Schwanheim old oaks

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A pedunculate oak several hundred years old in the Schwanheim forest

A number of about 30 pedunculate oaks ( Quercus robur ) in the southwest of the urban area of Frankfurt am Main are known as Schwanheimer Alteichen . The particularly vigorous oaks are located in the Frankfurt city forest on the boundary of the Schwanheim district in southern Main . They are designated as a natural monument . Her advanced age and the strong growth could reach the trees, as they until the 19th century the acorns in the wood pasture used Schwanheimer forest served. For centuries, intensive grazing of the area prevented competing vegetation from developing in the immediate vicinity of the oaks. The age of Schwanheim's old oaks is estimated to be around 500 years on average. The exact age and number of trees are not recorded.

location

The Schwanheim old oaks are distributed in loose groups or as individual trees on an area of ​​around three hectares on the northwestern edge of the Frankfurt city forest, near the southern edge of the development of the Schwanheim district. A small number of the oaks have remained free-standing to this day; most of these old trees are now surrounded by undergrowth and by younger trees close by. Due to their size, however, the oaks are easy to identify even with dense vegetation. Sections of the green belt circular hiking trail and, since 2002, the historical Schwanheim hiking trail totaling 900 meters in length lead along some particularly stately specimens. Eight text panels on site convey botanical and historical knowledge about the cultural history of the oak and about the Schwanheimer Hutewald.

history

Some of Schwanheim's old oaks have already died and are used as dead wood for many animal species

Before it was incorporated into Frankfurt in 1928, Schwanheim was an agricultural village that belonged to changing domains over the course of its history. To the south of the village was the Schwanheimer Wald, which was mainly used as pasture for cattle.

The cattle driven into the forest for fattening - pigs, sheep and goats - kept the vegetation potentially competing with the hat trees short by grazing on saplings and by eating the tree fruits. Since no vegetation, competing for light and nutrients from the soil and which would have rejuvenated the forest, developed for the oaks of the Hutewald near them, the Schwanheim old oaks were able to develop their stately growth unhindered over the centuries of their use. Due to the lack of competition for sunlight, the trees grew both in width and in height, which occasionally led to a particularly large trunk circumference of the hat trees averaging 2.75 meters. The height of the oaks is between 12 and 16 meters. Since the average maximum age of the pedunculate oak is around 700 years, the age-related loss of the Schwanheim old oaks is expected in the foreseeable future. Due to their age, which cannot be determined more precisely, the trees are often referred to as " thousand year old oaks ".

An older proverb that has been passed on to refer to the fattening of pigs in the forest is “the best hams grow on the oaks ” .

The stag beetle, which has become rare, lives on the old oaks in Schwanheim

Fauna on and on the old oaks of Schwanheim

The trees are the habitat of a large number of animal species, some of which have specialized in oak. The species of beetles that have become rare in Schwanheim's old oaks include the stag beetle ( Lucanus cervus ), the also endangered large rose beetle ( Protaetia aeruginosa ) and the large oak billy ( Cerambyx cerdo ), which is threatened with extinction .

Among the bird species the tawny owl ( Strix aluco ) is to be emphasized, among the mammals it is the bat species great noctule ( Nyctalus noctula ); Both species use the numerous tree hollows in the old oaks to raise their young.

On-site reproduction of a painting by Fritz Wucherer (1873–1948): Bei den Schwanheimer Eichen, 1899

Artistic reception

In the 19th century, the old oaks of the Schwanheimer Hutewald were a pictorial motif that was often interpreted in pictures and drawings by the visual artists of the time. Most of these works of landscape painting are influenced by the Romantic era and depict the trees with figural accessories as an idealized rural idyll. One of the best-known interpreters of the motif "Schwanheimer Eichen" is the Dresden painter and draftsman Ludwig Richter (1803–1884), whose pencil drawings of the trees, made in 1862, are now part of the collection of the Berlin National Gallery . Other prominent artists who depicted the oaks in their works are Peter Burnitz (1824–1886), who belonged to the Kronberg painter colony , Johann Friedrich Morgenstern (1777–1844) and his son Carl Morgenstern (1811–1893) and Richard Fresenius ( 1844–1903) and Eugen Bracht (1842–1921). Von Bracht's works are exhibited in the Hessian State Museum in Darmstadt .

Further important old trees in Frankfurt

On the southern edge of the nature reserve Enkheimer Ried of the Frankfurt city forest and Frankfurt green belt are the Enkheimer old oaks also exceptional old oaks stocks with trees 3 to 4.74 meters in circumference, 250 to 380 years and treble an age between 25 and 35 meters. Thirty individual specimens have been documented, which are mainly concentrated in four positions in the approximately 23.3 hectare Enkheim Forest, of which the nature reserve takes up approximately 8.9 hectares.

See also

literature

  • Adolf Helfenbein: The oak forest and its painters . Chapter about the Schwanheim old oaks in painting, in: Josef Henrich (Ed.): Suenheim - Sweinheim - Schwanheim . Publisher Franz Jos. Henrich KG, Frankfurt am Main 1971
  • Gerd-Peter Kossler (ed.) And other authors: Forest in the south of Frankfurt: Stadtwald, Gravenbruch, Mönchbruch . Self-published, Frankfurt am Main 1991. ISBN 3-9800853-2-5
  • City of Frankfurt am Main, Forestry Office (Hrsg.): Historischer Wanderweg Schwanheim - Wanderweg zur Schwanheimer history and prehistory . In it: Chapter Schwanheimer Alteichen, p. 10 f. 3rd (corrected) edition, Frankfurt am Main 2002
  • City of Frankfurt am Main, Environment Agency, project group GrünGürtel (Ed.): The Schwanheim old oaks in Frankfurt's GrünGürtel / RheinMain regional park . Leaflet, 2nd edition, 2009

Web links

Commons : Schwanheimer Alteichen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Environment Office of the City of Frankfurt am Main (ed.): GrünGürtel-Freizeitkarte, 7th edition, 2011
  2. ↑ City of Frankfurt am Main, Department for Environment, Health and Personnel (Ed.): 20 Years of the Green Belt Frankfurt - People, Data and Projects . Frankfurt am Main 2011. Therein: Chapter The City Forest - Much older than the Green Belt, p. 30 ff.
  3. ↑ a b c Schwanheimer Alteichen at par.frankfurt.de , the former website of the city of Frankfurt am Main
  4. ↑ Schwanheimer Alteichen im GrünGürtel at par.frankfurt.de , the former website of the City of Frankfurt am Main
  5. ↑ a b City of Frankfurt am Main, Forestry Office (ed.): Historischer Wanderweg Schwanheim, p. 10 ff.
  6. ↑ a b c d Adolf Helfenbein: The oak forest and its painters in: Suenheim - Sweinheim - Schwanheim, p. 58
  7. ↑ Information board for the historical Schwanheim hiking trail on site
  8. ↑ Quoted from an information board at the Frankfurt City Environment Office on the history of the forest pasture
  9. ↑ Leaflet The Schwanheimer Alteichen in Frankfurt's Green Belt / RheinMain Regional Park

Coordinates: 50 ° 4 ′ 56.3 "  N , 8 ° 35 ′ 23.3"  E