The Eckbach (locally known as the Eck and in the lower reaches also as Neugraben or Leiniger Graben[1]) is a small river in the northeastern Palatinate and the southeastern Rhenish Hesse.

In those days, both the Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) and the Large-leaved Linden (Tilia platyphyllos) were called Leinbaum in German.

The coat of arms of the House of Leiningen shows a stylized tree with five-lobed leaves and five-pointed flowers clearly point to a maple.

The spring is framed in sandstone and is southeast of A6 (Saarbrücken-Mannheim) at an elevation of 313 metres (1,027 ft) above sea level in the Kleinfrankreich ("Little France") section of the Hertlingshausen district of Carlsberg.

The river initially flows in an easterly direction through Hertlingshausen, then northeast through Altleiningen, where it receives water from the artificial 20-Pipe Well (20-Röhren-Brunnen).

The area between Laumersheim, Dirmstein, Gerolsheim and Heuchelheim contains a number of irrigation canals: Weihergraben, Altbach, Kühweidegraben, Altgraben, Bittinggraben and Lerchengraben.

It flows past the recreational area Bürgerweide on the southern side, then into the Upper Rhine at an elevation of 90 metres (300 ft).

Leinbaum is the local word for both the large-leaved lime and the Norway maple; two species of tree that used to be very common on the banks of the Eckbach.

The Leiningen family coat of arms of displays a stylised tree, whose leaves - and its five-petalled flowers – are clearly those of a lime.

The fact that the stream, originally called the Eck, now bears the name Eckbach goes back to the Kingdom of Bavaria, which was granted that part of the Palatinate west of the Rhine in 1816.

In the early winter of 2012 great egrets were seen on the Eckbach near Dirmstein, a bird whose native habitat is actually further south and east.

[3] On the heights of the Palatine Forest and Haardt mountains above the Eckbach valley lies the castles of Altleiningen, Neuleiningen and Battenberg.

A section of the Leiningen Valley Railway used to run along the Eckbach for about 6 kilometres (4 mi) between Kleinkarlbach and Altleiningen carrying both passengers and goods.

The actual source of the Eckbach is 5 kilometres (3 mi) upstream, but this no longer delivers water all year round due to the lowering of the groundwater level.

Other mills worth visiting are the Felsenmühle, operated as a hotel-restaurant in Neuleiningen-Tal and the Spormühle in Dirmstein, today a country hotel with an art gallery.