Eskilstorps ormgranar

In Eskiltorp's nature reserve, you can observe the unusual type of spruce known as the snake spruce (ormgran). A spruce with a special appearance compared to other spruces.

Around the Swedish forests, you can sometimes see a spruce that stands out. However, it is rare to find entire stands of the snake spruce variety. In Eskiltorp, there are about a hundred snake spruces, and the oldest spruce is over 150 years old. According to the locals, this is the mother spruce of the stand. Besides the snake spruces (ormgranar) in Eskiltorp, there are entire stands at six known locations in Sweden.

You can observe these magnificent snake spruces in the nature reserve. From the parking lot, there is a trail marked with orange signs in nature. The path is easy to navigate with a few gates into pastures that need to be crossed to reach the spruces.

Appearance of snake spruces and the legend of the russian soldier

Snake spruces have a special appearance. They usually have longer branches than regular spruces, and through mutation, they have lost the ability to produce side shoots on the branches. This means that a branch can grow for several years without producing a single side shoot.

According to legends, the snake spruces came to Eskiltorp in Sweden after the Swedish-Russian war in the early 1800s. It was the soldier Esk who is said to have brought a snake spruce from Russia when he returned from the war. Esk lived in a soldier's cottage on the outskirts of the stand until 1904. Today, you can glimpse the remains of the cottage's foundation in the eastern part of the reserve.

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