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Yithian

Parish Watch
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Study limits maximum tree height

By Jonathan Amos
BBC News Online science staff

The tallest any tree could grow would be about 130m (426ft), say US scientists.

George Koch and colleagues climbed five of the eight tallest trees in the world - including the biggest at 112.7m - and examined their physiology in detail.

The researchers found these massive Californian redwoods pushed the limits to which water could be raised from the ground to support further growth.

The team tells the journal Nature that under present conditions, the trees are unlikely to gain more than a further 5-15m in height.

"It's quite an amazing thing to climb these awesome trees and do something that's useful scientifically," Professor Koch, from Northern Arizona University, at Flagstaff, told BBC News Online.

Bows and arrows

No living thing on Earth currently grows taller than the coastal redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) in the US northwest.

The trees, which can live for more than 2,000 years, have a voracious appetite for water.


In any day, they probably consume many thousands of litres, most of which comes from their rainy environment - but some of which they take out of the fog that frequently blankets the trees' range in California and Oregon.

Professor Koch and his team fired arrows trailing wires over five giants in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. They then hauled ropes through the upper branches and climbed into the treetops using mechanical ascenders and harnesses.

The scientists examined the specimens' water flow, leaf structure and density, photosynthesis capability and carbon dioxide concentration. All appear to converge at their minimum levels of efficiency at the heights reached by the Humboldt redwoods.

Changing conditions

"The leaves at the top, because they are water-stressed, are not doing as much photosynthesis per unit mass," said Professor Koch, who is a physiological ecologist.

"In essence, the plant is investing a certain amount into those tissues but they're not providing as much return on that investment because of the water stress."

Conditions at the redwoods' tops are similar to those of a desert, the researchers found. Although the trees are still growing at about 0.25m a year, the team predicts they will not exceed 122-130m.

These heights are comparable with historical records of past record-breakers of Douglas fir trees in British Columbia (125m) and mountain ash trees in Australia.

"We are now monitoring the redwoods on a regular basis," Professor Koch said.

"We will be able to see if, as they keep growing, their growth slows as they approach our predicted maximum height. We will also be able to relate the growth they do each year to variation in climate.

"Some years are wetter than others, and another prediction would be that if the climate becomes drier, their growth slows and the maximum height would be lower."

Big and small

Professor Ian Woodward, a plant scientist at Sheffield University, UK, said the work was a fascinating insight into the extreme capabilities of the redwoods.

"When a tree pulls water up through its roots and through its water vessels, the xylem, it has to overcome gravity and friction in the system," he told BBC News Online.

"Eventually, like all continuous tubes of water, when you pull on them hard enough and far enough, they break. Suddenly bubbles of air develop and the whole thing stops.

"Plants have become adept at having very fine xylem that don't break easily and the redwoods have done a great job at this - but they reach their limit at about 120-130m."

He continued: "George Koch used to work on radishes and the knowledge that the physiology that applies to tiny plants also applies to the tallest trees is kind of comforting."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3643899.stm
 
They make such wonderful decking & patio furniture! It's a shame to keep them around just for study.Just joking.
 
I once drove from LA all the way up the west coast to Seaside Oregon, took 3 days and nights.

We drove through the Avenue of the Giants. A truly spectacular place to visit. The trees are amazing, huge, its hard to explain just how big without you actually going to see them.

If you get the chance then make sure you see them.

I was walking around and it seemed prehistoric, half expected to see a T REX or something.
 
Riddle of the fallen giant seqouias [sic] as two 245ft giants come crashing down in national forest
Last updated at 4:49 PM on 4th October 2011

Standing up to 245 feet tall and with diameters of 18 feet, the sequoia is one of the hugest trees on the planet.
And when they come down, it's best that nothing gets in their way.
Happily, no visitors were in the Trail Of 100 Giants in Sequoia National Forest, in California, when two of the towering trees fell side by side.

The Forest Service has been forced to close the trail after the downed monsters were spotted for the first time.
Officials are still working to determine the ages of the trees and why they fell.
Clearly there is no way the tourist spot can be reopened with even the remote possibility that another of the trees will come down.

A firefighter is dwarfed in pictures taken of the crash scene which show mighty root wads that are three times the size of him.
Forest Service officials said tourists can still see giant Sequoias at Freeman Creek Grove along Lloyd Meadow Road and other areas of the park.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1ZuLrIuvb
 
That was weird - so is this!

Star Wars fanatic Photoshopped Ewoks into family photos to convince his five-year-old daughter they were real
By Jessica Satherley
Last updated at 8:12 PM on 4th October 2011

These might look like typical family holiday snaps, but a closer look reveals the lengths one committed father went to in order to bring his young daughter's imagination to life.
Anthony Herrera, 30, added Ewoks into the background of his photos after telling his daughter that they were real.

The self-confessed Star Wars fanatic took his five-year-old daughter, Natalie, to Sequoia National Park in California, shortly after the family watched 'Return of the Jedi' together.
Anthony told his daughter that the bear-like creatures lived in the forest, which resembles their home planet of Endor.

It sent her imagination running wild, and she scoured every inch of the vast woodland for the elusive fictional characters.
The father, who also has a two-year-old son Tristan, said: "The rest of the trip, my daughter was set on finding an Ewok. We spent two days hiking through the park.
"Every shrub and bush that rustled convinced her that an Ewok must be near.
"I assured her that the Ewoks were very shy creatures and normally do not let anyone see them."

At the end of the family's trip, the disappointed youngster was upset when the popular characters failed to materialise.
But determined graphic designer Anthony, from Atascadero, California, had the clever idea of inserting the Ewoks into some of the family's holiday photographs.
He subtly altered the images to show the Ewoks peering out from behind trees and bushes in the background of the pictures.

And his daughter was absolutely thrilled when she saw that the Ewoks had been 'lurking' in the woods all along.
Describing his daughter's reaction, Anthony said: "I told my daughter that the Ewoks were nearby, we just couldn't see them.
"After we returned home, I selected a few images we took and inserted various Ewoks into the background.
"This way I could show my daughter that the Ewoks were watching us the whole time.

"We reviewed a few curious photos and she discovered the Ewoks hiding in the background.
"Needless to say she was very excited." Anthony said that his wife, Kelli, thought that doctoring the pictures was a great idea.
"My wife and I believe that it is very important to foster creativity and imagination. Making our children's lives more magical is something we strive for.
"The excitement and the look on my daughter's face when she saw the Ewoks in our pictures is something I'll never forget. "She still talks about them a year later. That is the type of memory as a parent that I want to have and share."

Since the photos came to light, Anthony said that friends have suggested that he add other Star Wars creatures to photos.
He said: "I don't want to take it too far though. She's a smart little girl and will probably catch on.
"She did mention that if we were to go back to Sequoia National Park that she'd bring a treat to coax the Ewoks out."

Anthony hopes that the pictures will act as an inspiration to other parents who want to bring their children's fantasies to life.
He said: "A lot of people have said some very nice things about what I've done, and it is a good feeling to share something special with other parents.
"I guess my biggest hope is that George Lucas was able to see them and hopefully smiled."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -real.html
 
Interesting subject (especially regarding the utmost limits of potential tree height) I have read that the giant eucalyptus in Australia and Tasmania was, at least in the fairly recent past, probably the tallest tree on earth. There are old records claiming heights of up to 500 feet although i'd go with the limit probably being around 400 feet as previously mentioned. There are some interesting pictures etc here : http://members.optusnet.com.au/mruhsam/
The sad reality is that it's unlikely any large eucalyptus now will again reach
such heights since i have heard that since the ancient groves have been lost along with the seeds the genetics for such sizes are simply not there any longer.
 
Interesting subject (especially regarding the utmost limits of potential tree height) I have read that the giant eucalyptus in Australia and Tasmania was, at least in the fairly recent past, probably the tallest tree on earth.

Yep, I ws about to post about the eucalypts. There are some truly amazing specimens in Tasmania, and they are relatively fast-growing trees. The difficulty as I understand it is that the frequency of bushfires makes it unlikely that any one tree could live long enough to challenge the sequoia for tallest tree.
 
Four of Britain's tallest trees in glen near Inverness

Conifers growing in the same Highland glen have been identified as being four of the tallest trees in Britain.
Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) said a Douglas fir in Reelig Glen, near Inverness, was now Britain's tallest tree at 217.10ft (66.4m).
The fir is taller than Dughall Mor, a Douglas fir in the glen that had held the record as Britain's tallest. It is also the tallest conifer in Europe.

The other three Reelig trees all measure higher than 147.7ft (45m).
They are the tallest larch in Britain at 157,5ft (48m), a 154.2ft-high (47m) Norway spruce and Britain's tallest lime tree which stands at 150.11ft (46m).
Many of the glen's trees were planted in the 1880s.

FCS said the trees formed a grove of the largest concentration of trees exceeding 180ft (55m) anywhere in the British Isles.
Giles Brockman, environment manager for the commission's team in Inverness, Ross and Skye, said staff were beginning to wonder if the quality of the local water was a factor in the trees' growth.

He said: "We've always known that we have some of the finest air and richest soil up here, but we're beginning to think there might be something special about the waters in the Moniack Burn too."

Mr Brockman added: "It's quite something to have four of the tallest trees in Britain and to have one of those also hold the European title is pretty amazing.
"The glen has obviously provided some protection from the harshest of the elements to give all of these trees a good solid start in life, which has let them come on in leaps and bounds."

The tallest conifer was recorded in Reelig Glen last year during a survey and has been published in The Tree Register, a charity that collates and updates a database of notable trees throughout Britain and Ireland.

The world's tallest tree is a giant sequoia in the US called Hyperion. The redwood stretches to 379.1ft (115.5m) tall.
Giant sequoias grow along North America's Pacific Ocean coast.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-h ... s-26729935
 
Been twice to the Redwoods in California - Big Basin and Muir Woods. Absolutely amazing experience both times.

Still want to find one of the car tunnels through a tree though. The one I recall from a postcard my mum had when I was a kid has fallen down I think :(
 
McAvennie_ said:
Still want to find one of the car tunnels through a tree though. The one I recall from a postcard my mum had when I was a kid has fallen down I think :(
We'll just have to carve out a new one for you.
 
Please do.

And if anyone on here is based around the NE or North Yorkshire, they may be mistaken by this thread title into thinking that Yarm had opened an even bigger superclub! :lol:
 
The Icod tree of Tunisia .. I visited this tree in the mid 80's with my family and brought some seeds back for my Grandma to plant ..

tenerife.es/wps/portal/!ut/p/c0/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3hDPwvPUG93QwN3s2AnA0_3IN8QfxMXAwNzQ_3g1Dz9gmxHRQAFUjkB/
Link is dead. No archived version found. Here's the Wikipedia article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Drago_Milenario


l Drago, also known as Drago Milenario and Drago de Icod de los Vinos, is the oldest and largest living specimen of Dracaena draco, or dragon tree, in Parque del Drago, Icod de los Vinos, Tenerife, Spain. It is said to be a thousand years old, although the age is disputed. It is one of the symbols of Tenerife, and was declared a national monument in 1917.
 
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I was there last month! The Dragon Tree still stands.

It's Tenerife though, not Tunisia..... ☺
 
You're quite right and glad to know the old lady is still standing ... sorry, my visit was a long time ago!
 
I first visited in 1989 when I was 12, it hasn't changed much in 25 years....

I had to go into the church next to the Tree, as the first time we visited both myself and my Dad saw the same statute of Christ move at the same time!

Sadly it stayed stock still this time. Probably recognised me.....
 
I was led to believe, by a plaque in Meanwood Park*, Leeds, that the tallest specimen of a particular tree variety is known as the "Champion Tree", which I think is a delightful phrase. But given its absence in this thread up to now, perhaps it's just a Yorkshire thing.

*You may not be entirely surprised to learn that there is indeed a champion tree in Meanwood park, although it's no good asking me what sort.
 
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The Eden Project set to grow grove of cloned giant redwood trees
By WBGinette | Posted: March 22, 2015
9707127-large.jpg

The Eden Project set to grow grove of cloned giant redwood trees

The Eden Project in St Austell is part of a project to grow clones of the worlds oldest and biggest trees.
It is part of a vision to re-forest the globe with coast redwoods.
Eden has taken delivery of 100 specimens created from trees up to 4,000 years old, which will be reared for planting above the Rainforest and Mediterranean biomes.
Coast redwoods are the tallest living things and can grow to nearly 400ft high.
Eden's gardeners hope that, like their forebears, the young redwoods will grow to great heights and prosper for thousands of years.

The project is being championed by Sir Tim Smit, executive vice chairman of the Eden Project, and David Milarch, co-founder of the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive (AATA), based in northern Michigan in the United States.
Sir Tim, who led the restoration of the Lost Gardens of Heligan before co-founding Eden, said: "Planting saplings which could exceed the height of a 30-storey building and live for 4,000 years requires a different kind of planning .
"The redwoods will be a lasting enhancement to our global garden and a totem of hope for generations to come." :cool:

David Milarch, a world-renowned ancient tree champion, said the arrival of the trees in Europe and at Eden was an historic moment.
He said: "The climate in Cornwall is perfect for redwoods, which help fight climate change by storing vast amounts of carbon.
"This will be a library of the tallest, oldest living things on Earth."

The redwoods delivered to Eden include 10 specimens each of 10 trees, including the Fieldbrook stump, the remains of a famous northern Californian redwood which was felled in 1890.
At that time it was around 3,500 years old and if it had not been cut down it would likely be the world's largest tree.
It left a stump 35 feet in diameter and material was taken from shoots which grew from the stump to clone the new saplings. :)


Read more: http://www.cornishman.co.uk/Eden-Project-set-grow-grove-cloned-giant-redwood/story-26212867-detail/story.html#ixzz3V8J5kAof
 
Another article about the Eden Redwoods:

...

David Milarch, a former biker-gang member and co-founder of the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive (AATA), based in northern Michigan, USA, said: “This is the culmination of hopes, dreams, aspirations and a lot of hard work. These trees are a great green hope for the future.

“Near the end of their lives, coast redwoods put out basal sprouts in a circle around their trunk. This 'fairy ring’ of clones ensures that even when the parent tree dies it’ll live on in a dozen or so sprouts. It will do that indefinitely so these trees will essentially live forever.
“What Tim and Eden are doing here is planting an eternal forest. This is an archive, a living library of genetics that can be utilised not just for our generation, but for hundreds of generations into the future to rebuild and replace what we’ve damaged.”

etc...

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/new...d_s_biggest_trees_is_planted_at_Eden_Project/
 
Redwoods at Eden (see previous page for articles from last year).
Europe's first redwood forest planted at Eden Project
Though there is 5,000 miles between California and Cornwall, south-west England’s warm, damp climate is expected to suit the redwoods perfectly
Steven Morris
Monday 14 March 2016 13.27 GMT

Forty coast redwood trees were planted on Monday at the Eden Project in the south-west of England, the first time a “forest” of these big friendly giants from north America has been introduced to Europe.
By the year 2050 they will soar 25m into the Cornish sky. If all goes to plan they will become a new landmark, thrilling and amazing people for many centuries to come.

Coast redwoods are the tallest living things on Earth, growing to 115 metres in height. But almost all have been cut down over the past 150 years and many of the remaining specimens in California and Oregon are under threat in their west coast home because of drought, forest fire and the decline of the foggy, sometimes chilly, conditions they thrive in.

The project, a collaboration between Eden and the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, based in Michigan, is designed to preserve the trees for future generations. Though 5,000 miles separates the two regions, Cornwall’s warm, damp climate is expected to suit the redwoods perfectly.
Eden co-founder Sir Tim Smit said: “This will become a unique collection of the tallest living things on Earth. The redwoods will stand at Eden for, we hope, thousands of years to come.”

Schoolchildren, Eden apprentices and Smit planted the trees. AATA co-founder David Milarch said: “Tim, the schoolchildren and the Eden apprentices are planting an eternal forest – a first not just for the UK but for Europe.
“This is an unique archive, a living library of genetics that can be utilised for our generation and for hundreds of generations into the future to rebuild and replace what we’ve damaged.”

The 40 trees were among 100 saplings nurtured by AATA’s experts. They took cuttings from living redwoods and from stumps of great felled trees. New saplings were cloned from these and sent to Cornwall.
Among the specimens cloned were 10 from the Fieldbrook stump, the remains of a famous northern Californian redwood felled in 1890 when it was around 3,500 years old.
If it had not been cut down it would probably be the world’s largest tree by now. It left a stump more than 10 metres in diameter, wider than any other known single trunk. Material was taken from shoots that grew from the stump, to clone the new saplings.

The saplings arrived in Cornwall a year ago and have been grown on since then until they were strong enough to be planted out.
The AATA’s mission is to propagate the world’s most important old growth trees before they are gone, archive the genetics of ancient trees around the world and reforest the Earth with the offspring of these trees.
Inspired by the success of AATA in propagating ancient trees, Eden – celebrating its 15th birthday this week – is planning a UK-wide ancient tree cloning project.

Smit has pointed out that the Eden project will not – in all probability – exist by the time the redwoods have reached full maturity. If its conservation goals are met, the place will be redundant; if they have failed then there may not be much left of the world as we know it.

http://www.theguardian.com/environm...-first-redwood-forest-planted-at-eden-project
 
This newly-revealed tree is not only the world's tallest known tropical tree, but quite possibly the world's tallest known flowering plant ...
The World's Tallest Tropical Tree Is Longer Than a Football Field
The world's tallest tropical tree on record is a giant, measuring an astonishing 330 feet (100.8 meters) from ground to sky — a height that's more than five bowling lanes stacked end to end.

This tree, likely also the world's tallest flowering plant, lives in a rainforest in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, according to scientists from the United Kingdom and Malaysia. It's so high-reaching, it's no wonder the scientists named it "Menara," the Malay word for "tower." ...

Menara belongs to a tropical tree species known as yellow meranti (Shorea faguetiana), a member of the Dipterocarpaceae family that thrives in the humid lowland rainforests of Southeast Asia. Previous record holders for tallest tropical tree came from this region and from the Shorea genus.

The team came across Menara by using laser technology known as light detection and ranging, or lidar. In essence, an aircraft carrying a lidar device flew overhead as laser pulses were shot down and then reflected back when they hit the forest canopy and ground, providing data for a topological map.

After reviewing the data, the researchers trekked out to see Menara in August 2018. There, they scanned the tree with a terrestrial laser to create high-resolution 3D images, and they also snapped images from above with a drone. A local climber, Unding Jami, of the Southeast Asia Rainforest Research Partnership, scaled the tree in January 2019 to measure its exact height with a tape measure.

"It was a scary climb, so windy, because the nearest trees are very distant," Jami said in a statement. "But honestly, the view from the top was incredible. I don't know what to say other than it was very, very, very amazing!"

Jami's feat reveals that Menara is likely the tallest flowering plant in the world, as it's taller than the previous record holder; a eucalyptus tree (Eucalyptus regnans) in Tasmania that's 326 feet (99.6 m) tall.

Not counting its roots, Menara weighs nearly 179,700 lbs. (81,500 kilograms). But just 5% of its mass comes from its 131-foot-wide (40 m) crown. The other 95% is in its trunk, the researchers found. Moreover, the stem is extremely straight, with its center of mass at 92 feet (28 m) above the ground, which is just 2 feet (0.6 m) off from its central vertical axis. This indicates that the tree is highly symmetrical and well-balanced, even though it's sitting on a slope, the researchers said. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/65171-t...cal-tree-is-longer-than-a-football-field.html
 
The tallest known tree in the Amazon region has now been identified. It's not the tallest known tree in the world, but it and its surrounding trees represent the maximum height achieved in the region.

Researchers Discover the Tallest Known Tree in the Amazon

Satellite images and a trek into the rainforest reveal a group of trees over 80 meters, or about 260 feet, and one as tall as 88.5 meters

Sheer curiosity led Eric Bastos Gorgens and his team to the tallest tree in the Amazon. At 88.5 meters, or over 290 feet, the tree species Dinizia excelsa, or angelim vermelho in Portuguese, beat out the previous record holders by almost 30 meters.

The forest engineering professor and researcher at Brazil’s Federal University of Jequitinhonha and Mucuri Valleys (UFVJM), along with several other researchers from Brazil and the United Kingdom, was examining data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) when he noticed something out of the ordinary.

At first it was just a set of numbers on a screen that let the researchers know giants were growing in the Parú State Forest conservation area in the state of Pará. It took time and dedication to figure what the height measurements represented.

“It could have been a bird flying by, a tower, a sensor error,” says Gorgens, the lead author of a recent study about the trees published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. “So we started to look into what could have given us these numbers that were so far from standard. And as we started looking at the data more carefully, we realized they weren’t errors. They were, in fact, giant trees.” ...

FULL STORY: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/scie...e-nature+(Science+&+Nature+|+Smithsonian.com)
 
The tallest known tree in the Amazon region has now been identified. It's not the tallest known tree in the world, but it and its surrounding trees represent the maximum height achieved in the region.



FULL STORY: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/researchers-discover-tallest-known-tree-amazon-180973227/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+smithsonianmag/science-nature+(Science+&+Nature+|+Smithsonian.com)

Somebody will be along soon to burn it down.
 
One of our bike rides take us past a couple of deciduous woods, probably thousands of years old. The trees are so tall I assumed they were standing on small hills but they're not, they're just immense.

OK, not sequoia-level but impressive for England. :cool:

I will take photos next time I see them.
 
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