List of superlative trees#Largest
{{Short description|Tallest, largest, stoutest, widest, and other such trees}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|cs1-dates=ly|date=November 2021}}
File:Sequoia sempervirens Big Basin Redwoods State Park 7.jpgous Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) is the tallest tree species on Earth.]]
The world's superlative trees can be ranked by any factor. Records have been kept for trees with superlative height, trunk diameter (girth), canopy coverage, airspace volume, wood volume, estimated mass, and age.
Tallest
{{main|List of tallest trees}}
The heights of the tallest trees in the world have been the subject of considerable dispute and much exaggeration. Modern verified measurements with laser rangefinders or with tape drop measurements made by tree climbers (such as those carried out by canopy researchers), have shown that some older tree height measurement methods are often unreliable, sometimes producing exaggerations of 5% to 15% or more above the real height.{{cite web |url=http://www.nativetreesociety.org |title=Native Tree Society |publisher=Native Tree Society |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817101700/http://www.nativetreesociety.org/ |archive-date=2018-08-17 |access-date=2012-08-01}} Historical claims of trees growing to {{convert|130|m|ft|abbr=on}}, and even {{convert|150|m|ft|abbr=on}}, are now largely disregarded as unreliable, and attributed to human error.
The following are the tallest reliably measured specimens from the top 10 species. This table shows only currently standing specimens:
Tallest historically
Despite the tall heights attained by trees in the present, records exist of much greater heights in the past, before widespread logging took place. Some, if not most, of these records are likely greatly exaggerated, but some have been reportedly measured with semi-reliable instruments such as tape lines, tape measures or chains, when cut down and measured on the ground by forestry officials, licensed surveyors or reputable lumbermen.{{sfnp|Carder|1995|p=2}} Some of the heights recorded in this way exceed the maximum possible height of a tree as calculated by theorists,{{cite web | url=https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/botany/tree-grow.htm | title=How tall can a tree grow? | date=February 23, 2009 }} lending some limited credibility to speculation that some superlative trees are able to 'reverse' transpiration streams and absorb water through needles in foggy environments.
Stoutest
File:ArbordeTuleOaxaca MX.jpg ]]
The girth of a tree is usually much easier to measure than the height, as it is a simple matter of stretching a tape round the trunk, and pulling it taut to find the circumference. Despite this, UK tree author Alan Mitchell made the following comment about measurements of yew trees:
{{blockquote|The aberrations of past measurements of yews are beyond belief. For example, the tree at Tisbury has a well-defined, clean, if irregular bole at least 1.5 m long. It has been found to have a girth that dilated and shrunk in the following way: 11.28 m (1834 Loudon), 9.3 m (1892 Lowe), 10.67 m (1903 Elwes and Henry), 9.0 m (1924 E. Swanton), 9.45 m (1959 Mitchell) ... Earlier measurements have therefore been omitted.|Alan Mitchell; in a handbook "Conifers in the British Isles".}}
File:TeMatuaNgahereWithPerson.jpg ]]
As a general standard, tree girth is taken at "breast height". This is converted to and cited as dbh (diameter at breast height) in tree and forestry literature. Breast height is defined differently in different situations, with most forestry measurements taking girth at 1.3 m above ground,{{cite book|last=Hamilton|first=G. J.|year=1975|title=Forest Mensuration Handbook|publisher=Forestry Commission Booklet|volume=39|isbn=0-11-710023-4}} while those who measure ornamental trees usually measure at 1.5 m above ground; in most cases this makes little difference to the measured girth. On sloping ground, the "above ground" reference point is usually taken as the highest point on the ground touching the trunk,{{cite book|last=Mitchell|first=A. F.|year=1974|title=A Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Northern Europe |publisher=Collins|isbn=0-00-212035-6}} but in North America a point is usually used which is the average of the highest point and the lowest point the tree trunk appears to contact the soil.{{cite web|title=Tree Measuring Guidelines of the Eastern Native Tree Society |url=http://www.nativetreesociety.org/measure/Tree_Measuring_Guidelines-revised1.pdf |publisher=Native Tree Society |date=March 2008 |access-date=2012-04-04}} Some of the inflated old measurements may have been taken at ground level. Some past exaggerated measurements also result from measuring the complete next-to-bark measurement, pushing the tape in and out over every crevice and buttress.{{cite book|last=Mitchell|first=A. F.|year=1972|title=Conifers in the British Isles|publisher=Forestry Commission|id=Booklet 33}} The measurements could also be influenced by deviation of the tape measure from a horizontal plane (which might seem called for if the trunk does not grow straight up), and the presence of features such as branches, spikes, etc.
Modern trends are to cite the tree's diameter rather than the circumference. The diameter of the tree is calculated by finding the mean diameter of the trunk, in most cases obtained by dividing the measured circumference by π; this assumes the trunk is mostly circular in cross-section (an oval or irregular cross-section would result in a mean diameter slightly greater than the assumed circle). Accurately measuring circumference or diameter is difficult in species with the large buttresses that are characteristic of many species of rainforest trees. Simple measurement of circumference of such trees can be misleading when the circumference includes much empty space between buttresses. See also Tree girth measurement
Baobabs (genus Adansonia) store large amounts of water in the very soft wood in their trunks. This leads to marked variation in their girth over the year (though not more than about 2.5%{{cite journal|last=Fenner|first=M|year=1980|title=Some measurements on the water relations of baobab trees|journal=Biotropica|volume=12|pages=205–209|issue=3|doi=10.2307/2387972|jstor=2387972|bibcode=1980Biotr..12..205F}}), reaching maximum at the end of the rainy season, and minimum at the end of the dry season.
Measurements become ambiguous when multiple trunks (whether from an individual tree or multiple trees) grow together.
The Sacred Fig grows adventitious roots from its branches, which become new trunks when the root reaches the ground and thickens; a single sacred fig tree can have hundreds of such trunks.{{cite book |editor-last=Huxley |editor-first=A |year=1992 |title=New RHS Dictionary of Gardening |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=0-333-47494-5}} The multi-stemmed Hundred Horse Chestnut was known to have a circumference of {{convert|57.9|m|ft|abbr=on}} when it was measured in 1780.
There are known more than 50 species of trees exceeding the diameter of 4.45 m or circumference of 14 m.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}}
Largest
File:General Sherman tree looking up.jpg, a California giant sequoia, is the largest tree by volume]]
{{Further|List of largest giant sequoias}}
The largest trees are defined as having the highest wood volume in a single stem. These trees are both tall and large in diameter and, in particular, hold a large diameter high up the trunk. Measurement is very complex, particularly if branch volume is to be included as well as the trunk volume, so measurements have only been made for a small number of trees, and generally only for the trunk. Few attempts have ever been made to include root or leaf volume.
All 12 of the world's largest trees are giant sequoias. Grogan's Fault, the largest living Coast redwood, would rank as the 13th largest living tree. Tāne Mahuta, the largest living tree outside of California, would rank within the top 100 largest living trees.
Broadest
The trees with the broadest crowns have the widest spread of limbs from a single trunk.
Oldest
File:Big bristlecone pine Pinus longaeva.jpg (Pinus longaeva) is the longest living tree species on Earth.]]
{{Main|List of oldest trees}}
The oldest trees are determined by growth rings, which can be seen if the tree is cut down, or in cores taken from the bark to the center of the tree. Accurate determination is only possible for trees that produce growth rings, generally those in seasonal climates. Trees in uniform non-seasonal tropical climates grow continuously and do not have distinct growth rings. It is also only possible for trees that are solid to the center. Many very old trees become hollow as the dead heartwood decays. For some of these species, age estimates have been made on the basis of extrapolating current growth rates, but the results are usually largely speculation. White (1998){{cite book|last=White|first=J|year=1990|title=Estimating the Age of Large and Veteran Trees in Britain|publisher=Forestry Commission|location=Edinburgh}} proposes a method of estimating the age of large and veteran trees in the United Kingdom through the correlation of a tree's age with its diameter and growth character.
The verified oldest measured ages are:
Other species suspected of reaching exceptional age include European Yew (Taxus baccata) (probably over 5,000 years{{cite journal|last=Harte|first=J|year=1996|title=How old is that old yew?|journal=At the Edge|volume=4|pages=1–9|url=http://www.indigogroup.co.uk/edge/oldyews.htm}}{{cite journal|last=Kinmonth|first=F|year=2005|title=Ageing the yew – no core, no curve?|journal=International Dendrology Society Yearbook|pages=41–46|issn=0307-322X}}), Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) (3,000 years or more{{cite journal|last=Suzuki|first=E|year=1997|title=The Dynamics of Old Cryptomeria japonica Forest on Yakushima Island|journal=Tropics|volume=6|issue=4|pages=421–428|url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/tropics/6/4/6_4_421/_pdf/-char/ja |doi=10.3759/tropics.6.421|doi-access=free|url-access=subscription}}), and Western Redcedar (Thuja plicata). The oldest known European Yew may be the Llangernyw Yew in the Churchyard of Llangernyw village in North Wales, or the Fortingall Yew in Perthshire, Scotland. The Llangernyw Yew has been estimated as between 4000 and 5000 years in age by David Bellamy,{{cite web | url=https://www.peoplescollection.wales/items/43941 | title=Llangernyw }} who also used radiocarbon dating to estimate an age of around 4000 years for the Tisbury Yew in Wiltshire,{{cite web | url=http://www.tisburyparishchurch.org/just-visiting-4/ | title=The ancient yew tree | St Johns Tisbury }} while the Fortingall Yew with its former 16 to 17-meter girth is estimated at 5,000 years of age.{{cite web | url=https://forestryandland.gov.scot/learn/trees/yew | title=Yew }}{{cite web | url=https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/gbr/scotland/perthandkinross/969_churchyard/ | title=European Yew 'Fortingall Yew' in the churchyard in Fortingall, Scotland, United Kingdom }} However, ageing yews is very difficult due to the loss of heartwood in very ancient trees, and one or two sources believe the trees to be far younger at around 1500–3000 years.
Lagarostrobos franklinii, known as Huon pine, is native to the wet southwestern corner of Tasmania, Australia. A stand of trees in excess of 10,500 years old was found in 1955 in western Tasmania on Mount Read.{{cite news|first=Graham|last=Lloyd|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/weekend-australian-magazine/the-oldest-tree/news-story/16e5f9dd65ded005122d725ef2c12b00|title=The oldest tree|newspaper=The Australian|date=September 10, 2011|access-date=2018-03-22}} Each of the trees in this stand is a genetically identical male that has reproduced vegetatively. Although no single tree in this stand is of that age, the stand itself as a single organism has existed that long.{{cite web|url=http://www.blognow.com.au/gumnuts/45647/Could_a_tree_be_10000_years_old.html|archive-url=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20070411140000/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/68811/20070412-0000/www.blognow.com.au/gumnuts/45647/Could_a_tree_be_10000_years_old.html|archive-date=2007-04-11|title=Could a tree be 10,000 years old?|work=Gumnuts – the ASGAP Blog|access-date=2012-09-19}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} Individual trees in the clonal patch have been listed as having ages of 2000{{cite web|url=http://www.stors.tas.gov.au/au-7-0095-03714|title=Plants – Huon pine: one of the oldest plants on earth|year=2003|publisher=Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania}}{{Cite web|last1=Brack|first1=Cris|last2=Brookhouse|first2=Matthew|title=Where the old things are: Australia's most ancient trees|url=http://theconversation.com/where-the-old-things-are-australias-most-ancient-trees-65893|access-date=2023-01-02|website=The Conversation|date=April 18, 2017 |language=en|quote=the oldest in Australia could be a Huon pine (Lagarostrobos franklinii) in Tasmania, the oldest stem of which is up to 2,000 years old}} or even to 3000 years old.{{cite web|url=http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/file.aspx?id=6575|title=Huon Pine Lagarostrobos franklinni|publisher=Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment|year=2011|quote=Individuals have been known to reach an age of 3,000 years|access-date=2018-03-22|archive-date=2018-06-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180628125126/http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/file.aspx?id=6575|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|title=Lagarostrobos franklinii (Huon pine) description|url=https://www.conifers.org/po/Lagarostrobos.php|access-date=2023-01-02|website=www.conifers.org|quote=Living trees sampled by increment borer have yielded ring counted ages of up to 2500 years, and since these were not pith dates, it seems likely that there are living trees with ages in excess of 3000 years (Balmer 1999).}}
The olive tree also can live for centuries. Previously the oldest age verified by carbon dating was 900 years for a tree in the Gethsemane garden in Jerusalem.{{cite news|title=Oldest olive trees|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-trees-idUSBRE89I0ZQ20121019|newspaper=Reuters|access-date=23 October 2013|date=2012-10-19}} In 2024 research was published showing that one of the trees in the Sisters Olive Trees of Noah to be {{age|format=commas|863|1|1}} years old, plus or minus 131 years, by carbon dating.{{cite journal |last1=Camarero |first1=J. Julio |last2=Touchan |first2=Ramzi |last3=Valeriano |first3=Cristina |last4=Bashour |first4=Isam |last5=Stephan |first5=Jean |title=Dating the Noah trees to improve age estimates in centennial and millennial olive trees |journal=Dendrochronologia |date=April 2024 |volume=84 |pages=126181 |doi=10.1016/j.dendro.2024.126181 |bibcode=2024Dendr..8426181C |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1125786524000183 |access-date=20 September 2024|hdl=10261/354303 |hdl-access=free }} Previously they had been reputed to be around 6,000 years old.{{cite web | url=https://www.greenprophet.com/2013/01/noah-olive-trees-lebanon/ | title=The World's Oldest Olive Trees are Lebanese – Green Prophet | date=January 8, 2013 }}
Deepest and longest tree roots
A wild fig tree growing in Echo Caves near Ohrigstad, South Africa has roots going {{convert|400|ft|m|abbr=on|order=flip}} deep, giving it the deepest roots known of any tree.{{cite web|url=http://www.unep.org/documents.multilingual/default.asp?DocumentID=445&ArticleID=4852&l=en |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20050723150643/http://www.unep.org/documents.multilingual/default.asp?DocumentID=445&ArticleID=4852&l=en |archive-date=2005-07-23 |work=United Nations Environment Programme |title=Interesting Tree Facts |access-date=2016-05-24}} El Drago Milenario, a tree of species Dracaena draco on Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, is reported to have {{convert|200|m|ft|adj=mid|-long|sp=us}} superficial roots.{{cite journal | last=Akerberg | first=Eric | date=1966 | title=Tenerife – A place for research on plant ecology | journal=Acta Universitatis Lundensis | series=Section 2 | issue=33 |page=8}}
Thickest tree limbs
This list is limited to horizontal or nearly horizontal limbs, in which the governing growth factor is phototropism. Vertical or near vertical limbs, in which the governing growth factor is negative geotropism, are called "reiterations" and are really divisions of the trunk, which by definition must be less than the trunk as a whole and therefore less remarkable. The thickest trunks have already been dealt with under "stoutest".{{clarify|date=September 2017}}
Thickest tree bark
{{Original research section|date=January 2025}}
| class= "wikitable"
|+List of trees by thickest bark !style="width:15%"|Species !Native range !Greatest thickness or depth !Comments |
| Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum)
|Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. |The greatest thickness which has been reliably measured is {{cvt|75|cm|ft|frac=2}} for one in Redwood Canyon, Kings Canyon National Park.{{cite book | last=Harvey | first=H.T.|display-authors=etal|date=1981 | title=Giant Sequoias | location=Three Rivers, California | publisher=Sequoia Natural History Assoc. |page=30}} |However it is asserted that the basal bark of the "General Sherman" Big Tree is in places up to {{cvt|1.2|m|ft|0}} in thickness.{{cite web |url=http://biology.fullerton.edu/courses/biol_445/Web/Sequoia.htm |title=Species Information: Giant Sequoia...etc |access-date=February 20, 2019 |archive-date=April 2, 2003 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20030402021146/http://biology.fullerton.edu/courses/biol_445/Web/Sequoia.htm}} This could be determined non-invasively with sonograph equipment. |
| Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)
|Coastal Northern and Central California and extreme southern Oregon. |The "Mill Creek Giant" near the Mill Creek bridge in Redwood National Park, Crescent City, California has bark {{convert|18|in|cm|order=flip|abbr=on}} thick.Correspondence from Redwood doyen Ron Hildebrant | Coast Redwood bark is often deeply fissured, making it easy to measure most of the depth of the bark even on live trees. |
| Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)
|Northwestern North America. | A tree felled in North Vancouver, British Columbia in 1902 had bark {{convert|13+1/2|in|cm|order=flip|0|abbr=on}} in thickness.{{sfnp|Carder|1995|p=8}} | |
| Cork Oak (Quercus suber)
| circum-Mediterranean distribution. | One Cork Oak at the chapel of São Gonçalo {{convert|16|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} south of Lisbon, Portugal had cork measuring {{convert|20|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} deep.{{cite book | last=Elwes | first=Henry J. and Augustine Henry | date=1906 | title=Trees of Great Britain and Ireland | location=East Ardsley, England |publisher=S.R. Publishers Ltd. | volume=5 |pages=1294–1295}} | This is the thickest bark among Dicots. |
| Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria araucana)
| The Patagonian Andes of Chile and Argentina. | Bark up to {{convert|7|in|cm|abbr=off|sp=us|spell=in}} in thickness.{{cite book | last1=Lewington | first1=Anna | last2=Parker | first2=Edward| date=1999 | title=Ancient Trees | location=London | publisher=Collins & Brown |page=49}}{{cite book|last1=Marticorena| first1=Clodomiro | last2=Rodriguez | first2=Roberto | date=1995 | title=Flora de Chile | location=Concepcion, Chile | publisher=Univ. de Concepcion| volume=1 | page=312}} | |
| Parana Pine (Araucaria angustifolia)
| Mostly in southernmost Brazil. | Bark can be over {{convert|6|in|cm|order=flip|abbr=on|0}} thick.{{cite book | last1=Enright | first1=Neal J. |last2=Hill |first2=Robert S.| date=1995 | title=Ecology of the Southern Conifers | location=Washington, D. C. | publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press | page=124}} | |
| Renala (Adansonia grandidieri)
| Madagascar. | Bark is up to {{convert|15|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} thick.{{cite web |title=How Many Baobab Species Do We Have? |url=http://www.buzau.com/baobab/taxon.htm |access-date=September 26, 2005}} | This is the species with the colossal columnar trunks. |
| Valley Oak (Quercus lobata)
| Central Valley of California southward to the San Gabriel Valley. | This bark also up to {{convert|15|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} in thickness.{{sfnp|Carder|1995|p=41}} | |
| Plains Cottonwood (Populus deltoides ssp. monilifera)
| North American Plains. | "Almost {{convert|6|in|cm|abbr=off|sp=us|spell=in}} thick"{{cite web |title=Plains Cottonwood |last=Wier |first=S.K. |date=2014 |url=http://westernexplorers.us/PlainsCottonwood.pdf |access-date=September 21, 2021}} |
See also
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
- Champion Trees
- Dendrology
- Dendrometry
- Largest organisms
- List of individual trees
- Lists of trees
- List of oldest trees
- List of old-growth forests
- List of superlative trees in Sweden
- List of Champion Trees (South Africa)
- List of tree genera
- List of trees and shrubs by taxonomic family
- List of world records held by plants
- Tree allometry
- Tree measurement
- Tree crown measurement
- Tree girth measurement
- Tree height measurement
- Tree volume measurement
{{div col end}}
References
{{Reflist|refs=
}}
External links
{{div col|colwidth=27em}}
- [http://www.treeregister.org/ Notable and Ancient Trees in Britain and Ireland]
- [http://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/ Monumental trees]
- [http://www.mdvaden.com/news.shtml M. D. Vaden, arborist who measures tree sizes]
- [http://bigtrees.org/ Calaveras Big Trees Association (CBTA)]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20041210014640/http://www.gianttrees.com.au/ Tasmania's giant trees]
- [http://www.nationalregisterofbigtrees.com.au/ National Register of Big Trees. Australia's Champion Trees]
- [http://www.bomeninfo.nl/english1.htm Old Trees in The Netherlands and Western Europe]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20091018143824/http://www.humboldt.edu/redwoods/photos Photo Tours: Science Atop the World's Largest Trees]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120211233658/http://www.floridata.com/tracks/thesenator/thesenator.cfm Article about The Senator]
- [http://www.notabletrees.org.nz/ The New Zealand Tree Register – A project of the New Zealand Notable Trees Trust (NZNTT)]
{{end div col}}
{{list of lists|biology}}
{{Botany|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Superlative trees}}