Berlin protects this katsura for three reasons at once: beauty, rarity and regional heritage. It became Naturdenkmal 1-43/B on 2 March 1993, and it stands on Altonaer Strasse, diagonally across from the Hansabibliothek. The setting is half the reason to come. The Hansaviertel was rebuilt for the Interbau exhibition of 1957 as a showcase of modern architecture, and the address the register gives, Altonaer Strasse 6, is a long apartment block raised off the ground on V-shaped concrete stilts. The katsura grows up in front of its balconies, a single tall trunk with a bright green crown reaching several storeys up the facade. Whether it was planted with the building, nobody has recorded, so we will not guess. The species comes from Japan and China, and it saves its best for October. The small heart-shaped leaves turn apricot and gold, and as they dry on the ground they give off a smell of burnt sugar, strong enough that German calls this the Kuchenbaum, the cake tree. Two more katsuras are on our map in Berlin, one in the TU Schaugärten and one in the Tiergarten south of the Fauler See. The tree stands on the green in front of a residential block, and we have not confirmed whether that ground is public, so look at it from the street. No age or girth has been published. If you know either, tell us.
autumn colour
October, when the leaves turn apricot and smell of burnt sugar as they fall
Altonaer Strasse 6, diagonally opposite the Hansabibliothek, Berlin-Hansaviertel You can recognise it by the small heart-shaped leaves on a single tall trunk, in front of a long apartment block raised on V-shaped concrete stilts. It stands at Altonaer Strasse 6, diagonally across from the Hansabibliothek.
Visible from Altonaer Strasse; the lawn it stands on belongs to a residential block, so view it from the street.
U Hansaplatz (U9) and S Bellevue both roughly 400 m, 5 to 7 minutes on foot.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from.
