The Columnar Oaks of the Observatory Entrance

age unknownPedunculate Oak, columnar form

Pedunculate Oak, columnar formNobody has published a photograph of this tree under a licence we can use. Send us yours and it goes on this page.

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Two columnar oaks stand either side of the entrance nearest the garden's astronomical observatory, upright and narrow in a way ordinary pedunculate oaks never grow on their own: Quercus robur 'Fastigiata' is a cultivated form, bred to stay compact rather than spread the wide crown the species is known for. Warsaw designated the pair as protected natural monuments only in October 2024, one of the university garden's newest additions to a collection that also protects trees three centuries older. The two are individually measured rather than treated as a single unit: one stands 19 metres tall with a trunk 335 centimetres round, the other 20 metres and 345 centimetres, close enough in size to read as a matched pair from the path but genuinely two different trees with two different numbers. They stand about fifty metres from the garden's celebrated 1824 ginkgo, the same stop on the same visit, though a Warsaw institution's habit of taking its oldest trees seriously by cataloguing its youngest as well is the more unusual thing about them.

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The button above opens directions in your maps app. Tram or bus to Plac Na Rozdrozu, right by the garden gate on Aleje Ujazdowskie; also walkable from Metro Politechnika (M1 line)

Species: Pedunculate Oak, columnar form (Quercus robur 'Fastigiata')
Age estimate
Location: Ogrod Botaniczny Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, observatory entrance, Aleje Ujazdowskie 4 (Srodmiescie)
Access: Paid entry to the Botanical Garden. Open March to October; in winter only the greenhouses open.
Getting there: Tram or bus to Plac Na Rozdrozu, right by the garden gate on Aleje Ujazdowskie; also walkable from Metro Politechnika (M1 line)

Trees nearby

The Ginkgo of the Botanical Gardenabout 200 years (planted 1824) · 30 m away The Maple and Elm of the Botanical Garden Gate · 80 m away The Royal Oaks of Lazienkiabout 200 years · 630 m away

Curious what else is standing in Warsaw? See all 15 remarkable ancient trees in Warsaw or find out what the oldest tree in Warsaw is.

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