What is there to know about trees?
Often the question is asked of us “What is there to know about trees?” That’s a difficult question to answer not because there isn’t much to say but because there is so much to know!
The largest living organism by volume on the planet is a tree – it is called the General Sherman, it is a Giant Sequoia sometimes called a Wellingtonia (named after the Duke of Wellington apparently) or scientifically called a Sequioadendron giganteum and lives in California. One of us has been lucky enough to visit the tree in person and admire its stature – it isn’t the tallest in the world; that record belongs to another Giant Redwood Coastal living in the Redwood National Park. The Redwood found deep in a remote northern Californian forest has been declared the tallest tree in the world.
Confirmation of the new record-breaker came only after a tree-climbing scientist reached its top to confirm a height of nearly 380ft (114m) — a foot taller than previously thought. Hyperion, which stands 379.1ft tall, is nearly nine feet taller than the previous record holder, Stratosphere Giant.
The Dowson family with the General Sherman – a few years ago - Just admire the tree!
The tallest tree ever reliably recorded was a Douglas fir in Lynn Valley, British Columbia, Canada, which was measured in the late 19th century at 414ft. It is no longer standing.
Scientists have yet to come up with an absolute limit on how high a tree may be able to grow but believe the Lynn Valley fir must be close. They also doubt whether any tree taller than Hyperion will be found — even though it is 25ft shorter than the fir in Canada.
Four decades ago there were thousands of trees comparable in size to Hyperion, but they were logged, along with 90 per cent of the ancient redwood forests in California. Hyperion was saved by the expansion of Redwood National Park in 1978.
World's 2nd tallest specie of tree discovered in Tasmania in October 2008
A 400 year-old eucalyptus tree has been discovered in Tasmania, measuring 101 metres tall.
The earliest planting in the UK of a Giant Sequioa in 1852 can be visited at Killerton gardens in Devon now a National Trust property.
Did you know that in June 2005 Wales claimed the right to the home of the tallest tree in Great Britain
The Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga mezieisii) in the Powys nature reserve which towers over Lake Vyrnwy was measured at 62.5m (205ft) - taller than a 20-storey building.
The champion Welsh tree is believed to be between 105 and 115 years old.
The Lake Vyrnwy tree was measured by tree surgeon Simon Cope, who stretched a length of rope up to the top as he climbed its branches. The height was then calculated back on the ground and confirmed by the Tree Register of the British Isles.
Tree surgeon Simon Cope climbed all 62.5m to measure it
SCOTLAND REMAINS HOME TO BRITAIN'S TALLEST TREE AS DUGHALL MOR REACHES NEW HEIGHTS
In December 2005 BBC researchers found that Scotland remains the home of the tallest tree in Britain - Dughall Mor, a Douglas Fir in Reelig Glen near Inverness. Confirmation of this came after an investigation was made following a claim that a tree in Wales had grown beyond the height of the Scottish giant.
The BBC crew, working with staff from Kew Gardens, travelled north of the border to check the Welsh claim. The crew, together with Jim Patterson of the Tree Register of the British Isles and Forestry Commission Scotland staff, remeasured Scotland's tallest tree using the latest laser technology. Readings were taken from three locations and gave an average of a few centimetres over 64 metres, reconfirming the tall giant's status as Scotland's, and indeed Britain's, tallest tree.
The Douglas Fir is only one of over 200 plant species introduced to Britain by the famous plant hunter David Douglas (1799 – 1834), who was born in Perthshire. The Douglas Fir was introduced here in 1827 following Douglas’ intrepid exploration of America’s Pacific Northwest three years earlier.
Pseudotsuga menziesii is named after Archibald Menzies (1754 – 1842), a contemporary of Douglas.
David Douglas