Trees are essential to our life on Earth.
They make the oxygen we need to live.
They absorb carbon dioxide.
They eliminate pollution. They provide us with coolness and shade. They produce food and control erosion.
And the list of their benefits is still long!
With that in mind, we decided to put a spotlight on the most incredible trees on the planet.
They look like gentle giants. Motionless, mute and unarmed, they are nevertheless subject to the madness of men. The poor...
They are generally poorly protected.
And very few people really respect them. And yet, at the same time, we are so dependent on their existence.
Solid, tall, long, with the biggest trunk, each of these trees is extraordinary.
Without further ado, here are the 10 most incredible and remarkable trees in the world . Watch:
Considered the oldest tree in the world, this old Bristlecone pine lives at 3,000 meters above sea level. It is found in the Inyo National Forest, California in the United States.
Hidden among its fellows in the ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest of the White Mountains, Methuselah is some 5,000 years old.
For its protection, its exact location is kept secret by forest rangers. Which means no one knows exactly where this tree is.
The tallest living tree is a 115-foot tall redwood discovered by Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor in California's Redwood National Park in 2006.
Hyperion has everything a solda t. It survives on a hill, rather than growing in an alluvial plain, an environment more typical for this type of tree.
The duo who discovered Hyperion is also behind the discovery of 2 other redwoods in the same park:Helios (115 meters) and Icarus (114.70 meters).
These 2 giants had dethroned the previous record held by Stratosphere Giant.
This was then considered the tallest tree in the world with its 112.34 meters.
Want to see something awesome? Watch this video in which a canopy scientist climbs Hyperion to take an official measurement of its size.
What is the synonym of majestic? How about "General Sherman"? This huge and venerable tree is found in Sequoia National Park in California.
Its trunk measures between 1.80 and 2 meters in length. This giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum ) is not the tallest, widest, or oldest living tree known.
But with its height of 83.82 meters, its diameter of 7.62 meters and its estimated volume of 1,487 m3, it is the largest. Not to mention its respectable age:between 2,300 and 2,700 years old. This is one of the longest lives for a tree on the planet.
With a height of 25.30 meters and a circumference of 16.15 meters, Jomon Sugi isthe tallest conifer in Japan .
This Cryptomeria japonica grew up in a misty, ancient forest at an altitude of 1,280 meters on the north face of Yakushima Island's highest mountain. It is also known to be the oldest Japanese tree.
The estimate of its age varies between 2,170 and 7,200 years. To see Jomon Sugi, the curious can undertake a 4 to 5 hour hike.
Which doesn't seem to deter people from coming on pilgrimage to pay homage to this shy old beauty.
Pando (from the Latin pandere expand, unfold ) is not just a tree. Rather, it is a colony of trembling aspen clones.
With an age of 80,000 years, it is the oldest living organism in the world.
Located in Utah in the United States, he is nicknamed the "trembling giant" .
This 42.50 ha colony is made up of genetically identical trees connected by a single root system.
Remarkably, according to some estimates, this forest could be 1 million years old !
It would therefore precede the first Homo sapiens by some 800,000 years. Pando holds another impressive record:at 6,615 tons, it is also the heaviest living organism on earth.
In the past, the Chestnut Tree of the Hundred Horses was the tree with the largest circumference . But currently, the tree that holds this record is known as El Arbol del Tule.
It grows inside a sanctuary closed to the public in the town of Santa Maria del Tule in Oaxaca, Mexico.
The circumference of this Montezuma cypress is more than 36.27 meters for a height of 11.28 meters.
Incredible ! To give you an idea of its width, imagine that it takes 10 medium-sized cars placed end to end to encircle this tree.
Located on the eastern side of Mount Etna in Sicily, the Hundred Horses Chestnut is not only the largest.
It is also the oldest and most famous chestnut tree in the world. This giant beauty held the world record for the largest circumference of a tree listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
Measured in 1780, this tree had a circumference of 57.91 meters. But since then, its trunk has split into 3 parts.
This record no longer belongs to him. The name of this tree comes from a legend.
According to this legend, the Queen of Aragon and her company of one hundred knights took refuge under its protective branches during a storm.
Given their ecological importance, one could consider that all trees should be sacred. Well the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, he really is.
This sacred fig tree is found in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. It is believed to be a cutting from the historic Bodhi tree in India under which Buddha attained enlightenment.
It was planted in 288 BC, making it the oldest living tree planted by humans.
It is considered one of the most sacred relics of Buddhists in Sri Lanka. As such, it is worshiped and visited by Buddhists from all over the world.
With its 4.88 meters in height, this Norway spruce, also called common spruce, located on the Fulufjället mountains in Sweden, is not very impressive at first sight.
But don't judge by appearances, right? The Tjikko is 9,500 years old
. It is not the oldest tree on the planet, but it is the oldest single stem clonal tree .
Which means that several trunks have one and only one root system. The trunk of the tree may be dead, but its roots are not. If the current trunk dies, another tree grows.
For millennia, the harsh tundra climate has preserved Tjikko and nearby trees as shrubs.
But as the weather got warmer, a bush sprouted in the tree!
In 1630, an English Puritan named John Endicott—then Premier of the Massachusetts Bay Colony—planted one of the first cultivated fruit trees in America.
As he planted his pear seeds imported from Europe, Endicott proclaimed, "I hope this tree loves the land of the Old World and, no doubt, when we are dead it will still be alive." /P>
In fact, 385 years later, the tree claims the title of the oldest cultivated living fruit tree in North America ... And he always offers his pears to passers-by.
Do you like beautiful trees? Then I advise you to read this magnificent book:Encounters with magnificent trees.
