Storkeegen was a
pedunculate oak
''Quercus robur'', commonly known as common oak, pedunculate oak, European oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus. It is widel ...
located in Jægerspris Nordskov, near the town
Jægerspris
Jægerspris is a town, with a population of 4,020 (1 January 2022),[Kongeegen
Kongeegen (the King Oak) is a renowned oak tree in Denmark. It grows in ''Jægerspris Nordskov'' (Jægerspris North Forest) near Jægerspris, on the island of Sjælland. A scientific investigation in 1965 of the tree's rings indicated that the tr ...](_blank)
and
Snoegen
Snoegen was an ancient pedunculate oak located in Jægerspris Nordskov, near the town Jægerspris in Denmark. Snoegen is located in the same forest as Kongeegen and Storkeegen. Snoegen died in 1991 after a few seasons of decreasing foliage, and fo ...
.
All that remains of the ancient oak is a piece of the trunk. In 1974 the trunk broke just above the lowest branch at a height of four meters. Because the lowest branch survived the tree managed to live on until 1981, when it was unfortunately killed by a
hurricane
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
. It is estimated that the tree was 800 years old.
Storkeegen is named after the nest of a
white stork
The white stork (''Ciconia ciconia'') is a large bird in the stork family, Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on the bird's wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average from beak tip to en ...
that built its nest in the tree sometime during the nineteenth century. In 1843 the painter
Peter Christian Thamsen Skovgaard painted Storkeegen and named this painting ''Eg med Storkerede i Nordskoven ved Jægerspris''. This work became part of the Danish Royal Collection.
See also
*
List of individual trees
The following is a list of notable trees. Trees listed here are regarded as important or specific by their historical, national, locational, natural or mythological context. The list includes actual trees located throughout the world, as well as ...
References
Individual oak trees
Individual trees in Denmark
1980s individual tree deaths
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