In 1872, trained forester William Ferguson, reported a fallen Mountain Ash, which was 18 feet in diameter and 435 feet long.
In 1964, after his coring tool broke and getting permission from the U.S. Forest Service, a research scientist to get an accurate age measurement cut down a Bristlecone Pine, in Great Basin National Park, since named Prometheus! It turned out the tree was over 4,950 years old making it older than the Bristlecone Pine named Methuselah, which at the time was 4,803 years old. He had not only found the oldest living thing on the planet, but he had also killed it. A cross-section of the tree is on view at the Great Basin National Parks, visitor center in California.
The world’s tallest living standing hardwood tree, is a Mountain Ash named Centurion which is located in Tasmania, Australia. It is approximately 329 foot 8 3/4 inches tall.
The tree with the widest {diameter} tree trunk in the world is an African Baobab. Its trunk diameter is almost 49 foot, it has a circumference of 155 foot and is 72 foot tall.
The tree with the world’s greatest recorded tree circumference {girth} is the Santa Maria del Tule, an Montezuma Cypress. As the trunk of the tree is not circular in shape but in reality has a distorted and irregular shape, you can’t multiply the diameter by 3.14159 {pi} and come up with its true approximate circumference {girth} which is in excess of 160 foot. It is approximately 141 foot tall and over 2000 years old.
The blackest wood in the world is Ebony.
The whitest wood in the world is Holly. The Silver Striped Holly seems to produce the whitest wood of all the species of Holly. To produce the whitest wood, the best time to cut down Holly trees is in the winter when the sap is lower, and then mill and kiln dry it before summer.
The world’s longest solid wood/lumber board {no lamination}, is a piece of Ancient Kauri. It is approximately 40 foot in length and has an estimated worth of $100,000.00.
The world’s widest solid wood/lumber board {no lamination}, is a piece of Figured Claro Walnut. At its narrowest width, it is 56 inches and at its widest width, it is 74 inches. It is 3 3/16 inches thick, 12 foot 6 inches long and has an estimated worth of $10,500.00.
Osage Orange is the species of wood that produces the most heat when burned.
The most recently discovered tree specie is the Wollemi Pine. It was discovered in September 1994, by, a New South Wales National Parks officer named David Noble in a secluded area in the Blue Mountains of the Wollemi National Park, approximately 124 miles west of Sydney Australia.
White Oak is the species of wood that is easiest to steam bend. With thin stock you can bend it, into an extremely small radius.
Palm Sunday was named after the Palm tree because people took branches of Palm trees with them to greet Jesus Christ in Jerusalem.
The world’s tallest living uncut decorated Christmas tree is a Douglas Fir. It is approximately 160 foot tall, lighted with over 50,000 LED lights and is located in Blue River, Oregon USA.
To date, the world’s tallest cut down and decorated Christmas tree was a Fir of 212 foot. It was used to celebrate the Christmas of 1950 in the city of Seattle, Washington USA.
The world’s shortest tree specie is the Dwarf Willow. It is rare to find one more than 2 1/2 inches tall. They are also dioecious, producing both male, yellow colored and female, red colored catkins. They have been found growing on frozen tundra in the Arctic.
The tree specie with the thickest bark is the Redwood, its bark can be up to 24 inches thick.
The tree specie with the thickest bark other than a Redwood, is the Coast Douglas Fir tree. On the older trees, the bark can be 8 – 12 inches thick.
The tree specie that produces the largest cones is the Sugar Pine, ranging in size from 12 to 24 inches in length and 4 to 5 inches in diameter.
Lignin is the substance found in wood that helps determine how hard the wood will be. The more Lignin present, the harder the wood and vice versa, the less present, the softer the wood.
The bark of the Cork Oak is used to produce cork wine stoppers and flooring. The species grows in Northwest Africa and Southwest Europe with Algeria, Morocco, Portugal and Spain, manufacturing the majority of the world’s supply.
Up until a few years ago, the world’s oldest living tree, a Bristlecone Pine, named the Methuselah was located in the Great Basin National Park, California. It is approximately 4,844 years old. It is also the tallest living {55 foot} Bristlecone Pine.
With John White’s refined measurement techniques of today, The Lime in the Silkwood at Westonbirt Arboretum (Near Tetbury, Gloucester, U.K.) is probably around 6000 years old.
The Fortingall Yew, in Glen Lyon, Perthshire, Scotland, might be as much as 9000 years old. The usual way of calculating a trees age by counting the annual rings in the trunk or by carbon dating, are not accurate when it comes to Yews because a Yews trunk tends to hollow with age, while it continues to grow by rooting its branches and wrapping them around itself. There is even documentation of the formation of aerial roots growing inside the hollow trunk. Another reason are Yews have been known to stop growing for long periods of time, {documented 325 years}, thus having no growth rings for that period.
John White’s method of estimating a tree’s age is by measuring its trunk circumference approximately 5 feet from ground level. He had access to and studied more than 100,000 tree measurements and multitudes of growth ring patterns from broken or cutoff stumps and concluded that growth rings are closer together on the outside portion of the stump. His technique shows that trees grow at different rates in the three phases of their lifetime, Formative, Middle Age and Senescence (Old Age}. With the evidence he has compiled, tables of expected growth, relative to trunk size have been made for numerous common trees.
There are two types of trees that it is impossible to tell how old they are by counting their growth rings. Trees produce growth rings because of the distinguishable temperature changes that occur over a yearly cycle causing their growth to slow down and speed up. Trees in certain tropical regions that have a consistent year round climate where growth is ongoing do not form pronounced growth rings. Trees that are endogenous, the majorities of which is some specie of Palm tree, which grow by adding new material inwards, do not produce growth rings.
The world’s largest divided tree leaf to date was growing on a West African Raphia Palm. When measured, it was approximately 82 foot in length. Note: Only a very small percentage of tree species in the world have divided leaves.
The tree specie with the largest undivided leaves is the Bigleaf Magnolia. The leaves are 7 to 12 inches wide and 12 to 32 inches long.
The lightest American wood is Corkwood Florida. Its average weight/density/specific gravity is .21. It is native to the southeastern United States especially Florida.
The heaviest American wood is Lignum Vitae Holywood. Its average weight / density / specific gravity is 1.31. It is native to southern Florida.
