Tolkien Pines in Poland | From an Oxford Cone to Arcastar in Sosnowiec

Arcastar (Sosna Tolkiena or Tolkien Pine Tree) in Sosnowiec, Summer 2025

For many years, a remarkable tree grew in the Botanic Garden of the University of Oxford — a tree that occupies a special place in the history of the reception of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work. This was the so-called Tolkien Tree: a black pine (Pinus nigra) with which Professor Tolkien was personally associated and beside which he often walked and rested. He called this tree Laocoon (see Tolkien Gateway).

Professor Tolkien called this Pine tree Laocoon

Over time, the tree became a destination for literary pilgrims from all over the world. What is far less widely known, however, is that one of the most important chapters of this story was written in Poland — and it began while the Oxford pine was still alive.

Laocoon before 2014

Cones Brought Back Before the Tree Was Lost

Before the Tolkien Pine in Oxford declined and was finally felled (which happened only in 2014), Polish Tolkien fans brought its cones back from England in 2008. This was neither a farewell gesture nor an attempt to rescue something already lost. It was a conscious and forward-looking decision, made at a time when the tree was still living and producing seed.

The cones came from the Oxford Botanic Garden and were intended specifically for sowing in Poland. This means that the Polish Tolkien Pines are not offshoots or clones, but true descendants, grown from seed — a new generation of the very tree Tolkien himself knew. A decisive moment came when the Skierniewice Forest District became involved in the project. It was there that the seeds were professionally sown, the young trees were raised under expert care, and proper forestry conditions were provided for their survival.

Bark and cones of Laocoon in Poland

Thanks to the work of foresters, the initiative moved beyond a purely fandom-driven idea and became a genuine and successful silvicultural undertaking. Literature met forestry practice — and the meeting proved lasting.

Skierniewice — the Cradle of Poland’s Tolkien Pines

The first Polish Tolkien Pine seedlings grew in Skierniewice. It was there that the Oxford cones germinated, there that the young trees survived their most vulnerable early years, and there that their further journey began. In this sense, Skierniewice can rightly be called the birthplace of the Polish line of Tolkien Pines — the biological and symbolic beginning of the entire story. For more information see here.

Young Galadhorn and young pine trees in 2011 in Skierniewice

Sosnowiec and Arcastar — a Pine with a Name

One of the best-known descendants of the Oxford pine grows in Sosnowiec, in southern Poland (a nice curiosity: the name Sosnowiec comes from the Polish word sosna, "pine tree"!). This Tolkien Pine was given a name: Arcastar ("Tolkien" in Quenya). The name is no coincidence — it sounds as though it came straight from Tolkien’s legendarium and emphasizes the tree’s almost personal, “heroic” character. Arcastar is not an anonymous botanical specimen, but a tree with a story. Around Arcastar in Sosnowiec, a small local community of care and remembrance has formed — exactly the kind of relationship Tolkien himself would have valued, for whom trees were never mere background scenery. Arcastar has its own fanpage (see here). The Sosnowiec pine has already survived several threats. It is being watched over by its tree friends, the parents of Tomasz Gubała (one of Elendilion's editors).

Another pine grows in Skierniewice and its name is Melian:

Melian Tolkien Pine in Skierniewice in 2024

The Polish Tolkien Pines are already strong and tall, reaching over 4 meters in height. The Tolkien Pines in Poland are unique because: their story began before the parent tree was lost, they grew from cones, not from cuttings or remnants, they represent a new generation, not a final souvenir, and they unite literature, nature, and responsibility. In Tolkien’s world, trees possess memory, dignity, and continuity. The Tolkien Pines in Poland — from Skierniewice to Sosnowiec, from cone to Arcastar and Melian — are a literal and living realization of that vision.

Participants of the SkierCon fantasy convention at the Melian Pine