This maple was the sixth tree in Germany to be made a national heritage tree, and the first in Hamburg. The Deutsche Dendrologische Gesellschaft gave it that status on 23 October 2020, six years before the pagoda tree on the Alsterufer became the city's second. What earns it is the shape. The crown domes down almost to the ground on every side, roughly 35 metres across, so the tree finishes as a wall of leaf rather than tapering into open trunk the way a park specimen usually does. It is 22 metres tall with 5.50 metres of girth measured at the waist in 2020, which is large for a sycamore maple and still the slimmest trunk on this page. The shape is what people come for. It stands in Hirschpark, a free public landscape park on the Elbe at Nienstedten, south of the Lindenallee. Jenischpark and its two old oaks are about 3 km east along the Elbchaussee, which makes a long riverside walk rather than a single afternoon's stroll. No planting record survives; the estimate from the trunk gives roughly 200 to 270 years.
In fruit
September to October: winged seeds that spin down in pairs
The line is our estimate of how much there is to see, not a measurement. Typical for this species where this tree stands; exact weeks shift with the year.
Hirschpark, south of the Lindenallee, 22609 Hamburg-NienstedtenThe one tree in the park whose crown sweeps down to ground level all the way round, standing south of the Lindenallee.
Free, public park (Hirschpark), open year-round, no gates.
S1/S11 Hamburg-Klein Flottbek or bus, then roughly 15-20 min walk; about 3 km west along the Elbchaussee from Jenischpark (hbg_002-004), a longer riverside walk rather than the same stroll
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from.
