Remarkable Big Trees

"Nor had those antagonistic forces been dormant, which are always at work wearing down the surface of the land: the great piles of strata had been intersected by many wide valleys and the trees, now changed into silex, were exposed projecting from the volcanic soil, now changed into rock, whence formerly, in a green and budding state, they had raised their lofty heads." - Charles Darwin, after viewing a formation containing petrified wood in Argentina in 1835 (Daniels 1998).

"Petrified birds a sittin' on peetrified trees a singin' peetrified songs in the peetrified air. The flowers and leaves and grass was peetrified, and they shone in a peculiar moonlight that was peetrified too." - Attributed to mountain man Jim Bridger's discovery of the Yellowstone petrified trees in the 1830s (Folklore) (Chapman and Chapman 1935).

This is a short review of interesting facts about some of the world's best know and biggest trees, especially fossilised trees. What are the largest living and fossil trees known?

There are various claims for where the world's largest petrified tree is, possibly in California, Nevada, Greece or Argentina. Probably the best known is a specimen named the "Monarch" tree. This is a coastal redwood at the Calistoga Petrified Forest in California. It is 6 ft (1.8 m) in diameter and 105 feet (32 m) long, and is believed by the park owner to be the largest intact petrified tree in the world. A much bigger tree would have been represented by the 8.58m diameter trunk in the Lesvos petrified forest but only the base of that is preserved.

These facts were sought out of interest to compare other large fossil to the one below from the Sydney Basin.

This silicified tree, housed at the Newcastle Museum, is an Araucarioxylon from the Permian coal measures at Blackwater in Queensland. The living tree may have been close to 40 metres (135 feet) tall. Thirty metres (100 feet) of this trunk was recovered. Only a section of the trunk is on display and the full extent of the tree is much greater. Thus this tree is smaller than the record-setting Californian tree. It is slightly smaller in preserved length but in life might have been taller. It is appreciably smaller in diameter, and the Permian trees are no match for Californian redwoods in that respect. What is known on the history of this tree is being collected.

These segments of a Permian silicified tree lie outside the Town Hall in in Egerton Street, Emerald, Queensland.

The tree was unearthed in 1979 when a new railway bridge was being built across the Mackenzie River for

the Gregory Mine. It was presented to the town in its centenary year by the mining company.

If you know anything further related to the history of these remarkable tree, the compiler of this page would much appreciate learning of it. Please contact:

All the images (with minimised text) may be viewed as ONE BIG FILE - However, this may be slow to load in the browser on some computers on account of the size (ca. 5Mb) with a number of images.

The above maxium size figures are as extracted from literature cited. The 30 m long silicified tree trunk recovered from Blackwater in the Sydney is likely the longest tree yet observed from the Permian of Australia. However, 30m long trees might elsewhere be surpassed in size in various places and certainly in Argentina and California.

For the living big trees of Californina, the giant Giant Sequoia or Sierra Redwood (Sequoiadrendron giganteum) the trunk base diameter may be almost double the length of a car; some have had drive-through tunnels cut through them as tourist attractions, and some hollow ones have had houses constructed in them.

Average growth of giant sequoia trees is to height of 50-85 m and diameter of 5-7 m.

[ The Australian giant karri trees grow into that 'average' range of giant sequoia dimensions. The "Gloucester Tree" is a famous giant karri in Gloucester National Park, Western Australia. At 61 m (201 ft) in height, it is the world's tallest fire-lookout tree, and visitors can climb up to a platform in its upper branches for a spectacular view. ]

The record dimensions for giant sequoia are 93.6 m height and 8.85 m diameter (although one tree at the Calaveras groove, called the 'Empire State', is stated to be 9.1m diameter at base).

The Coastal Redwood of California (Sequoia sempervirens) is the world's tallest tree species and the tallest recorded individual is 368 ft (112 m).

The petrified trees of the Yellowstone petrified forests are remarkable for both their number and for their occurrence in superimposed layers of upright trees. They are not record-breaking in size, however the area has exposed upright trees extending for up to 6m above ground level which is outstanding. And in one case a stranding vertical petrified tree is almost 15m long, and that may be a record as the tallest standing petrified tree in the world.

Some dimensions encountered during this survey have not been put in the above list because they are unconfirmed or appear dubious. This applies to figures in tourist literature about the size of the Argentinian fossil trees, claiming them to be the largest petrified trees on the planet ('huge petrified trees of Araucaria mirabilis more than 100 m and 3.5 m in diameter', viz. Menéndez 1972). Also curious, and in need of confirmation or follow up is this mention in the December 2005 newsletter of the Rochester Lapidary Society, NY, of the largest tree yet discovered:

"A short drive from Florissant, Colorado, is the Pike (also called the Colorado) Petrified Forest. It is small, but the sequoias that once grew here were towers. One of the stumps has a base diameter of 27 feet. The height of the live tree can only be conjectured. The largest tree yet discovered is also a sequoia - 14 feet, not the greatest diameter, but the trunk can be traced to 295 feet. Weight may be 500 tons. It rests prone, partly covered by desert sand in the Emerald Formation of Southwest Nevada near Coaldale."

UPDATE - 2006

The following update on world's biggest trees appeared in September 2006:

Eureka! New tallest living thing discovered / THE CHAMPION: At 378.1 feet, Hyperion in Redwood National Park on North Coast towers 8 feet above Stratosphere Giant

The Stratosphere Giant, at 370 feet, was thought to be the tallest living thing. Photo by Thomas B. Dunklin.

Like the 370-foot Giant, the three trees are coast redwoods. They were discovered this summer in Redwood National Park near Eureka by a team of California researchers who spend most of their free time bushwhacking through North Coast forests in search of taller and taller trees.

So far, the group has found about 135 redwoods that reach higher than 350 feet, said team member Chris Atkins, the man credited with finding the Stratosphere Giant in August 2000 in nearby Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

The tallest of the three new finds, a redwood named Hyperion, measures 378.1 feet. Next in line, Helios, stands at 376.3 feet; Icarus, the third, reaches 371.2 feet.

Redwood experts say the discovery is a bit surprising considering that so much of the state's redwood forests have been logged. Although officials decline to pinpoint the exact locations of the tall trees, the stand found by Atkins and fellow amateur naturalist Michael Taylor were protected less than 30 years ago by an expansion of the national park's boundary.

Atkins and Taylor discovered Helios and Icarus on July 1 and Hyperion on Aug. 25. They took initial measurements with hand-held lasers before returning with Steve Sillet, a Humboldt State University biologist known for his work on the ecosystems of ancient forest canopies, and Robert Van Pelt, a forest ecologist at the University of Washington. The foursome shot more measurements using a tripod-mounted laser fitted with a remote trigger designed to eliminate human-induced wobbles.

Atkins said Hyperion soon will be measured again with a tripod laser or with a "tape drop" -- in which someone climbs the tree and drops a measuring tape to the ground -- before its record-breaking status is confirmed. Tape drops can't be conducted for at least two weeks because of National Park Service restrictions to protect the marbled murrelet, a small seabird that nests in old-growth redwoods.

If and when the measurement on Hyperion is confirmed, it is likely to supplant the Stratosphere Giant in the Guinness Book of World Records.

To change the record, the tree's dimensions must be sent to Guinness, which will forward the information to its record verification department in the United Kingdom. It could take several weeks to confirm the new record, Guinness spokeswoman Kristen Opalach said.

George Koch, a biology professor at Northern Arizona University who specializes in plant ecophysiology, called the find incredibly exciting.

"With so much of the old-growth redwoods gone -- more than 90 percent -- you wouldn't necessarily expect a discovery like this," he said.

The find is all the more remarkable, Koch said, because the trees are in a tract added to the park belatedly, during President Jimmy Carter's administration.

"They aren't all that far from an old clear-cut," he said. "Basically, they were almost nuked. The fact that they weren't is amazing."

Koch said the trees are also noteworthy for their location. It had long been assumed, he said, that very tall redwoods favor creek bottoms where rich, alluvial soils and abundant water allow for extravagant growth. The newly discovered trees live on slopes.

"It seems that they were close to tributary stream courses, however, so they probably were able to keep their feet wet," he said.

Atkins confirmed that all three of the trees were adjacent to creeks or springs.

"Even though they're on steep slopes, they're growing in the finest redwood habitat on the planet," Atkins said. "They're right below a ridge, so they're protected from the wind. They're near abundant water, and they have plenty of fog, which keeps the local microclimate mild and moist. And they have great sun exposure."

The tree's precise location has not been revealed and probably won't be. The Stratosphere Giant's location is generally referred to as the Rockefeller Forest.

Rick Nolan, the acting superintendent of Redwood National Park, said it would be nearly impossible for visitors to find the trees. Unlike isolated giant sequoias, including one in Sequoia National Park that holds the record as the world's most massive tree, coast redwoods grow together.

"From the visitors' perspective, it's important to understand that if they come looking for the biggest tree, they're not going to find it," Nolan said. "They're consumed by the rest of the forest."

Reaching the backcountry is difficult. Atkins said he takes heavy gear, including the laser tripod, over steep slopes, over downed trees and through thick vegetation.

"Bushwhacking in that kind of country is kind of like climbing Everest at 28,000 feet," he said. Reaching the record-breaking trees "isn't a pleasure hike."

The difficult terrain isn't the only reason to keep the location a secret. Ruskin Hartley is the conservation director for the Save the Redwoods League, the country's oldest conservation group devoted to redwood ecosystem preservation. She said problems sometimes occur when superlatives are appended to specific trees.

One such case, he said, involved the Mendocino Tree, a redwood near Ukiah that at one time was considered the world's tallest tree. The rush of visitors created management problems. Similar problems, including root damage, have injured other giant trees.

"We need to remember that while redwoods are large robust trees, they are also delicate in some ways. They have very shallow root systems, and the landscapes they comprise are vulnerable to disturbance," Hartley said. "We need to draw attention to the forest as a whole, to the entire system, not the individual trees."

Record trees

Tallest living tree: Hyperion (coast redwood), 378.1 feet, Redwood National Park

Tallest recorded tree: Unnamed eucalyptus, 500-plus feet, recorded in 1872 in Australia

Most massive living tree: General Sherman (giant sequoia), estimated weight 4 million pounds, Sequoia National Park

Largest tree canopy: A great banyan in Calcutta's Indian Botanical Garden covers three acres.

Oldest living tree: Methuselah (Bristlecone pine), estimated 4,650 years old, California's White Mountains

Source: Guinness Book of World Records (E-mail Glen Martin at glenmartin@sfchronicle.com )

Links: Websites, showing Plant Fossils

Remarkable Big Trees

(A survey of famous tree localities)