Trees | Wondermondo

This category includes the largest and most unique trees in the world.

Criteria

Trees for most part are perennial woody plants who have one main trunk and considerable size. There is no minimum size for a tree agreed and imagination is applied to some degree when distinguishing between shrubs and trees.

Largest trees – species

In 10 of the existing plant divisions six include trees.

Total number of tree species in the world still is a wild guess – maybe 10,000 and maybe 100,000 but, most likely, somewhere in between. Every month there are reported new tree species from the whole world, including Western Europe.

The largest trees belong to a comparatively small division – conifers (Pinophyta). Approximately half of the large and outstanding trees listed here are conifers. Conifers are the highest, largest, and oldest trees in the world, conifer is also the second stoutest tree in the world.

Most impressive conifers and trees in general are two species of subfamily Sequoioideae belonging to Cypress family (Cupressaceae): giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum (Lindl.) J.Buchh.) and coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.).

Both trees grow along the western coast of the United States. The giant sequoia is the largest tree on Earth by volume, fifth-largest by height, and third stoutest. Coast redwood is the second largest by volume, the highest tree on Earth, and the fourth stoutest.

Several more conifers have exceptional size – such as Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum Ten., 1853) – third-largest by the volume and second stoutest in the world, also coast Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) – seventh largest by the volume, fourth-tallest and the 45th stoutest.

Next group of exceptionally large trees belongs to flower plants – these are eucalypts (Eucalyptus) belonging to myrtle family (Myrtaceae). Out of more than 700 species in this genus five exceed the height of 85 meters, five exceed trunk volume of 200 m³, and eight exceed girth of 14 meters.

The stoutest tree of the world most likely is balete tree (Ficus balete Merr. or Ficus benjamina).

It seems that there is not a very high probability that some other species of trees can take over the record for volume, height, or stoutness. But further investigations can change the list of the ten largest trees in each category significantly.

Largest trees – locations

Nowadays there are two regions in the world with pronounced tree gigantism – coastal California, Washington and Oregon (United States) and Tasmania (Australia).

Out of ten records regarding the trunk volume, height, and stoutness in California, Washington, and Oregon there are registered 9 records and in Tasmania – 8. This can be explained by the fact that both these regions of the world really have giant trees and these magnificent monuments of nature have raised a large interest. Many enthusiasts have searched champion trees in these regions and performed exact measurements to prove their findings.

Other champion trees are located in diverse regions of the world – Madagascar, South Africa, Mexico, and so forth.

Author recognizes that lists here are far from being complete and here might be missing numerous great trees already well known in their respective localities.

Some notes on measurements and records

Age

I am glad to announce that trees increasingly rare are "measured" by their imaginary age. It was not that long ago that tourist booklets announced that some tree is that and that many thousand years old and local people were virtually ready to fight to prove that their oak or cypress is exactly that old. Scientific justification? None! Just hundreds of tourist booklets and even some people with scientific degrees repeating this mysterious figure once and again.

Happily more and more people realize that the size of the tree tells little about its age. Nowadays naming such imaginary age of the tree is rather a sign of provinciality.

In practice the age of the tree can be determined just in some cases, when the tree rings are well visible and the core of the tree is not hollowed, or when the date of tree planting is known with confidence.

Nowadays more and more attention is turned to measurable values – the volume of the trunk, height, diameter, girth (also going out of trend), crown projection.

Also here mistakes and uncertainties are common.

Girth and diameter

Very often the girth is mingled with the diameter in favor of "increasing" the tree. Very often the tree is measured at soil level – of course, thus getting a pretty impressive number. In such cases the height of measurement is not mentioned – thus, if you hear about English oak with 25 meters girth without further explanations – most likely it is measured at soil level and has a girth of some 9 – 10 meters at 1.3 meter height.

Measurement should be made at the narrowest place between the soil and 1.3 – 1.4 meters height, athwart to the tree stem. If the tree stands on a slope – measurement is made uphill.

Large trees often have large buttresses and then a girth includes lots of empty air, not the tree. Due to this more correct figure is the average diameter of the tree. Of course, it takes some effort to calculate it.

Height

Height of the trees is hard to measure. For the most part, it is done by climbing the tree and measuring it. Being at the shaky summit of a giant tree at the height of a 20-floor building is not for everyone – in fact, very few in the world do this. Often the last meters of the summit are not measured – it is too risky – and are not included in the height of the tree.

Another approach is using remote sensing technologies, such as LIDAR. Thus, for example, the second tallest known species of trees in the world – mountain ash or swamp gum named Centurion in Tasmania – was found and measured. This tree is 99.67 meters high – the fourth-highest tree species in the world.

We can be sure that there are numerous very high trees in the world waiting to be discovered. Very tall trees grow in ravines and deep valleys, well protected from winds. Thus several tree enthusiasts from Alaska Pacific University found 8 species of trees exceeding 80 meters height in an area of 2 km³ in Sabah, Malaysia in January – February 2007.

Volume

Volume seems to be the best value to measure the size of a tree. But it is pretty hard to calculate and there is a lot of ways to do it wrong. The volume of the main trunk is measured and compared most often.

To do this there is determined diameter of the tree at different heights, height of the tree and then calculated the volume. Roots and branches are not included, hollows are included.

This is fairly easy to do for many conifers who have one top. Measuring the volume for many other trees, that have complex canopy, might be too hard.

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