The ancestry of the eucalyptus
The Grandfather of Chavín might well be the tallest tree in Spain and one of the most important in Europe, but, without doubt, it is the largest eucalyptus in Galicia. Its official declaration as a national monument, along with some 600 large trees of the same species in Souto da Retorta, calculated its height at 61.78 metres, with a perimeter of 7.55 metres. Other measuring systems have set its height at more than 80 metres.
The hundred-year-old eucalyptuses of Chavín were planted after 1860 to drain low lying ground as a protection against flooding. The Landro riverbanks form part of the region’s history, where according to official data half of this area is tree-covered.
The area is bordered by several historical sites such as Chavín’s old electric power station. The Landro river network also still has indigenous species growing along its banks, such as the Val do Naseiro forest, and places of interest like the waterfall of the Pozo da Ferida (Ríver Loureiro) with a drop of thirty metres.