community of Ockenheim: Ockenheim. Page 23 accessed on May 5, 2020
5. ↑ Franz Böhres: Trees in Rheinhessen. Alzey, 2011. page 84
6. ↑ Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz: Nesting caves for tits hung on horse chestnut in Ockenheim on March 7, 2018, accessed on May 5, 2020