The Bethmannpark Ginkgo

Frankfurt's famous ginkgo is the one in Rödelheim that may have given Goethe two leaves for a poem. This one, in the Bethmannpark, is eight metres taller, and hardly anyone has written about it. Rainer Lippert, whose Monumentale Eichen site lists notable ginkgos, marks it as unknown in the literature. What is known comes from a single visit. On 30 June 2015 the tree register at Baumkunde.de measured it at 4.84 metres round and 26 metres tall, gave its age as about 150 years and its condition as vital. Lippert's list carries the same figures from the same year, so that is one measurement repeated, not two that agree. Neither says at what height the tape went round, or whether the trunk is one stem or several. The age is less settled than the size. The register says 150; other estimates run older, so we give it somewhere between 150 and 275 years and do not pick. No source connects this tree to Goethe. That story belongs to Rödelheim. The 2015 entry is also the newest sign of life we have found, and we know of no photograph of it. The Bethmannpark is a free public park on the Friedberger Landstrasse, about a kilometre east of the Konstablerwache, and the Hessendenkmal tram stop is close by. The pin is approximate, so look for the fan-shaped leaves. If you have stood under it since 2015, tell us how it looks, and a photograph would settle it.