Natural monument "Säulenfichte"

The protected hanging spruce is a very rare and botanically interesting natural monument and stands at the foot of an embankment next to the road between Hofern/Corti and Issing/Issengo near Mühlen/Molini, below the bridge over the Grünbach/rio verde.

There, a unique post spruce, also called a garland spruce, rises from the young growth. While the terminal shoot grows upright, the approx. 30 cm long side branches hang vertically and are slightly twisted downward. The tree, which is about 115 years old (in 2021), reaches a height of 25 m (1991) and has a circumference of 34 cm (1991). The hanging spruce is difficult to classify in the many columnar and hanging forms known so far. In any case, it is the narrowest spruce form ever found in South Tyrol and far beyond.