Overview
- Experts with the Deutsche Dendrologische Gesellschaft say a solitary yew in the Allgäu near Steibis and Balderschwang is the country’s oldest known tree at about 1,100 years.
- Researchers dated the tree by analyzing a bore core that yielded 54 annual rings plus six missing rings in four usable centimeters, leading to an extrapolated age with a 900 to 1,300 year range.
- The yew’s trunk measures 5.10 meters in circumference, which makes it the thickest known yew in Germany according to official measurements.
- The tree is set to be declared a National Heritage Tree, a private designation that covers maintenance costs, posts a plaque, and provides ongoing monitoring and care.
- The finding displaces the summer linden of Upstedt, long thought to be about 1,000 years old, as the oldest previously known tree in Germany.