Rumšiškės Forest Pine
The pine growing in the Rumšiškės forest at the district of Kaišiadorys is the thickest one in Lithuania. Its trunk reaches 4 metres at the bottom. As the pine stretches upwards, its trunk, unlike the trunks of many trees, is getting thicker rather than thinner. At a height of 2 metres, the thickness of the trunk reaches the amazing 5 metres. The trunk, which is thinner on the bottom, is typical for those trees that are being sapped. The scars made by the sappers can still be seen on the Rumšiškės Pine – a wound from a meter length cut. Before the war, sap was used for the turpentine and colophony industry. Various products were made from sap: shoe polish, wax for flooring, even hand and face creams. It is told in the folklore that witches milked the pines collecting their sap as tar for their feasts.
Not only did the sappers exhaust the trunk of the tall tree, reaching 32 metres in height, but flames of the fires did too. During the recurring fires of the forest floor, the bark of the pine became thinner at its base. Traces of coal have still remained in it. The fire hasn’t touched the tall branches. A few of them are now supported with ropes.
The beautiful Rumšiškės Forest Pine can be found at the Rumšiškės eldership, Kiašiadorys district.
