Looking at the environment that surrounds us, at the beauties that nature gives us, at trees that seem huge to us, we involuntarily ask ourselves: how old are the trees that we meet daily on the way to work? But the tree that seems to be the largest among all is just a small bush compared to the largest tree in the world. Not everyone has seen and knows the very only tree that has incredible sizes. So what is the largest tree in the world?
Some historical facts
The name of the giant and only living creature of this size is sequoiadendron. Sequoia is also called a mammoth tree, and for good reason. In appearance, this tree resembles a mammoth in its enormous size, and the hanging branches are similar to its tusks. For the first time in history, the mention of sequoia appeared in 1853. Most often, these trees were found in western California, on the slope of the Sierra Nevada. The giant sequoiadendron struck the people of the Old World, and the representatives of this plant were given the names of great people. Ljon Lindley, the first known botanist, first described the sequoia and named it after the English Duke of Wellington, who became a hero at the Battle of Waterloo. The Americans, finding another representative of the sequoia family, gave him the name George Washington in honor of the first president of the United States of America. Then, in 1939, the genus of giant trees got its name - sequoiadendron, which is still used today.
The giant of our time
The largest tree in the world - sequoiadendron today is located in the place where it was first discovered: in California. Now there is created a national park with the same name "Sequoia" on the mountain peaks of the Sierra Nevada. The largest tree in the world, whose name is General Sherman, is named after the commander and politician William Tekums Sherman. He gained his fame in the Civil War of 1861-1865. He was called a talented general, since he possessed a tactic of attacking the enemy, which was not subject to anyone. The general is also notorious for tactics called "scorched earth."
Tree sizes
The height of the largest tree in the world is more than eighty-three meters. The circumference of the trunk is twenty-four meters, and the crown is more than thirty-three.
The forest in which this giant grows is called the Giant Forest. In addition to General Sherman, other sequoias grow there, but much smaller in size. This forest was first discovered by explorer John Muir in the nineteenth century. It was he who gave him this name. The part of the national park in which huge trees grow is called the Giant Forest to this day.
Tourists who come to California to specifically look at the largest tree in the world describe its bark as a red-orange stone, the top of which is impossible to see. Taking pictures next to the General Sherman tree, people look like tiny ants.
Age of General Sherman
The question regarding the age of the legendary plant was controversial until recently. For a long time, it was believed that the largest tree in the world is more than three thousand years old. But recently, experts, having conducted a number of studies, officially announced that the age of the legendary sequoiadendron is two and a half thousand years. It’s scary to imagine that this powerful tree could survive in order to grow to such a staggering size. A tree with such dimensions is very difficult to grow, and such giants die mainly not from old age, but because of the size of the branches that are difficult for them to hold. The General Sherman tree also suffered losses in 2006. He lost the largest and heaviest branch, the diameter of which was two meters and a length of over thirty meters. When the branch fell, the fence-fence and the road leading to lively sights remained destroyed. But even after such a loss, General Sherman’s tree did not cease to be considered the largest tree in the world.
In size, General Sherman is the largest plant, but surprisingly not the oldest. The oldest tree is a California pine, which was four and a half thousand years old. But unfortunately, it has not survived to the present day, since in 1965 it was cut down by unknown people. In the same year, giant sequoias were cut down, whose age reached three thousand years. There is an opinion that there are still long-livers on Earth, whose age is about five thousand years.
Tree growth
Despite the fact that the giant sequoiadendron is already huge, it continues to grow. Once a year, specialists take measurements, and we can note the fact that the tree grows one and a half centimeters every year.
In general, adult trees of the species sequoiadendron reach a height of one hundred meters, and the trunk diameter is up to twelve meters.
