The Kleine Kalmit ("Little Kalmit"; from Lat. ''calvus mons'' = ''bare hill'') is a hill, high, just outside the eastern edge of the

Palatine Forest The Palatinate Forest (; ), sometimes also called the Palatine Forest, is a low-mountain region in southwestern Germany, located in the Palatinate in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The forest is a designated nature park () covering 1,771&n ...

, and the

Haardt The Haardt () is a range of wooded, sandstone hills in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in southwestern Germany. The range is some long and lies within the Palatinate Forest (''Pfälzerwald''). Its highest point is the Kalmit, near Maikammer ...

range, in the German state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

. Parts of the hill have been designated as a

Nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

bearing the same name.

Geography

The Kleine Kalmit lies about 15 km south of its namesake, the 672.6 m high

Kalmit The Kalmit is the highest peak in the Palatinate Forest and the second highest (after the Donnersberg) in the Palatinate region of Germany. It is and located south of the town of Neustadt an der Weinstraße. The mountain attracts many tourists ...

, and about 6 km southwest of

Landau Landau (), officially Landau in der Pfalz (, ), is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990), a long ...

outside the Haardt itself. Most of the hill, including its symbol, the little chapel on the summit dome which is visible for many miles, lies on the territory of the parish of Arzheim in the borough of Landau. Its south and southwest sides, with their

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

s, belong to the municipality of Ilbesheim. This latter area includes the only place in the Palatinate where

saffron Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of '' Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent ...

is grown.

Flora and fauna

The Kleine Kalmit is a botanical jewel with a rich community of the rare

pasque flower The genus ''Pulsatilla'' contains about 40 species of herbaceous perennial plants native to meadows and prairies of North America, Europe, and Asia. Common names include pasque flower (or pasqueflower), wind flower, prairie crocus, Easter flower, ...

and is designated as a

. Its species-rich fauna includes 87 types of

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

and 43 species of

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

. In addition, fossils of shark's teeth and artefacts from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

have been found here.

References

Literature

External links

Legal ordinance about the Kleine Kalmit Nature Reserve, county of Südliche Weinstraße and town of Landau/Pfalz dated 28 June 1984
(PDF, 143 kB)
General information
(Osiris)
Map of the nature reserve
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalmit, Kleine Mountains and hills of the Palatinate Forest Nature reserves in Rhineland-Palatinate South Palatinate Mountains and hills of Rhineland-Palatinate