Süntel beech

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Süntel beech
The Süntel beech in Gremsheim near Bad Gandersheim in 2003. It has now largely collapsed.

The Süntel beech in Gremsheim near Bad Gandersheim in 2003. It has now largely collapsed.

Systematics
Eurosiden I
Order : Beech-like (Fagales)
Family : Beech family (Fagaceae)
Genre : Beech ( Fagus )
Type : Common beech ( F. sylvatica )
Variety : Süntel beech
Scientific name
Fagus sylvatica var. Suentelensis
clamp

The dwarf beech , Fagus sylvatica var. Suentelensis Schelle (1903) syn. Fagus sylvatica var. Tortuosa Willk. (1887), is a rare variety of the common beech ( Fagus sylvatica ).

Süntel Book impress with their twisted, crippled, intergrown branches and their very short, drehwüchsigen tribes. They grow more in width than in height. They rarely reach a height of over 15 meters. With their drooping branches, the Süntelbuchen form tent-like, hemispherical or mushroom-shaped crowns . The growth form is hereditary, but its origin is still unclear.

etymology

The name Süntel beech comes from the occurrences in the Süntel , in the Weserbergland in Lower Saxony .

The Süntelbuche is depending on location under different botanical name as Tortuosa , Suntalensis or Suentelensis and popular names such as Krause Beech , Cripple Beech , Screen Beech , Snake book or Renk Beech known. In the past they were also called witchwood or devil's beech , because they were viewed as haunted or spoiled by the devil. Above all, the many possible variations in their growth form contribute to the inconsistent naming .

distribution

200-year-old Süntel beech in Lauenau

The Süntel is a small mountain range north of Hameln in Lower Saxony . Until the middle of the 19th century there was the largest beech forest in Europe. In the course of the coupling in 1843, the entire area, the 245 meter high Westeregge between Hülsede and Raden, was cleared . At that time the number of Süntelbuchen in Germany fell from a few thousand to less than one hundred. Individual old specimens or small groups of trees can only be found in around 50 locations. They have been supplemented by numerous new plantings in the last few decades.

The largest Süntel beeches in Germany are in the Berggarten Hannover and in Lauenau am Deister . In Bad Nenndorf in the spa park there is a Süntelbuchenallee made up of almost 100 trunks, two thirds of which are root brood . The " head beech " in Gremsheim am Heber near Bad Gandersheim , which was still considered one of the largest beech trees at the beginning of the 21st century (2003), has now largely collapsed despite intensive tree care measures.

The Wiehengebirge also belongs to the natural distribution area. A well-known specimen of this tree species still stands today on the Eidinghauser Berg and bears the name " Krause Beech " because of its striking growth . A second, smaller beech should grow nearby. For the plant geographer, this occurrence justifies the assumption that the Süntelbuche was once spread from the Süntel over the Weser chain to the Wiehengebirge. However, in this context the name Süntel -Buche is not wrong, because in older times the mountain range of Wiehengebirge, Wesergebirge and Süntel were officially referred to as Süntel .

Smaller groups of older Süntel beeches still exist in France (Hêtre tortillard) , Denmark (Vrange bøge) and Sweden (Vresboken) . Younger trees can now be found in many parks and botanical gardens in Europe and the USA.

In the forest of Verzy, 25 kilometers southeast of Reims (France), there was, according to a census from 1998, a large population of more than 800 Süntel beeches ( Faux de Verzy ) . The number has since been reduced slightly. The most beautiful specimens have been freed from competition and have become a tourist attraction on a circular path in a park-like area.

The Süntel-Buchen -reservat of the Heimatbund Lower Saxony

The local group Bad Münder of the Heimatbund Niedersachsen e. About 1990 V. established an approximately 11,000 m² Süntel beech reserve above the localities of Nettelrede and Luttringhausen . The initially leased property was bought on September 27, 2010 by the local group Bad Münder for the new owner Heimatbund Niedersachsen e. V. bought. Young Süntel beeches can grow up protected in the reserve . The sustainable nature conservation project serves exclusively to preserve and multiply this rare tree species. In the closed stock of Süntel beeches, there is a high genetic diversity that is important for reproduction. In addition, the secluded location of the reserve in the middle of the Feldmark avoids genetic mixing with the European beeches in Deister and Süntel.

The reserve was surveyed with a theodolite . It was possible to precisely record the location of each beech and to number the individual trees. The survey plan became the basis for maintenance work and scientific investigations.

biology

Age

The age of Süntel beeches is often overestimated because of their gnarled growth. The average age limit is 120 to 160 years. The horizontal, statically unfavorable growth seems to accelerate the breakup of old rotten trees, so that 300 years are not reached. Only the old age of the Tilly beech near Raden im Auetal (255 years) and the Süntel beech in the palace gardens of Haus Weitmar in Bochum (270 years) were known.

Growth forms

Süntel beech - stemless bush shape
Süntelbuchenallee in Bad Nenndorf
Süntelbuchengruppe in the Hohen Mark

The greatest difference to the normal form lies in the peculiar growth of roots, trunk and branches of the Süntelbuche. Twist, snake, corkscrew, kink, knee, zigzag or simply cripple growth have been described in the most varied of twisted trees. The trunks show deep furrows and bulges in cross-section, they are not "circular". The botanist also speaks of spinal stems. They resemble elephant feet and are sometimes hardly higher than 2 meters even in old specimens. Occasionally there are also completely stemless "bush forms". Often there are subsidence , i.e. side branches that extend below the surface of the main trunk and only grow upwards after a few meters. Older single trees, such as the Süntelbuche in the mountain garden of Hanover-Herrenhausen , then give the impression of a whole group of trees.

In addition, Süntelbuchen show a slight "mourning form". The branches in the outer crown area droop, but not as much as in the hanging beech . The branches in the upper middle of the crown, on the other hand, are usually erect and give the crown a shaggy appearance.

The tree shape can also be influenced by different refinement techniques, for example through "high trunk refinement". Of course, the growth of the Süntel beech also depends on the location (competition, shade, nutrients, wind, etc.).

Blossoms, leaves, fruits and bark, as well as the color and firmness of the wood, correspond to the species ( European beech ). However, leaves and fruits show a greater range of variation in shape and size than in the common beech. Also striking are the different arrangement of the buds , the occasional curved buds and double terminal buds at the branch tips and the strong tendency to develop root brood , especially in trees that are transplanted when young. The common red beech heart root is strongly distorted in the Süntelbuche due to the cripple growth. As a result, individual roots come to the surface more frequently and form root shoots that grow into new, mostly long, undivided and snake-growing stems.

Süntelbuchen variations

The southern beech can be varied in terms of growth habit on the one hand and leaf shape and color on the other. Crosses with other leaf beech varieties are desirable, but only succeeded with the copper beech . Since 1967 there have been red-leaved Süntel beeches, the blood Süntel beeches ( Fagus sylv. Cultivar 'Tortuosa Purpurea' or Rot-Süntel).

The variety of forms of the Süntel beech has often aroused the desire for further subdivision. This has not yet led to satisfactory results. For example, Süntel beeches with clear deviations in their habitus have been given new names several times , even if the special shape could not yet be increased and it was unclear whether the shape of the young tree would be retained in old age.

Of some variations there is only a single copy. The flat-topped tree of the Tabuliformis type ( table beech ) in Flora Cologne , described by Gerd Krüssmann in 1939 in the communications of the DDG , is such a unique example. Another different form is the form Horizontalis , which grows completely flat above the ground and is known as Londal in Denmark . The form of Remillyensis , which was first described in 1869 and originated in France, could be an intermediate form of sulky and hanging beech.

Further Süntelbuchen forms are 'Bornyensis', 'Pagnyensis', 'Retroflexa', 'Arcuata', 'Conglomerata', 'Umbraculifera' and others. The division and demarcation is fuzzy and not undisputed.

Similar beech shapes

Large hanging beech and young Süntel beech

A very similar red beech subspecies is the hanging beech . It is very similar to the Süntelbuche, but grows more upright and less twisted and its branches have a more pronounced hanging shape. If sundial or hanging beeches deviate significantly from their ideal shape, even knowledgeable dendrologists do not always agree on the assignment.

Not among the Süntelbuchen include dogged " Hudebuchen ", storm-disheveled "crippled beeches" on the coast and in the mountains and often pruned "headbucks", which owe their "süntelige" shape to external influences and do not pass them on.

The growth forms mentioned above are isolated and less pronounced in every normal beech forest .

Reproduction and reproduction

Biologically , the Süntelbuche hardly differs from the normal red beech . In this way, both can fertilize each other, which makes the Süntelbuche unpopular with forest owners who want to produce wood that has just grown.

Süntel beeches are foreign pollinators, i. H. self-fertilization of the monoecious trees is not possible. They have to be fertilized by another tree, whether normal red beech or sultry beech. From the corner beeches of Süntel beeches, which are always also pollinated by normal beeches, because their pollen is everywhere in the air, normal beeches, Süntel beeches and mixed forms are created in different numbers and without any sharp delimitation. In the literature, the information varies from 10 to over 70 percent of crooked seedlings.

Young Süntel beech (graft)

Only after 5 to 10 years can you see clearly enough whether a young plant will become a “real” Süntel beech. That is why such seedlings are very rarely available in stores. Plugs, on the other hand, are offered more and more frequently. So the new plantings of the last decades were mainly made with grafted, i.e. H. grafted beeches. Almost exclusively the most beautiful trees were reproduced, which can lead to genetic impoverishment in the long term .

In addition, Süntel beeches reproduce, even quite frequently, through the formation of subsidence and root brood . Branches lying on the ground take root or roots growing on the surface produce new shoots.

When planting young Süntel beeches, the very slow growth in height of 5 to 10 cm per year and the large space requirement should be taken into account. The Süntel beech with its low, almost horizontally growing branches and the branches hanging down to the ground cover a circle of up to 25 m in diameter with its crown. Roadsides and property boundaries are therefore not suitable locations.

Economic use

The twisted and curved wood of the Süntelbuche cannot be used commercially. Because of the twisted growth, it is very difficult to split in the direction of the grain with an ax or a saw and, because of its crookedness, it is difficult to stack, so that it is unsuitable even as firewood. The value of the Süntelbuche lies solely in its importance as an ornamental tree in parks, gardens and public areas.

Cultural meaning

Well-known specimens in Germany

"Krause Buche", wood engraving from 1890
The canopy of the Süntelbuchen in the Semper Castle Park

Some outstanding Süntel beeches, which reached a high age or showed a particularly beautiful growth, became very well-known and impressive natural monuments , which also found their way into the relevant literature.

They include the oldest tree in Bochum in the park of Haus Weitmar , the "Krause Buche" on the Wittekindsberg , the " Krause Buche " on the Eidinghauser Berg in the Wiehengebirge, the "Parapluie-beeches" from Erpernburg near Paderborn , the " Krausbäumchen " von Bad Homburg vor der Höhe , the pulpit beech on the Stromberg and the still existing specimens “Süntelbuche” in the Berggarten in Hanover-Herrenhausen and “ Kopfbuche ” near Gremsheim .

The best-known representative of its kind was the " Tilly beech " (1739–1994) near Raden am Süntel , which created an identity for the region and today characterizes the coat of arms of the Auetal community . Its roots served as an advertising template for Lacalut toothpaste , its enormous growth inspired artists to make drawings, oil paintings, photographs, fables and poems. For more than a century, their unclear origins led scientists to speculate, some of them daring, about the origin of the monstrous beeches.

Such a fascination is only likely to come from special specimens or larger groups (“fairy tale forest”, “magic forest” etc.). Smaller beech trees are no longer taken into account than comparable growth forms of corkscrew hazel , acacia, larch or willow . For centuries, beech seedlings were considered useless when thinning young red beech stocks and were eradicated.

Ten Süntel beeches form a dome-like grove, which were planted in 1920 in the Semper Forest Park in the north of Lietzow (Rügen island, Vorpommern-Rügen district). They are protected as a natural monument.

In addition, there are the former forest plant garden and today's International Phenological Garden of the Technical University of Dresden near Kurort Hartha on the former "Poetenweg" (aisle 6) in the Tharandt forest and in the forest botanical garden of the Technical University of Dresden in Tharandt , where one can also scientifically study these woody plants and their Breeding concerns, nationally known Süntel beeches.

Süntelbuchen in France

Süntelbuche near Sionne (France)

A Süntelbuchen occurrence is z. B. from a forest north of the village of Sionne (Département Vosges) known.

A collection of up to 800 copies has established itself in Verzy ( Faux de Verzy ) .

Research history

Süntel beech near Lauenau, 1907

In Pfeils Kritische Blätter für Forst- und Jagdwissenschaft , 19th volume, 1st issue, page 223, from 1844, the chief forester Tilemann from Eschede reported for the first time “About the abnormal growth of the beech in the Hülseder community forests, Amt Lauenau in the Kingdom of Hanover ":

“On this mountain, both on the top and on the slopes of it, there is a 100-150-year-old beech stand in an area of ​​about 600 acres, in which all the trunks have such an extremely remarkable growth that it is worth the effort to describe the same; because there would probably be few foresters who have had the opportunity to see a similar growth of the beech on such an important area. "

“All the trunks have grown more or less crookedly that, in my opinion, not 1 piece of straight wood can be split from the entire stock mass into 4-legged logs, and have a crown formation that is similar to the weeping ash. It is not possible to give a faithful description of this strange tree growth without drawings. "

When Tilemann published his 1842 report with four drawings in 1844, the last Süntel beech forest near Hülsede had already been cleared.

In the following 160 years, innumerable essays by botanists and nature lovers appeared full of amazement and perplexity about the strange natural phenomenon .

A report by A. Oppermann in 1908 with over 100 photos of the "whitefish", an illustrated natural history representation of the last specimens growing in the Süntel by W. Wehrhahn from 1902 and a description of the Tilly beech by Cl. Baroness von Münchhausen from 1911.

The Emeritus Professor Friedrich Lange dealt 1966-1974 in Bad Munder am Deister and in the University of Goettingen intensively with the morphology of traditional trees. He described the structure and growth of plants and the development stages of the unusual growth form. But he couldn't find the actual trigger either. The proverbial “secret of the Süntelbuche” remained unsolved. (→ Literature : Lange 1974)

Franz Gruber from the University of Göttingen examined the growth and age of the largest beech trees in 2001 and 2002 and thus made an important contribution to determining the age of the trees, which are mostly overestimated in this regard. (→ Literature : Gruber 2002)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ H. Schwier: Süntelbuchen . In: Teutoburg Forest and Weserbergland . 1930; ( Text ).
  2. ^ Heinrich Rüthing: The beginnings of religious life on the Wittekindsberg according to the written sources . In: Archeology in East Westphalia . Volume 4, 1999, p. 45: "Weser and Wiehengebirge were still called Süntel back then [in 991]." ( PDF ).
  3. ^ A. Gallois, J.C. Audran, M. Burrus: Assessment of genetic relationships and population discrimination among Fagus sylvatica L. by RAPD . In: Theoretical and Applied Genetics . Volume 97, No. 1-2, 1998, pp. 211-219.
  4. Süntel-Buchen -reservat
  5. home country. Journal for local history, nature conservation, cultural care. 2010, issue 4, p. 163 f.
  6. Franz Gruber: About the growth and age of the three most important Süntel beeches (Fagus sylvatica L. var. Suentelensis Schelle ) in Germany. Part 2: The Süntelbuchen of Lauenau and Raden . In: General forest and hunting newspaper . J. D. Sauerländer's publishing house, Frankfurt a. M., Volume 174, 2003, Issue 1, ISSN  0002-5852 , pp. 8-14.
  7. Gerhard Dönig: The park and garden forms of the red beech - Fagus sylvatica L. garden picture , Rinteln 1994, ISBN 3-928521-05-5 .
  8. ^ Franz Werfel: The rescue of the Süntelbuchen . In: Sächsische Zeitung , Freital edition, March 4, 2016.

literature

  • Gerhard Dönig: Süntel beeches in Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden and elsewhere in Europe . Edited by the Bad Münder local group of the Heimatbund Niedersachsen e. V., Bad Münder 2012, ISBN 978-3-00-039732-5 .
  • Gerhard Dönig: The park and garden forms of the red beech - Fagus sylvatica L. garden picture , Rinteln 1994, ISBN 3-928521-05-5 .
  • Ernst Andreas Friedrich : Natural monuments of Lower Saxony . Landbuch-Verlag, Hannover 1980, ISBN 3-7842-0227-6 .
  • Franz Gruber: About the growth and age of the three most important southern beeches (Fagus sylvatica L. var. Suentelensis Schelle ) in Germany. In: General forest and hunting newspaper . J. D. Sauerländer's publishing house, Frankfurt a. M., ISSN  0002-5852 .
    • Part 1: The head beech from Gremsheim (Fagus sylvatica f. Tortuosa-pendula) . 173. Jg. 2002, No. 11/12, pp. 209-216; ( PDF download ).
    • Part 2: The Süntelbuchen of Lauenau and Raden . 174th year 2003, No. 1, pp. 8-14; ( PDF download ).
  • Friedrich Lange: Morphological investigations on the Süntelbuche . In: Communications of the German Dendrological Society . Ulmer, Stuttgart-Hohenheim 1974, 67, ISSN  0070-3958 , pp. 24-44.
  • Udo Mierau: A new home for the Süntelbuche. From the construction of the reserve near Nettelrede-Luttringhausen. In: Waldemar R. Röhrbein (Ed.): Preserve your home, shape your home. Contributions to the 100th anniversary of the Heimatbund Lower Saxony. Hannover 2001, pp. 138-141; (The article also contains details of the locations of the Süntel beech).
  • Adolf Oppermann: Det Forstlige Forsoegsvaesen i Danmark. Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag, Koebenhaven 1908-1911, ISSN  0367-2174 .

Web links

Commons : Süntel-Buchen  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Süntelbuche  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
This version was added to the list of excellent articles on July 3, 2005 .