The largest trees in the world. Tallest tree ever measured

A tree is a perennial plant, which consists of roots that feed it, a solid trunk wrapped in bark and a crown (branches and leaves, different in shape and in their properties). They are divided into two types coniferous and deciduous. Both those and other people have learned to process and receive benefits from them for themselves.

But there are trees on which the human hand should never climb. These are the best of the best trees: the tallest, the largest, the heaviest, and so on.

sequoias

Not one tree, but a whole family can be safely attributed to the highest plants with a solid trunk. Four examples stand out in particular. All of them belong to the same tree species - these are sequoias. These breeds are conifers and mainly grow in North America along the ocean, as they need a lot of moisture.

Structure

In appearance, the breed is similar to other coniferous trees: branches grow horizontally, needles (needle-shaped leaves) are evergreen, have cones, from which, when dried, seeds fall out and the life of new trees begins. The roots are not deep, but they are very powerful. After all, they have to keep upright and feed trees, the mass of which reaches 1000 tons. The bark is very thick, compared to other rocks, the thickness reaches 30 centimeters. Inside the tree is red, so it is used in the furniture industry. Although sequoia does not have other necessary qualities from mahogany (beautiful wood texture, ductility to processing).

The length of the trees listed above is more than 110 meters and differs only by a few meters. Work on measuring their growth was carried out by scientists who, using a laser, were able to determine the desired parameter only in 2006.

The tallest tree in the world

Up to this point, the book of records recorded the best representative called the giant of the stratosphere. Its length is 112 meters and 70 centimeters. And after laser measurements, it turned out that there are three more trees that are superior to those described above. The tallest tree is recognized as a specimen over 115 meters long called Hyperion. The second place was taken by a tree 114 meters 69 centimeters long called Helios. And the third was Icarus, he grew to 113 meters 14 centimeters. But in order to be given official status by the book of records, all trees must be measured with a special rope lowered from the top of the tree.

All these giants are located in the state of California. They are alive and continue to grow a year, adding an average of 25 centimeters. According to scientists, their opportunities for growth have not exhausted themselves. The critical length of the trees is located at around 130 meters above the ground. Then there will be problems with feeding the cells with water due to gravity. Although there are cases when trees were described, the dimensions of which reached 155 meters.

Information about such a tree came from the shores of the Australian continent back in the 19th century. It was a representative of marvelous trees - eucalyptus. But what happened to him later, and why the current representatives of this tree species do not reach such sizes, is not known now. That gives ground for further reflection and scientific research.

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There are not so many varieties of trees, whose height reaches sixty or more meters, on our planet. Botanists refer to them Norway spruce and mountain pine, they grow up to 60-70 meters. False Lawson Cypress, known to many gardeners as Lawson's cypress ( Chamaecyparis lawsoniana), in natural conditions can reach eighty meters in height.

: noble, Nordman, and also Douglas, otherwise called Pseudotsuga Menzies. Douglas fir is the second tallest tree today, a height of seventy meters is not uncommon for it. The tallest extant Douglas firs is called "Doerner Fir", its height is 99.4 meters. It has an impressive size and eucalyptus regal which can grow over a hundred meters.

Climbing the sequoias. Photo by Michael Nichols from website and nationalgeographic.com

However, the “yellow jersey of the leader” rightfully belongs to the redwoods. In fact, they distinguish evergreen sequoia(or red, Redwood) and giant sequoia(or sequoiadendron), whose representatives are also called mammoth trees for their gigantic dimensions. Sequoias are taller, but sequoiadendrons have a thicker trunk.

Sequoiadendrons - mammoth trees

General Sherman, Hyperion and Helios

As mentioned above, the evergreen sequoia named Hyperion is currently recognized as the tallest tree on Earth. The height of the tree growing in northern California in the Redwood National Park is 115.61 meters, the diameter of the trunk at the level of 1.5 meters is 4.84 meters. The age of the giant is about eight hundred years.

Hyperion was “unlucky”: a woodpecker damaged his top, so the growth of the giant slowed down. Perhaps, very soon he will have to give way to another representative of the red sequoias - Helios. Helios continues to grow actively, and in 2015 its height was 114 meters 58 centimeters.

But let the young compete in height. The largest tree on the planet is the giant sequoiadendron ( Sequoiadendron giganteum), referred to as General Sherman.

Sequoiadendron General Sherman - the largest living organism on planet Earth

This outstanding mammoth tree, according to scientists, is almost 2,700 years old. And although he is far from the tallest tree in the world (his height is only 83.8 meters), General Sherman is the largest living organism on our planet. Well, apart from pando groves(Utah, USA) - clonal colony aspen poplar, whose total weight is six thousand tons. Although it is a grove, it is considered to be a single organism.

The weight of General Sherman is 1900 tons, the volume of wood is 1487 cubic meters, and the diameter of the trunk is 7.7 meters (at a height of 1.5 meters). For comparison: the volume of wood of a tall, but "skinny" Hyperion is only 502 cubic meters.

No matter how tall the sequoias are, there is a limit to their growth. And this limit, surprisingly, is set by the laws of physics. Scientists have calculated that the growth of any tree on our planet cannot exceed 120-130 meters. The forces of gravity and friction of water against the pores of wood will prevent it from growing higher.

Sequoias and people

The authors of the famous "Golden Calf" Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov wrote in "One-Story America" ​​that "Americans are extremely practical people. There is a sign hanging near the Sherman, where it is reported with the greatest accuracy that forty houses can be built from this tree alone, with five rooms in each house.

Lumberjacks and sequoias. Photo from gravgrav.com

Sequoias are one of the oldest trees on earth. They widely grew on our planet even in the Cretaceous period (145 million years ago).

The Ice Age significantly reduced the redwood forests in North America, and the remaining ones were thoroughly thinned out by the inhabitants of the New World: of course, they cut down one tree and built a whole cottage village. Now only three dozen groves of these giants remain - in Northern California on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Sequoiadendron seedling. Photo from 4seed.jimdo.com

Those who love conifers and are interested in giants can have a real sequoiadendron in their area. It is possible to grow this relic plant from seeds or buy a ready-made seedling.

Reading time: 14 min.

There are many trees all over the planet whose parameters have been exaggerated and are very controversial. Despite this, with the help of state-of-the-art instruments, such as a laser rangefinder and falling tape measurements, the height of the largest trees has been measured. Our Big Rating magazine has prepared a list for you - the tallest trees in the world. The list describes the ten tallest trees on the planet that have remained the same for centuries. Some of these trees are so tall that they cannot even be photographed in full size. The dense canopy is also the reason these trees cannot be captured in full size.

Tree height - 112.20 meters
This tree is located in Montgomery Woods (a nature reserve in the United States). Mendocino was the tallest tree on the planet between 1996 and 2000. This huge sequoia grows next to others, but if you look at the trees from top to bottom, then this giant is much taller than its brothers, something like this looks like a teacher among the kids in the kindergarten.

Tree height - 112.56 meters
The paradox is located in the John Davison Rockefeller Forest, in Humboldt (United States) and was considered the tallest tree on the planet, for a short period from 1995 to 1996. If we compare the diameters of the trunk with the tenth number of our list, then the Paradox is significantly inferior (3.9 m and 4.19 m). And in order to find this tree, scientists needed to make remarkable efforts, because there was no photo and the exact position of this giant at that time. Among all the tallest trees, this tree is considered the most beautiful.

Tree height - 112.6 meters
Next to the ninth place on our list, another giant is growing - Rockefeller. This tree bears the name of a billionaire who became famous not only for his huge income, but also for the very respectable age to which he managed to live. The long and slender trunk of this giant is admired by all who are lucky enough to behold it. But this is not the easiest task, since few people know the exact position of the tree, this is done on purpose to save this miracle of nature from the hands of vandals. In addition, Rockefeller practically does not differ from his fellows, if you look at him from below. Until now, no one has established the exact diameter of the trunk.

Tree height - 112.62 meters
Again, the giant from Humboldt is on the list of the tallest trees in the world. Its pioneers are Paul Zinke and Al Strangerburger. This giant is similar to other sequoias that grow nearby, it is a whole ecosystem in which birds make nests, various beetles live, lichens grow and many other living organisms. A very interesting fact - Lauralyn can be easily found, its location is not classified.

Tree height - 112.63 meters
This magnificent giant is located in California. Its most accurate coordinates are Redwood National Park. To find this tree, you just need to make superhuman efforts - the giant grows very densely with two huge sequoias, but if you look from above, it is twice as tall as all nearby counterparts. This is a very ancient tree, it has been growing on the planet for more than 1.5 thousand years.

Tree height - 112.71 meters
A giant with an unusual name that belongs to the sequoias. Its opening date is 1994. From the moment of its discovery, it was considered the tallest tree on the planet, and it carried this title for just over a year. To find the National Geographic Society, you will have to visit the Redwood Creek, walk along its banks, since the exact location of the tree is unknown. The diameter of this giant is 4.39 meters.

Tree height - 113.11 meters
And again in our ranking is a tree whose location is the Humboldt National Park. It was found in 2000, and then its height reached 112.34 meters, but it continued to grow upwards. Now the height of this giant is 113.11 meters. Like many other redwoods, the exact location of the Stratospheric Giant is kept secret in order to save this living ecosystem from detractors. In addition, it will not be easy to find it anyway, since other sequoias grow densely next to it.

Tree height - 113.14 meters
The third place in our top is sequoia, the discoverers of which are Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor. The tree is located in Redwood National Park, California. This giant got his name for the dead, burnt out from the sun "up". In addition to Icarus, in the forest belt there is also a huge number of sequoias with a burnt-out "crown", so it is not so easy to intentionally find this giant. Like most of the trees on our list, Icarus is hidden from the curious in order to avoid any interference with its ecosystem.

Tree height - 114.58 meters
Again, Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor, already known to us, discovered another giant in the national park, in Redwood. The exact opening date is unknown, it is only known that it was July 2006. This giant does not differ much from the first place in our rating and its exact location, almost like all other trees on our list, is unknown.

Tree height - 115.61 meters
In the first place in our ranking of giant trees is the sequoia, the location of which is Northern California, which is called Hyperion. This is a relatively young tree, the age of Hyperion is 7-8 centuries. In terms of volume, its trunk holds 502 m³. This giant was discovered by Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor. The geographic location of the tree is Redwood National Park. Scientists believe that this giant could have been higher, but woodpeckers gouged its top. Even with a damaged top, this tree remains the tallest in the world, last measured in 2015.

Sequoia

Sequoia, also known as redwood, is one of the tallest tree species on the planet. Only “pretty fir” (the second name is Douglas fir) and Australian eucalyptus trees can compete with sequoia in terms of height, but the largest representatives of this species were destroyed. Hyperion was also subject to destruction at one time, but in 1979 Redwood became a National Park and deforestation was prohibited in it. Today there are many sequoias that exceed a hundred meters in length, but there is not a single living tree of another species that exceeds at least a hundred meters.

Although Hyperion is the tallest tree, in other parameters, such as volume, mass and age, it is inferior to another sequoia - General Sherman. In height, General Sherman reaches only 83.8 meters, but its weight is record - 1900 tons, the volume of the trunk is 1487 m³, and in terms of age, it is almost twice ahead of its closest opponents - 2.3-2.7 centuries.

The tallest tree in the world - Hyperion

Up until August 2006, the title of "tallest tree in the world" belonged to a giant 112.7-meter sequoia, nicknamed "stratospheric giant". It is located in Humboldt National Park, California. To give you some idea of ​​the massive size of this tree, let's say it's twice the height of the Statue of Liberty, minus the foundation. But the giant lost its status when two naturalists, Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor, stumbled across a cluster of trees in California's Redwood National Park that were taller than any they had seen before. They made preliminary measurements using professional laser equipment, and found not one or two, but three trees that were taller than the "stratospheric giant".

Hyperion - "too tall"

The height of the tree in the world, which bears the name Hyperion, reaches 115 meters. If it’s hard for you to imagine such a huge tree, then imagine Big Ben from London, its height is 96.3 meters, and it is much lower than this giant. But this giant could be even higher, but the woodpeckers managed to damage the "top" of the tree. Therefore, Hyperion began to grow more slowly upwards. When its discoverers announced their discovery, scientists led by ecologist Steve Sillet arrived on the spot, who, upon arrival in Redwood, announced his desire to measure the sequoia. He personally climbed to the top of the tree and lowered the tape from above to the ground. The moment was captured by National Geographic.

Hyperion is lucky, because in 1970, there was an active deforestation, a few tens of kilometers away. All half a month remained until the moment when the lumberjack's ax would have landed on the trunk of a tree, but then Redwood was given the status of a National Park. The logging company that worked at that time functioned literally for days, without interruptions, and harvested expensive mahogany wood, and destroyed ancient forests, without any pity. Sequoias have been growing there since the first man entered the valley. The vast array of trees from which specimens no smaller than Hyperion could grow were out of luck. They were cut down and now only 4% of all existing sequoias in the United States remain.

sequoia protection

If we take sequoia standards, then Hyperion is a very young tree that still has to grow and grow. Sillet suggests that the exact age of the tree is about 6 centuries, and that this corresponds to twenty years in terms of human life. The exact coordinates of Hyperion's location are unknown, due to avoiding the crush of tourists near a huge sequoia. This is also done due to the fact that the fragile ecosystem of the tree can be disturbed and this will damage Hyperion too much. Because, in addition to admiring the sequoia, people can take a piece of bark for themselves as a souvenir or carve something like “John and Mary were here” on an old tree.

According to Silette himself, a tree cannot, like a person, hide from journalists and there are many stories that prove to us that something very bad happens to famous trees. It is still unknown whether Hyperion is the tallest mahogany or just the tallest tree known to us. After all, as many as 96% of red trees were destroyed by lumberjacks.

Tallest tree ever measured

In the 21st century, the tallest tree in the world was measured and it was not a sequoia, but a mountain ash. 1872 - A report by state forest ranger William Ferguson describes a fallen and scorched mountain ash (the second name is the regal eucalyptus), the height of which before the fall was 132 meters. At the same time, several trees were recorded that reached 140 meters in height. But, unfortunately, it is impossible to verify this information: each of these trees was cut down, since mountain ash is an important building material for Australians.

The tallest eucalyptus was in Tasmania. Its height reaches one hundred meters, and it bears the majestic name "Centurion". This eucalyptus bears the title of the tallest living deciduous tree on the planet. It was discovered back in 2008, using a laser that was installed on an airplane. The original goal was to measure terrain height differences, forest heights, and measure forest biomass.

The flora of the planet Earth is striking in its diversity. The "lungs" of the Earth - forests and groves - have attracted the attention of people for a long time. A huge number of species and forms of trees made them objects of study.

There are many ratings of the largest trees, the oldest, the most cold-resistant ... We present the rating of the tallest trees in the world. Historically, the most remarkable specimens grow on the American and Australian continents.

The tallest trees in Australia: legends and reality

Back in the 19th century, there were no measuring instruments that would allow us to name the exact height of a tree - up to a centimeter. Therefore, people who met giant eucalyptus trees in the Australian forests had to take their word for it. In 1872, an Australian resident reported that he had found a eucalyptus 150 meters high in the forest. But, alas, there was no documentary evidence of this.

The tallest tree in Australia, which was measured already in the middle of the 20th century, is a copy of the royal eucalyptus, and its height is significantly inferior to 150 meters. It grows on Mount Bau Bau in Queensland and reaches a height of 99.4 meters. The second tree of the same species comparable in height is located in the valley of the river Styx, which flows in Tasmania. Its height is 98.1 meters, and its name is Centurion.

America's Tallest Trees: Sequoia

Sequoias claim to be the absolute leader - these coniferous giants grow mainly on the West Coast of the United States, off the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Sequoias received a generic name in honor of one of the legendary Indian leaders of the Cherokee tribe.

Moreover, many trees, recognized as unique for their large size, have personal names.

About 150 million years ago, forests made entirely of these giants covered almost the entire American continent. Now their habitat is limited to thirty relatively small groves on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The ten tallest trees in the world grow in one region of the world - California, USA. The exact location of some of them is kept secret, and it is difficult to find their photos on the Web. This was done on purpose - so that curious tourists would not make pilgrimages to the sequoias and let them grow quietly.

Interestingly, at the end of the 19th century, when sequoia groves were given the status of national parks, rangers began to monitor forest fires and prevent their spread. It would seem that this is a good and right thing to do. However, a few years later it turned out that during this time not a single young sequoia tree appeared in the groves.

The solution looked paradoxical, but it turned out to be correct. It turned out that forest fires are necessary in the life cycle of redwoods. This is one of the few trees in the world that has managed to adapt to fire.

Under the influence of high temperature, the sequoia cone opens, the seed falls into the ground and gets a chance to germinate. And a forest fire at this time burns out fallen needles and foliage and allows the earth to “breathe”.

Top 10 tallest trees in the world: sequoias

10. Now the tenth tallest tree in the world is the Mendocino tree, which grows in Montgomery Woods, California, USA. Height - 112.20 meters. The barrel volume is 4.19 meters.

9. In ninth place is a sequoia called Paradox, which grows in Rockefeller Forest. Height - 112.56 meters, trunk volume - 3.90 meters.

7. Sequoia named Lauraline grows in the same county of Humboldt. Its height is estimated at 112.62 meters, diameter - 4.54 meters.

6. The sixth place in the world in height is occupied by a sequoia called Orion. It grows in Redwood National Park in San Mateo County. Height - 112, 63 meters, trunk volume - 4.33 meters.

Five tallest trees in the world

5. Sequoia, named after the National Geographic Society (NGS), is considered to be the property of the surroundings of the Redwood Creek. Height - 112.71 meters. The barrel volume is 4.39 meters.

The editors of the site clarifies: it is easy to see that these trees do not differ much in height and are quite densely adjacent in the rating. The unofficial title of the first among the giants passed from one instance to another several times. For a whole year - from 1994 to 1995 - the NGS sequoia was considered the tallest in the world.

4. The giant of the Stratosphere - a sequoia 113.11 meters high - was discovered in the summer of 2000. Then its size was slightly smaller, but the tree still continues to grow. From 2000 to 2010, the size of the Stratospheric Giant grew by seventy centimeters - from 112.34 meters.

3. The top three tallest trees in the world are closed by a sequoia named Icarus. Height - 113.14 meters, trunk volume - 3.78 meters. Icarus got its name for the sun-scorched, reddened dead top.

2. The second tallest tree in the world is called Helios and grows along one of the tributaries of the Redwood Creek. Its height reaches 114.58 meters. For literally two and a half months - from June to August 2006 - Helios was considered the highest in the world. However, an even more imposing tree was soon discovered on the other side of the river.

The tallest tree in the world: Hyperion

1. Now officially the tallest tree in the world is a tree called Hyperion. This is a sequoia that grows on the opposite bank from its fellow, Helios. Hyperion has held the championship in size since August 25, 2006, when it was discovered by two naturalists. The height of Hyperion is 115.61 meters, the girth is 4.84 meters.

The total volume of this tree is 502 cubic meters. It is also known that its age by the standards of the species is quite small - 700-800 years. Sequoias live for four thousand years.

However, Hyperion will no longer grow upwards. The top of Hyperion was damaged by motley woodpeckers, who dug several hollows in the very top of the trunk. The top of the trunk has lost its nutrition, and now Hyperion will only grow in width.

And the sequoia Helios, which is now ranked second in the world ranking, according to environmentalists, grows two inches a year, and in a few years Hyperion may give it the title of the tallest tree in the world.

There are only 30 groves left in the world where sequoias grow. This is a rare species, and environmentalists are trying to support it - grow it specially in British Columbia (Canada) and carefully protect nature reserves with sequoias. We invite you to read about endangered species of animals - the populations of the rarest are up to several dozen individuals.
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