Due to the ecological benefits, 300 pollard willows were planted in Eitting over 30 years ago. 117 are still spread throughout the municipality.
Eitting - 300 willows were planted in the Eittingen municipal area in 1987, 117 of which are said to still exist. In the meantime, it has grown into mighty trees, very popular with insects, other animals and fungi. The trees in Eitting have no economic benefit. They are all the more important for nature conservation.
It is thanks to the district association for gardening and landscaping that there are so many willows in Eitting. The trees were planted together with volunteers from the gardening association - with the best of intentions: "In the moss communities of the district, pollard willows were traditionally widespread," says Anton Euringer, who worked for the Erding district office for many years as a nature conservation officer. “In the municipality of Eitting they used to be part of the landscape, for example on the ditches of the large pastures in the Gadener, Eittinger and Reisener Moos, and on the course of the villages. Remains of it are even in the local area of Eitting, for example at the fire station. ”
Wicker baskets and brooms
Pollard willows prefer to grow on moist, wet soils, i.e. in bogs, floodplains and on the edges of streams. They are not a tree in the botanical sense, not a work of nature. They came into being because people interfered massively with the growth of the native tree willows for economic reasons. The practical use of the willows goes back thousands of years when people began to weave baskets from the rods and to make rakes and brooms from the thicker branches. Wicker from wicker rods was also used to build half-timbered houses. The branches and branches that were popular at the time are formed by the willow if you radically cut off their trunk at a height of one to four meters and separate the branches. The tree sprouts again at the interface. By further separating the branches at a young age and later by regular pruning, the trunk thickens steadily - over the years the striking head with the fluffy hair is created.
Practical and environmentally friendly
"Slicing", as the cut is called, is important to preserve the pastures. Otherwise, at some point the short trunk will no longer be able to bear the weight of the heavy branches. “In the beginning our pensioners did this,” says Adolf Schmid, chairman of the horticultural association for many years. “Back then, they moved out with small scissors and cut hard.” These times are long gone. In the meantime, nothing can be done with amateur tools. And the Schneitler at that time are now “too old for this job or have even died,” says Schmid.
The Eittinger pastures provided material for baskets for a while, but that is long gone. With the advent of other materials, wickerwork became visibly lost, but today it is increasing a little. Baskets made from willow branches are practical, sustainable and environmentally friendly. And there are even willow noise barriers, for example in Freising.
But why a pollard willow paradise in Eitting? Willows are not exactly known as particularly valuable wood. The (head) willows are very regenerative, but also vulnerable. They do not reach old age, they are not cared for intensively. The heartwood quickly rots, the willows become hollow on the inside.
Judas hanged himself in a pasture
The willows of the head often don't get away well in poetry either - for example in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's “Erlkönig”. And a legend even tells that Judas Iscariot, who had betrayed Jesus, hung himself in a pasture. Birch and poplar could prevent this from their wood. Only at the pasture, which did not pay attention to the suicide, but looked in love at its reflection in the water, did the disciple do the evil deed.
But when a bird flew along and told the pasture the story of the suffering and death of Jesus and the betrayal that the pasture was deeply frightened, the legend tells. Out of sadness and pain, she let all her branches hang, "and her bark jumped up with complaint and pain". Since then, the willows have been grieving, disheveled and twisted in pain on the streams and in the bogs.
A cure since ancient times
The willow was also considered a witch tree. If a woman was seen near her at night, she was suspicious. One should not forget whether this scary factor: the willow tree also has healing properties. The bark contains salicin, which lowers fever and relieves pain. This effect was already known to Hippocrates, probably the most famous doctor of antiquity. Hildegard von Bingen recommended willow bark tea against fever, gout and joint rheumatism in the 12th century. In the 17th century, willow bark was used for the manufacture of medicines for rheumatism or gout remedies - until 1897 the synthetic production of (acetyl) salicylic acid and the development of aspirin came from this.
Home to insects, other animals and fungi
The reason for planting willow trees in the municipality of Eitting was different: The ecological benefit was what inspired the gardening association at the time. It is nature, animal and insect protection for which the Eittinger Association has sponsored, despite the relatively complex work. Pollard willows are among the crops that are very popular with insects. "But numerous other animals, plants, mosses, lichens and fungi also find their home on and in the pollard willows", as Euringer never tires of emphasizing.
Trees are destroyed from the inside
The trees can hardly heal cuts. This makes their interior an ideal habitat for insects, fungi and bacteria. Over the years, however, these destroy the heartwood - the tree becomes hollow inside.
© Raimund Lex
This is also due to the parting. Fungi and bacteria penetrate the wood through the cuts that the tree can hardly close. Little by little parts of the tree die, it becomes hollow inside. The combination of rotten dead wood and living wood makes the trees attractive to many animals. "Beetles and wild bees, cave-breeding birds and bats that live in deadwood, feel very comfortable in the caves, marshes and crevasses," says Euringer.
Younger willows, "which have no cavities yet, are ideal nesting places for open breeders such as greenfinch or juniper thrush due to their dense sprouts". Tree fungi, lichens or mosses thrive on the rotten wood.
So if you stroll through nature around Eitting, you shouldn't consider the willow trees as overgrown trees, bent with a shaggy head, but as jewels of insect and bird protection - as nature conservation par excellence.
Raimund Lex
Also interesting: The rafts in Gaden - The port of Erding
