Tilly beech

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The Tilly beech 1893 (colored)

The Tilly beech was once the most famous Süntel beech in Germany. She stood from 1739 until her mushroom-induced collapse in 1994 on the northeast edge of the Süntel in Weserbergland .

history

The tree was part of the last larger forest of Süntel beech trees, which was cleared in the course of the coupling in spring 1843 . When the forest was converted into pastureland at that time, the approximately hundred-year-old and well-grown tree was left standing. From then on it served as a shade tree on a sheep pasture. The oldest photo from 1893 shows him with evenly eaten branches. Numerous seedlings and plugs of the Tilly beech were planted throughout Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries.

In 1929 the Tilly beech was declared a natural monument. The Hamelin painter Hauschteck painted it as an oil painting, which was exhibited in Hameln's town hall. In the 1950s, the tree with its strong roots was the model for a toothpaste advertisement for the Lacalut brand from Dr. Theiss natural goods . Numerous botanists only dealt with the rare beech trees because of the impression this exceptional tree made on them. In 1980 the young community of Auetal , in whose district Raden the "Waldknorz" stood, made it their coat of arms tree.

The tree in 1902

The location of the tree was in the Nienfeld private forest of the von Münchhausen family , later von Blomberg . The tree as a well-known "natural monument of the first order" was visited by many school classes, whose students left their traces mainly in the tree bark . In the 1980s, the tree began to crumble. By then it had reached a height of 18 meters, a crown diameter of 25 meters and a trunk circumference of 540 centimeters. On the night of January 2, 1994, the tree, weakened by fungus , collapsed at the age of 255, which is the high age for European beeches. His remains, 500 meters northeast of the village of Raden am Süntel, are still being searched for today.

The Süntelbuchenallee planted around 1930 in the spa gardens of Bad Nenndorf was created exclusively from its seedlings, but no single tree achieved this imposing shape again. The head beech near Gremsheim north of Bad Gandersheim can be considered the successor.

Age

The age of the tree has often been grossly overestimated (“1300 years”). An encounter between the general Tilly (1559–1632) and the red beech that bears his name certainly did not take place. Investigations in 1978 and 2002 made it possible to determine the exact age.

Historical description

Numerous descriptions of this outstanding specimen made the Süntel beeches known throughout Germany. Clementine Freifrau von Münchhausen from Apelern , the owner of the Tilly-Buche at the time, attracted a lot of attention in 1911 with a report in the newsletter of the German Dendrological Society (sheet 20):

“If you stand below, the view into the branches is extremely interesting. A branch like this grows purposefully to the west for a few meters, then it occurs to him that it could be a mistake, and he quickly turns right at a right angle to the south. And after less than half a meter a new mood comes to him, and again he turns at a right angle, perhaps back to the east - all in a roughly horizontal position - and then it occurs to him that air and light are also beautiful things , and he strives upwards - but with which he does not get far. "

The Hanoverian teacher Wilhelm Wehrhahn already described the "enormous natural wonder" in 1902 and 1910, which was also mentioned in the 1930 and 1944 editions of Dengler's silvicultural textbook . Bernhard Flemes from Hamelin published a legend about a giant in the Süntel in his report "The Süntelbuche - Germany's strangest tree" in the Hannoversche Kurier in 1934:

“The giant's eyes closed and never opened again. A beechnut had sunk into his passing heart . The giant gave this seedling all his strength, the wildness of his life, the perfection of his stature and his wonderful solitude. The Süntelbuche became the seedling. "

literature

  • Wilhelm Wehrhahn: Natural forms of the beech. In: Möller's Deutsche Gärtner-Zeitung. No. 48, 1902, pp. 579-584.
  • Clementine Baroness von Münchhausen: The Süntelbuche. In: Communications of the German Dendrological Society . No. 20, 1911, pp. 267-270.

See also

Web links

Commons : Tilly beech  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 13 '56.4 "  N , 9 ° 19' 2.3"  E