Heckengäu
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The Heckengäu is a part of the
Gäu In the south German language (of the Alemannic-speaking area, or in Switzerland), a ''gäu'' landscape (''gäulandschaft'') refers to an area of open, level countryside. These regions typically have fertile soils resulting from depositions of loe ...
, a region in the counties of
Böblingen Böblingen (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Beblenga'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, seat of Böblingen (district), Böblingen District. Sindelfingen and Böblingen are Geographic contiguity, contiguous. History Böblingen was found ...
,
Calw Calw (; previously pronounced and sometimes spelled ''Kalb'' accordingly) is a town in the middle of Baden-Württemberg in the south of Germany, capital and largest town of the district Calw. It is located in the Northern Black Forest and is a ...
,
Ludwigsburg Ludwigsburg (; Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg district with about 88,000 inhabitants. It is ...
and
Enzkreis Enzkreis is a Districts of Germany, ''Landkreis'' (district) in the northwest of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from west clockwise) Karlsruhe (district), Karlsruhe, Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn, Ludwigsburg (district), ...
in the German state of
Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
. Part of the landscape in the county of Calw is called Schlehengäu. Hence it is also called the Hecken- und Schlehengäu.


Location

The Heckengäu lies west of the state capital of
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
. It forms an elongated strip of land, over 50 km long, running from
Vaihingen an der Enz Vaihingen an der Enz is a town located between Stuttgart and Karlsruhe, in southern Germany, on the western periphery of the Stuttgart Region. Vaihingen is situated on the river Enz, and has a population of around 30,000. The former district-c ...
in the north to
Haiterbach Haiterbach is a town in the district of Calw, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History Haiterbach was given its town rights by the Counts of Hohenberg in 1349. The County of Hohenberg sold Haiterbach and the villages of Beihingen and Oberschwan ...
in the south, and covers parts of the counties of Böblingen, Calw, Ludwigsburg and the Enzkreis. In the west it borders on the
Northern Black Forest The Northern Black Forest (german: Nordschwarzwald) refers to the northern third of the Black Forest in Germany or, less commonly today, to the northern half of this mountain region. Geography The Northern Black Forest is bounded in the north b ...
and, in the east, on the regions of the Korngäu, Strohgäu and
Schönbuch Schönbuch is an almost completely wooded area south west of Stuttgart and part of the Southern German Escarpment Landscape (German: ''südwestdeutsches Schichtstufenland''). In 1972 the centre zone of Schönbuch became the first nature park in ...
. Together with the Korngäu, Strohgäu and Zabergäu it makes up the Baden-Württemberg
Gäu In the south German language (of the Alemannic-speaking area, or in Switzerland), a ''gäu'' landscape (''gäulandschaft'') refers to an area of open, level countryside. These regions typically have fertile soils resulting from depositions of loe ...
.


Landscape and geology

The Heckengäu is an agricultural region, characterized by a rolling, heavily farmed landscape (the ''Gäulandschaft'' or Gäu landscape). Due to its
karstified Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...
muschelkalk The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; french: calcaire coquillier) is a sequence of sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphic unit) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Middle Triassic (240 to 230 million ye ...
bedrock, the Heckengäu is a dry,
edaphic Edaphology (from Greek , ''edaphos'', "ground",, '' -logia'') is concerned with the influence of soils on living beings, particularly plants. It is one of two main divisions of soil science, the other being pedology. Edaphology includes the stu ...
region. Its typical soils are
rendzina Rendzina (or ''rendsina'') is a soil type recognized in various soil classification systems, including those of Britain and Germany as well as some obsolete systems. They are humus-rich shallow soils that are usually formed from carbonate- or occ ...
s and, in terrain hollows,
loess Loess (, ; from german: Löss ) is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits. Loess is a periglacial or aeolian ...
deposits from which
brown earth Brown earth is a type of soil. Brown earths are mostly located between 35° and 55° north of the Equator. The largest expanses cover western and central Europe, large areas of western and trans-Uralian Russia, the east coast of America and easte ...
s (''Parabraunerden'') can form. The Heckengäu has karstic topographic features such as
dry valley A dry valley may develop on many kinds of permeable rock, such as limestone and chalk, or sandy terrains that do not regularly sustain surface water flow. Such valleys do not hold surface water because it sinks into the permeable bedrock. There ...
s, dolines,
karst spring A karst spring or karstic spring is a spring (outflow of groundwater) that is part of a karst hydrological system. Description Because of their often conical or inverted bowl shape, karst springs are also known in German-speaking lands as a ''Top ...
s, pots and washouts (''Ausschwemmungen''). The Heckengäu is also characterised by
juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...
heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...
s and
orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...
s, but most of all by
hedge A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoin ...
s that are grow on rows of
fieldstone Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lies at or near the surface of the Earth. Fieldstone is a nuisance for farmers seeking to expand their land under cultivation, but at some point it began to be used as a construction mate ...
s and are reflected in the name of the region (''Hecken'' = hedges). The
sloe ''Prunus spinosa'', called blackthorn or sloe, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. The species is native to Europe, western Asia, and regionally in northwest Africa. It is locally naturalisation (biology), naturalized ...
hedges typical of the eastern Calw county also give the region there its local name of Schlehengäu.


Hills

The highest hills (with heights in metres above sea level (NN)) of the Heckengäu are found near Calw-Stammheim (Daumen, 611 m) and in and around the eastern Althengstett (Köpfle, 606 m and Jägerberg 591 m). Other typical Gäu uplands are, for example, near the ''Sieben Tannen'' ("Seven Firs") with the villages of
Deckenpfronn Deckenpfronn is a municipality in the district of Böblingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe af ...
, Oberjettingen and Kuppingen and the ''Tannenäcker'' plateau between Althengstett, Stammheim and
Gechingen Gechingen is a town in the district of Calw in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. History Gechingen was first mentioned in 1110 as a fief of the in a document outlining gifts made by local nobility to Hirsau Abbey. Lordship over Gechingen was inher ...
, that climbs to a height of 580 m.


Flora and fauna

The Heckengäu has some valuable flora and fauna. On the juniper heaths there are colonies of
stemless carline thistle ''Carlina acaulis'', the stemless carline thistle, dwarf carline thistle, or silver thistle, is a perennial dicotyledonous flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to alpine regions of central and southern Europe. The specific name ''aca ...
and Michaelmas daisy. A few, native species of
gentian ''Gentiana'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the gentian family (Gentianaceae), the tribe Gentianeae, and the monophyletic subtribe Gentianinae. With about 400 species it is considered a large genus. They are notable for their mostl ...
also live here. In spring, the pasque flower blooms near Weil der Stadt. The
wall brown ''Lasiommata megera'', the wall or wall brown, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae ( subfamily Satyrinae). It is widespread in the Palearctic realm with a large variety of habitats and number of generations a year. Description ''P. meg ...
occurs in the dry valleys, whilst the
sand lizard The sand lizard (''Lacerta agilis'') is a lacertid lizard distributed across most of Europe from France and across the continent to Lake Baikal in Russia. It does not occur in European Turkey. Its distribution is often patchy. In the sand lizard ...
finds suitable habitats in the
dry stone wall Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction m ...
s on the edges of orchards. The strongly protected
yellow-bellied toad The yellow-bellied toad (''Bombina variegata'') belongs to the order Anura, the family Bombinatoridae, and the genus of fire-bellied toads. The toad is distributed mainly across western Europe as well as a handful of countries in eastern Euro ...
seeks out the smallest ponds and puddles.


Settlements

The settlements of the Heckengäu include:


Transport

The Heckengäu may be reached on the A 8 and 81 motorways. In addition there are various railway links (including those on the
Stuttgart S-Bahn The Stuttgart S-Bahn is a suburban railway system (S-Bahn) serving the Stuttgart Region, an urban agglomeration of around 2.7 million people, consisting of the city of Stuttgart and the adjacent districts of Esslingen, Böblingen, Ludwi ...
network). There are bus connexions at the railway stations of
Leonberg Leonberg (; swg, Leaberg) is a town in the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg about to the west of Stuttgart, the state capital. About 45,000 people live in Leonberg, making it the third-largest borough in the rural district (''Landkr ...
,
Weissach Weissach is a municipality in the district of Böblingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The Weissach axle is named after the town, where the research centre of Porsche is located. The Porsche 918 Spyder supercar was developed in Weissach; Por ...
( Württembergische Eisenbahngesellschaft – WEG),
Mühlacker Mühlacker is a town in the eastern part of the Enz (district), Enz district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Mühlacker station has direct rail connections with Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Heidelberg, Pforzheim and the Northern Black Forest. Mühlhau ...
,
Pforzheim Pforzheim () is a city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the nickname "Goldstadt" ("Golden City") ...
,
Böblingen Böblingen (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Beblenga'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, seat of Böblingen (district), Böblingen District. Sindelfingen and Böblingen are Geographic contiguity, contiguous. History Böblingen was found ...
and
Weil der Stadt Weil der Stadt is a town of about 19,000 inhabitants in the Stuttgart Region of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is about west of Stuttgart city centre, in the valley of the River Würm, and is often called the "Gate to the Black For ...
.


References


Further reading

* Herbert Fauser, Karl-Jürgen Bunnenberg, Karl Feucht (Hrsg.): ''Wanderführer Heckengäu, Strohgäu, Glemswald''. Verlag Theiss, Stuttgart 1999, * Geschäftsstelle PLENUM Heckengäu (Hrsg.), in Zusammenarbeit mit der Pressestelle des Landkreises Böblingen: ''Das Heckengäu, ein Erlebnis''. Böblingen 2006, ()


External links

* ''Landschaftssteckbrie
Westliche Obere Gäue (Heckengäu)
' des Bundesamts für Naturschutz. * (Webseite der Regionalmarke „Plenum-Heckengäu“". Teil des baden-Württembergischen
PLENUM Plenum may refer to: * Plenum chamber, a chamber intended to contain air, gas, or liquid at positive pressure * Plenism, or ''Horror vacui'' (physics) the concept that "nature abhors a vacuum" * Plenum (meeting), a meeting of a deliberative asse ...
: „Projekt des Landes zur Erhaltung und Entwicklung von Natur und Umwelt“)
Tourismus und Freizeit im Naturpark Schönbuch-Heckengäu

Freizeit und Naherholung im Heckengäu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heckengau Regions of Baden-Württemberg Natural regions of the South German Scarplands