Largest living tree (volume)

The world’s largest living tree is a giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) named General Sherman, located in Sequoia National Park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, USA. The tree is 83.6 m (274 ft 3.3 in) tall and has a tape-wrap diameter of 825 cm (27 ft), although the functional diameter (converted from the actual cross-sectional area of the stem) is 764 cm (25 ft). As of 2013, total volume of wood and bark was 1,591 m3 (56,186 cu ft) – 1,389 m3 (49,052 cu ft) of which is in the main trunk. This tree is estimated to contain the equivalent of almost 675,000 board feet of timber, enough to make in excess of 5 billion matchsticks. The aboveground dry mass of the tree is an estimated 582 tonnes (642 US tons). The bark alone has a dry mass of 48 tonnes (53 US tons), and the tree supports 1.68 tonnes (1.85 US tons) dry mass of leaves. Based on research conducted in 2002, General Sherman is estimated to be 2,000 years old, although it's believed that there are reasonably older specimens out there, perhaps up to 4,000 years old, because size doesn't always correlate with age in this species.

Even larger conifers have been reported historically. The Lindsey Creek Tree, a coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) felled by a storm in 1905, had a reported trunk volume in the region of 2,550 m³ (90,000 cu ft) and height of 120 m (390 ft). Another superlative specimen was the Crannell Creek Giant, aka Maple Creek Tree, which was also a coast redwood. Logged in the 1920s, the volume is believed to have been conservatively 1,727 m³ (61,000 cu ft) - and perhaps even as much as 1,980 m³ (70,000 cu ft) - even though its height was only 93 m (308 ft).

Outside of its native range, the largest planted Sequoiadendron in the world is in Frankton, New Zealand. In 2011, the tree was 472 cm (15 ft 5.8 in) diameter and 43.5 m (142 ft 8.6 in) tall and had an estimated aboveground dry mass of 141 tonnes (155 US tons).

The tallest living tree overall also hails from California, USA. A specimen of coast redwood, named Hyperion, is located in Redwood National Park and stood 116.07 m (380 ft 9.7 in) tall when last measured in 2019.

When was General Sherman discovered?

It is not entirely certain who first uncovered this record-breaking redwood, but most widely cited is a cowboy named James Wolverton, who is said to have called it “General Sherman” on 7 August 1879, in honour of the Civil War general William T Sherman, who he served under. Of course, it’s likely that there was prior knowledge of its existence among local indigenous communities, such as the Potwisha Native Americans, long before this. In 1885, it was given a new name – the “Karl Marx Tree” – by socialist Charles F Keller, who set up a cooperative on the nearby Kaweah River, but this was to be short-lived. It reverted to “General Sherman” when Sequoia National Park was founded on 25 September 1890. The tree was officially confirmed as the largest by volume in the world in 1931, after a survey of the biggest-known redwoods was conducted by engineers, overseen by J W Jourdan.

What type of tree is General Sherman?

A member of the conifer family, giant sequoias are known for their massive ridged trunks, covered in spongey, red-brown bark, and drooping branches covered in evergreen needle-like leaves. It’s been estimated that General Sherman could have up to a staggering 2 billion leaves. As these giants age, they tend to drop their lower branches, leaving a denser crown and emphasizing the bulk of their tremendous trunks. They produce tough, egg-shaped cones that are about 5–8 cm (2–3 in) long, and start off upright but gradually turn as they mature.     

What role do giant sequoias play in the environment?

Not surprisingly given their sheer scale, giant sequoias like General Sherman have a major impact on their local ecosystem. As well as providing shelter in their branches to myriad birds and mammals, and a lofty lookout from the upper canopy for predators like raptors, many more creatures (particularly insects) dwell within the crevassed bark. The area around the base of their trunks is also a biodiversity hotspot, with the soil enriched by fallen needles, resulting in varied plant life which itself acts as a micro habitat. Giant sequoias also stand out among trees when it comes to sequestering carbon dioxide from the air – scientists have calculated that a single tree might absorb an average of 85 kg (187 lb) of carbon in a year.

What is the conservation status of giant sequoias?

Although giant sequoias are extremely resilient, famously even relying on wildfires for their seedlings to be able to establish themselves on the forest floor, they are now considered endangered in the wild, with fewer than 80,000 remaining in the species’ historical range. The threats they face are mounting, including extended periods of drought (causing a condition known as “acute foliage dieback”) and a proliferation of bark beetles whose tissue-eating larvae can be fatal. Although fire does play a much-needed role in giant sequoias’ life cycle, the frequency and intensity of forest fires in modern times has had devastating effects on entire swathes of redwood groves. On a more positive note, there are indications that giant sequoias are starting to thrive in areas outside of their native California where they have been introduced, such as the Pacific Northwest states of Oregon and Washington, across the border into British Columbia, Canada, and farther afield such as the UK and New Zealand.

5 MORE OF THE BIGGEST TREES IN THE WORLD

While General Sherman might take the crown when it comes to overall tree volume, several other monumental trees have also made their way into the record books based on other metrics…

1. Tallest living tree

The tallest tree alive is a specimen of coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), growing in California’s Redwood National Park. Known as “Hyperion”, it was first documented by Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor on 25 August 2006 and its precise location is kept a closely guarded secret to try and protect it. By climbing and with direct tape-drop, the 2006 height was 115.55 m (379 ft 1.2 in), which was the average between the low and high sides as it grows on a slope. By 2019, it had grown to 116.07 m (380 ft 9.7 in). Hyperion also boasts the deepest crown (from the top of the tree to where the foliage begins), at 90.9 m (298 ft 2.7 in).

2. Largest living hardwood tree by weight

Africa’s baobabs and Australia’s eucalypts are neck and neck when it comes to the most voluminous hardwood trees (i.e., non-conifers). But when it comes to mass, the latter is the outright winner, thanks to a much greater wood density. Currently the most massive eucalypt alive is a mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans) named “Still Sorrow”, with an estimated aboveground dry mass of 215 tonnes (237 US tons) and a wood/bark volume of 400 m³ (14,126 cu ft). It stands 84 m (275 ft 7 in) tall) in the Upper Derwent Valley of Tasmania.

3. Tallest living hardwood tree (and tallest tropical tree)

“Menara” (meaning “Tower”) – a specimen of yellow meranti (Shorea faguetiana) located in the Danum Valley Conservation Area in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo – was measured by direct tape-drop to be 98.53 m (323 ft 3.1 in) tall on 6 January 2019. This was the average of two measurements as is standard practice when a tree is growing on uneven ground.

4. Largest girth for a living tree

Currently the tree with the largest-known trunk girth is the “Arból del Tule”, a Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum) located near Oaxaca, Mexico, with a tape-measured circumference of 36.18 m (118 ft 8.4 in) in 2005. It is worth noting that the trunk’s shape is quite elliptical and it also has significant buttresses, so its diameter is not consistent.

5. Most massive plant

It’s worth noting that all of the trees previously discussed have been single entities, but there are examples of “clonal forests” – entire groves that share a single root system that would wipe the floor with the likes of General Sherman in terms of combined size. Such a network of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), dubbed “Pando” – covering 43 ha (106 acres) in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, USA – comprises around 47,000 individual stems and is thought to weigh around 6,000 tonnes (6,614 US tons) – more than 10 times the estimated aboveground mass of General Sherman!

Frequently Asked Questions

How old is the General Sherman tree?

Based on research conducted in 2002, General Sherman is estimated to be around 2,000 years old, although it's known this species can exceed 3,000 years of age.

How big is a 10-year-old sequoia tree?

Giant sequoias are fairly fast-growing trees, attaining a height of around 30 ft (9.1 m) after 10 years and above 100 ft (30 m) by the age of 50.

What is the longest living tree species?

While the oldest-known giant sequoia is assessed to have been an impressive 3,266 years old, the species comes in third place when it comes to overall superlative tree longevity. Above it are Chile’s alerce trees (Fitzroya cupressoides) – at least up to 3,639 years old – and the bristlecone pines (Pinus longaeva) of California’s White Mountains, which have been recorded in excess of 4,800 years old, perhaps even tipping over the 5,000-year mark. Discover more about how dendrochronologists age trees at GWR consultant Rocky Mountain Tree-Ring Research.

Was there a tree bigger than General Sherman?

The world's largest tree ever was the “Lindsay Creek Tree”, a coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) in Fieldbrook, California, USA, which had a total mass of 2,721.5 tonnes (3,000 US tons). The tree was toppled by a storm in 1905 having never been accurately measured, although estimates suggest a diameter of 5.8 m (19 ft) at a height of 40 m (130 ft), a full height of 91–97 m (300–320 ft) and a trunk volume of c. 2,550 m³ (90,000 cu ft). Find out about the top 30 largest wild sequoias, as documented by the USA’s National Park Service.

What is the biggest tree ever cut down?

The largest tree ever cut by humans was the “General Noble Tree”, a giant sequoia from the Converse Basin Grove in the Sierra Mountains of California. Contemporary reports suggest it stood 285 ft (86.9 m) tall and had a diameter of 19 ft 6 in (5.3 m) at a height of 52 ft (15.8 m) off the ground at which the cut was made (with the aid of specially built scaffolding tower), though at the base this increased to a diameter of 26 ft (7.9 m) and a circumference of 81.5 ft (24.8 m). General Noble's total volume is estimated to have been around 1,250 m3 (44,140 cu ft) according to big tree hunter Wendell Flint. It was felled in August 1892 for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition held in Chicago, Illinois.