The Ginkgo of Kleinzschocher

Three records give this ginkgo three heights: 15 metres, 20 and 24. Leipzig's list of natural monuments says 15. A survey by the tree site baumkunde.de, made on 30 June 2021, measured 20. The city's own tree cadastre says 24. The trunk is less contested, 3.44 metres round in that survey and 3.57 in the cadastre, which makes it a big ginkgo by either figure. It grows on the old grounds of the Rittergut Kleinzschocher, a manor first mentioned in 1350 and now the Volkspark Kleinzschocher, beside the Taborkirche. Bach's Peasant Cantata had its first performance at this manor on 30 August 1742, and the publisher Christian Bernhard Tauchnitz bought the estate in 1848. None of those dates belongs to the tree. No source says when it was planted or by whom, and we will not borrow a date from the house. It is a male tree, so it drops none of the rancid-smelling seeds that female ginkgos are known for. Two braces now hold its crown together. A naturalist logged it in August 2026 and the survey site visited again that September, so it is still standing. Ginkgo is the last species of a lineage otherwise known from fossils. In November the fan-shaped leaves turn yellow and fall within days of each other. A second protected tree, a European white elm, stands about 45 metres away on the same grounds. Nobody has dated this ginkgo. If you know when it went in, tell us.