The world is blessed with some very enormous, ancient trees.
Humans may have a lot of cool tricks, but we’ll never get to grow up to be 35 stories tall.
In this regard, trees get to inhabit the best of all worlds, heaven and earth. With roots planted in the ground they get a taste of soil, while their upper reaches soak up the sun and touch the sky. 122 and 130 meters—and while trees of the past may have attained such majestic heights, some of the world’s tallest trees were sadly felled for lumber. The towering trees that remain, however, are still staggeringly lofty.
Let me tell you about a few giants! King Stringy is 86 meters high and is a Stringbark or Tasmanaian oak (although it is a eucalyptus! Forestry Tasmania follows the rule that trees above 85 m height are spared from cutting…”
Another giant is known as the ‘White knight’ (92 meters high) that is like a 30 floors high!! There is actually a posse of white knights, a group of super-tall manna gums (Eucalyptus viminalis) that have called the Evercreech Forest Reserve in Tasmania, Australia, their home for some 300 years. Tasmania appears to be a haven for super tall eucalyptus trees.
Then there is the “Raven’s tower” (97 meters ). Located somewhere in California’s Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park , the exact location of this stately sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) remains a secret, a courtesy afforded by foresters to a number of superlative trees. Other notable trees in this forest of giants include Big Tree, Corkscrew Redwood, and the Cathedral Trees.
The grandfather of them all is called “Hyperion” (116 meters tall) – reportedly the tallest tree in the world! This remarkable coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) was discovered in 2006 and is so tall that its top cannot be seen. Living in a secret location in Redwood National Park, California,Hyperion is estimated to be between 700 and 800 years old. And if not for woodpecker damage at the top, it is believed it would have grown even taller.
The challenge today is to find some pictures of the world’s tallest or widest trees and post them on social media.