A few days ago, when discussing "Li Peng" (the name of chestnuts in many places in Jiaodong), it was mentioned that in laiyang Jingqi MountainOus Area and Rushan Mashi Mountain District, the history of planting chestnuts is relatively long, and some chestnut trees with great age can still be seen in the local area. Hearing is false, seeing is believing, the following set of pictures will take you to visit one of them.
This tree specifically grows in Jingqiaojia Village, Yazi Town, Rushan City, Weihai. The tree was chosen as an example mainly because of its obvious location. It is next to the winding road from Jing Qiao's house to the main peak of Mashi Mountain, and I believe that many friends who drive through here have noticed it, but they have not observed it closely.
I first discovered this tree in an autumn a few years ago. By then, the leaves on the tree had turned yellow, and from a distance, it resembled the alder tree commonly found on the Jiaodong Hills. "Such a large alder tree, the history should not be short." We are attracted to it.
However, when I went under the tree, I found that it was actually a chestnut tree, because there were many thorny shells that could be seen on the ground, which was obviously different from the oak tree.
On that passing, we didn't take too many pictures since the season had passed (the leaves turned yellow and the fruit fell off). Some time ago, the opportunity was right, and I passed by the neighborhood again, and then I visited again.
Fortunately, this visit happened to meet an old man from Jingqiaojia Village who went up the mountain to work. Looking at his gray hair, we thought we could know the specific age of this tree. But what I didn't expect was that the answer was: "I can't say how many years." ”
The old man, who was in his seventies, said that not only did he not know, but even the older people in the village did not know, and at least a hundred years or more.
The situation of the trunk seems to confirm this, looking in through the gap, there is already a large empty piece in the middle, and it is obvious that the tree has been quite old.
Listening to the old man, on the mountain of Jing Qiao's house, there were originally many old chestnut trees like this, but the location of those was slightly off. This one was also larger before, but later lost its branches on the west side and its canopy became smaller. Of course, "small" is relatively large, for friends in the field, at first glance, they will still lament its scale.
Although this old chestnut tree has a long history and hollow trunk, it can still bear fruit in autumn. It's just that because it's not as finely managed as the dwarf new varieties, the size of the fruit looks average, and the leaves also attract insects.
Perhaps because the history of more than a hundred years in the ancient tree circle is not remarkable, or there are more such trees in the local area, this old chestnut tree is temporarily unmarked or has a special logo. However, due to its close proximity to the road, it can already be regarded as a landmark of Mashi Mountain. Interested friends, when passing by, may also wish to go to see.