The Ash of King Jan

about 320 yearsEuropean Ash

Which one is it? Two trunks fused into one at head height, deeply ridged grey bark in a diamond net, a small metal register plaque screwed into the fork, standing back from the path in the trees.

Six metres and ten centimetres round. For an ash that is close to the limit of what the species does, and it is the thickest tree in this park by a wide margin, wider than the famous oak two hundred metres downhill that everybody comes to see. Ash is not a tree people expect to find ancient. It grows fast, it dies at two hundred years in most places, and across Europe it is currently being killed in enormous numbers by a fungus that arrived from Asia. This one is about 320 years old and standing, in the park that belonged to Jan III Sobieski and that carries his name on the tree. What you see at the base is two trunks growing hard against each other, fused along the seam, with the bark ridged into the diamond pattern old ash makes. The register plaque is screwed to the fork. Poland entered it as a natural monument on 5 May 2012, which is late: the oak in the same park had been protected since 1966. Nobody seems to have measured this one until much later. It stands back from the main path, in the trees, which is why it is easy to walk past.

Been here? Worth the visit?

The button above opens directions in your maps app. SKM train to Gdynia Orlowo, about 35 minutes from Gdansk Glowny and 12 from Gdansk Oliwa, then roughly twelve minutes on foot into the park.

Species: European Ash (Fraxinus excelsior)
Age estimate: about 320 years
Location: Park Kolibki, deeper into the park beyond the manor, Gdynia Orlowo (Kolibki, Gdynia Orlowo)
Access: Free. Public park, open in daylight. The ash stands off the main path among other trees, so look for the plaque on the fork.
Getting there: SKM train to Gdynia Orlowo, about 35 minutes from Gdansk Glowny and 12 from Gdansk Oliwa, then roughly twelve minutes on foot into the park.

Trees nearby

Marysienka's Oakabout 350 to 400 years; sources give both figures and neither is a ring count · 110 m away The Beech of Ludolfino~180 years · 5.8 km away The Willow of Kupaly-Subislawa~140 years · 6.4 km away

Curious what else is standing in Gdansk? See all 6 remarkable ancient trees in Gdansk or find out what the oldest tree in Gdansk is. It is a European Ash; see every european ash on the site.

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This page was researched from a distance. If you know this tree, you know things we do not: the species, the age, the size, whether the photo shows the right tree, or that it is gone. Every field on this page can be corrected.

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