Image via sea turtle on Flickr
This series is in no way meant to be exhaustive but merely a sample of nature’s most spectacular trees — available to you via the Internet and by people who have decided to share their images via a creative commons license. Wikipedia also has a list of famous trees that are of “historical, national, locational, natural or mythological importance,” and there’s a list of oldest trees too. Another resource is the National Register of Big Trees.
- The dragon’s blood tree (Dracaena cinnabari) is a “distinctive and slow-growing” tree that looks otherworldly. These bizarre-looking trees are “native to the Socotra archipelago off the horn of Africa[, and] the famous red resin . . . gives it its name.” More via Atlas Obscura:
The island of Socotra is part of an archipelago in the Indian Ocean. It is so isolated that a third of its plant life is found nowhere else on the planet. Notable are the dragon’s blood trees that look like flying saucers perched on trunks.
- Like the dragon’s blood tree, Adenium obesum socotranum is also endemic to the island of Socotra. Its appearance is reminiscent of the smaller baobabs of Madagascar.
- Baobabs, Adansonia sp., consist of eight species, which are naturally found on the continents of Africa and Australia. Six species are native to Madagascar, so Madagascar has the highest endemism. Mainland Africa and Australia both have one species. The entire genus is spectacular. The first image below shows the giant Adansonia grandidieri, which is endemic to Madagascar. This titan-sized tree is considered endangered.
- The Queensland bottle tree (Brachychiton rupestris) uses its trunk to store water. This tree species appears somewhat similar to the aforementioned baobabs, and it’s in the same family as the baobabs — Malvaceae.
- Alluadia procera is another member of Madagascar’s unique spiny forest. This species belongs to the family Didiereaceae, and all the plants that make up this family are found only in Madagascar’s spiny forest. The Didiereaceae family is intriguing, and anyone who visits Madagascar’s spiny forest will observe that this family of shrubs and trees give the spiny forest its whimsical or distinctive appearance. To me, the spiny forest looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. The image below shows an Alluadia procera growing in Madagascar’s spiny forest.
- The bristlecone pines (Pinus spp.) are some of the oldest living non-clonal organisms (distinguish from species that can form clonal colonies such as the trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides), and some clonal colonies of the trembling aspen are thought to be 80,000 years old or up to 1 million years old). Despite their old age, bristlecone pines are threatened by invasive species and climate change. From the New York Times:
Living in extreme conditions about two miles above sea level, they have become the oldest trees on the planet. The oldest living bristlecone, named Methuselah, has lived more than 4,800 years.
Now, however, scientists say these ancient trees may soon meet their match in the form of a one-two punch, from white pine blister rust, an Asian fungus that came to the United States from Asia, via Europe, a century ago, and the native pine bark beetle, which is in the midst of a virulent outbreak bolstered by warming in the high-elevation West.
Blister rust is a new challenge to the pines. It spread to Europe from Asia in the 19th century and then was shipped unknowingly to the East and West Coasts of North America around the turn of the last century on nursery trees. Only now is it reaching the high-elevation bristlecone. Anna Schoettle, a Forest Service ecologist in Fort Collins, Colo., said, “Neither the bristlecones nor their ancestors have been faced with a disease like this, and they have not evolved tolerances.”
- The Tree of Life, located in Bahrain, is “a mesquite tree that has grown at the highest point in Bahrain for over 400 years, [and] the Tree of Life lives isolated in the desert, miles away from other vegetation and with no apparent source of water.” Most likely, the tree has tapped into a supply of groundwater. The awe-inspiring tree can be seen from space too.
- The giant cotton tree of Freetown, Sierra Leone, is a historic symbol. More via Wikipedia:
The Cotton Tree is an historic symbol of Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone. According to legend, the “Cotton Tree” gained importance in 1792 when a group of former African American slaves, who had gained their freedom by fighting for the British during the American War of Independence, settled the site of modern Freetown. These Black Loyalist settlers, called “Nova Scotians” in Sierra Leone, founded Freetown on March 11 1792. According to tradition, they landed on the shoreline and walked up to a giant tree just above the bay and held a thanksgiving service there, gathering around the tree in a large group and praying and singing hymns to thank God for their deliverance to a free land. Today, a huge Cotton Tree stands in the oldest part of Freetown near the Supreme Court building and the National Museum. Sierra Leoneans believe that this is very tree was where the “Nova Scotian settlers prayed more than two hundreds years ago, and they regard it as the symbol of their capital city. Sierra Leoneans still pray and make offerings to the ancestors for peace and prosperity beneath the great Cotton Tree. This was especially true during the Sierra Leone civil war (1991-2002).
- The giant redwoods of California are spectacular because of their size. The coast redwoods, Sequoia sempervirens, are the tallest tree on Earth, while the giant sequoias, Sequoiadendron giganteum, “are the world’s largest trees in terms of total volume.” According to The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, “Some 90 to 95% of old growth [redwood] forest has been felled since, and the remainder is now almost entirely in parks and reserves.” The image directly below shows a 300-foot giant coast redwood that is located in California’s Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.
- The angel oak is a southern live oak (Quercus virginiana) located near Charleston, South Carolina. Wikipedia has some stats on this spectacular giant:
The Angel Oak is a Southern live oak tree located in Angel Oak Park, in Charleston, South Carolina, on Johns Island, one of South Carolina’s Sea Islands. It is estimated to be in excess of 1400 years old, stand 65 ft (20 m) tall, measure 25.5 ft (7.8 m) in diameter, and shade with its crown an area of 17,000 square feet (1,600 m2). Its longest limb is 89 feet (27 m) in length. The tree and surrounding park have been owned by the city of Charleston since 1991.
- The rainbow eucalyptus, Eucalyptus deglupta, is a species of eucalyptus that grows on “New Britain, New Guinea, Ceram, Sulawesi and Mindanao,” and “it is the only Eucalyptus species found naturally in the Northern Hemisphere.” An entire forest consisting primarily of rainbow eucalyptus must be a magnificent sight.
- The iconic ruins found in Cambodia are strangled by Tetrameles nudiflora. In the movie industry, these trees are a quintessential element for any film depicting ancient ruins.
- The Trembling Giant “is a clonal colony of a single male Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) located in the U.S. state of Utah, [and] all [are] determined to be part of a single living organism by identical genetic markers.” The Trembling Giant my be over 10,000 years old, and it is considered to be the largest-known organism by some authorities. Clonal groups of quaking aspens are common. Via Wikipedia and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development:
Clonal groups of P. tremuloides in eastern North America are very common, but generally less than 0.1 ha in size, while in areas of Utah, groups as large as 80 ha have been observed (Kemperman and Barnes 1976). In the semi-arid western United States, some argue that widespread seedling establishment has not occurred since the last glaciation, some 10,000 years ago (Einspahr and Winton 1976, McDonough 1985). Indeed, some biologists feel that western clones could be as old as 1 million years (Barnes 1966, 1975). It has been claimed that a single clone, nicknamed “Pando” (Latin for I spread), covers 43 hectares, contains more than 47,000 stems and weighs in excess of 6 million kg, making it the largest known organism (Grant et al. 1992, Mitton and Grant 1996)Due to a combination of factors, the Trembling Giant, sometimes called Pando, which is latin for “I spread,” appears to be dying. Sadly, quaking aspen forests are dying off across the western United States, but scientists are trying to save them. More via an interesting article by John Hollenhorst at ksl.com:
Utah scientists are trying to organize an emergency rescue effort to save the largest living thing ever discovered anywhere on Earth.
It’s known as Pando — a single organism, living in central Utah, that some scientists say could also be the world’s oldest living thing. But Pando is dying and may have only a few more years of glory.
Pando consists of grove of quaking aspen trees spanning 106 acres in the Fishlake National Forest near Fish Lake. Scientists call it an aspen clone, which is essentially a single plant comprised of thousands of trees, connected by underground roots.
. . .
In the 1970s, scientists tentatively mapped Pando’s boundaries. More recently, Utah State University geneticist Karen Mock wondered if Pando’s reputation as the world’s largest known organism was overblown.
“So we set out to either confirm or deny that,” Mock says.
She took DNA samples from 209 trees, mostly within that boundary. Her testing verified what was long suspected.
“Genetically, in fact, Pando is one enormous clone over 100 acres,” Mock says, “probably over 47,000 individual trees.”
In all, Pando weighs about 13 million pounds, which makes it by far the most massive organism ever found.
“There may well be some larger clones than Pando out there,” Mock says, “but it’s the largest organism that’s been described [by scientists].”
As Pando’s fame spread, the U.S. Postal Service honored the Utah curiosity as one of “40 Wonders of America.” A postage stamp issued in 2006 surely sets some sort of a record for making something very small out of something very big.
But now Pando is in serious trouble, according to ecologist Paul Rogers of Utah State University.
“I would call it a crisis, yes,” Rogers says.
When he visited Pando two years ago, the clone seemed reasonably healthy. But when he went back with a team of forestry experts three weeks ago, he was shocked.
“We’re looking at a situation where the whole clone could crash pretty quickly here, within the next few years,” Rogers says.
The bark of Pando’s mature trees shows they’re dying from drought and beetles. That’s typical of aspen stands throughout the West and, by itself, is not especially worrisome. But disturbingly, small trees and sprouts have vanished from the area spanned by Pando.
“There was no regeneration and there was no mid-story tree,” Rogers says. “So if you might think of those as the young ones and the juveniles, there’s no young ones to replace those dying trees. So this set off alarm bells.”
Rogers says there is an overabundance of deer and elk in the area and he believes the wildlife is feeding on the young sprouts. He also says a small amount of livestock grazing in the area is playing a minor role.
Rogers wants emergency action to fence out the deer and elk. Some government agencies are looking into it, but that strategy is sure to be controversial. Fences would have to be quite high to be effective in holding out deer, and at least one rancher also has grazing rights in the area.
Another complication is that recreationists may have concerns about a high fence in such a scenic area. A U.S. Forest Service campground adjacent to Fish Lake is actually within Pando’s biological boundaries.
Rogers says a fence would be effective, though. A small portion of Pando — less than 10 percent — is already fenced. That part of the clone is thriving and regenerating.
If Pando does die out or becomes sharply reduced in size, it would be particularly poignant because of the clone’s presumed age. Pando is conceivably the oldest living thing ever studied.
The removal of wolves or key predators from certain landscapes may explain why the aspen is declining. More on this theory via an excellent article by Pete Aleshire at the Payson Roundup:
Aspen have declined by 50 percent in Colorado, 60 percent in Utah and 95 percent in Arizona, according to a recently published study by researchers from the Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station. Study plots in many areas have shown a 50 percent decline in recent decades, with most of the stands giving way to thick forests of pines.
. . .
Aspen experts blame a variety of other factors as well. For instance, deer and elk love to browse on aspen seedlings. So some researchers think the explosion of the elk populations in the Southwest in the past 50 years may have also pushed the aspen toward extinction.
That theory took a hit recently when researchers in Yellowstone found to their surprise that the growing number of wolves in the park hadn’t helped out the dwindling aspen.
The U.S. Geological Survey researchers concluded that the decline of aspen in Yellowstone did coincide with the population explosion in the elk herds after the removal of the wolves in the 1890s. However, none of the dwindling aspen stands had staged a comeback after wolves returned — reducing the number of elk by 40 percent.
Only fences that kept elk out altogether allowed some of the aspen stands to start producing sprouts from those buried roots that grew into new trees. The researchers concluded that rising elk numbers played the key role in the decline of the aspen, but the wolves haven’t eliminated enough elk yet to make a difference.
Another study implicated drought, rising temperatures and a host of plant pests and diseases unleashed by the trends. One careful study in southwestern Colorado published in Forest Ecology and Management documented the loss of 10 percent of the aspen in one area in less than two years. The study found that a plant canker and three types of beetles played a role in killing off the biggest trees at a dismaying rate. The aspen on south-facing slopes at lower elevations suffered the greatest loss, which implicated the effects of drought and rising temperatures.
- The world’s most isolated tree — or what was the world’s most isolated tree rather — was known as the Tree of Ténéré. It “was a solitary acacia, of either Acacia raddiana or Acacia tortilis, that was once considered the most isolated tree on Earth — the only one within more than 200 kilometres (120 mi).” Apparently, the famous landmark was destroyed by a drunk driver. Certainly, the tree’s destruction is a metaphor for humanity’s obsession with consumption, which is inherently destructive towards nature.
- The Tree That Owns Itself is a tree that supposedly has legal ownership over itself and some land surrounding it. If you find this topic interesting, then you should consider: Should Trees Have Standing?: Law, Morality, and the Environment. You can also read Christopher Stone’s original essay on this topic here. More on the Tree That Owns Itself via Wikipedia:
The Tree That Owns Itself is a white oak tree, widely assumed to have legal ownership of itself and of all land within eight feet (2.4 m) of its base. The tree is located at the corner of Finley and Dearing Streets in Athens, Georgia, USA. The original tree fell in 1942; a new tree was grown from one of its acorns and planted in the same location. The current tree is sometimes referred to as the Son of The Tree That Owns Itself. Both trees have appeared in numerous national publications, and the site is a local landmark.
Can an environmental object sue for its own preservation? It’s an issue that has been mentioned by the courts. Via First American Corp. v. Al-Nahyan:
Justice William O. Douglas is famous for having proposed a unique solution to determining when a dispute involving environmental laws is properly a case or controversy-give trees legal standing to sue. See Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 741, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 31 L.Ed.2d 636 (1972) (Douglas, J., dissenting) (“Contemporary public concern for protecting nature’s ecological equilibrium should lead to the conferral of standing upon environmental objects to sue for their own preservation.”). If ever adopted, the proposal could have numerous unintended consequences-one of which would be to subject civil litigants in complex cases such as these to potential liability. For many are the trees that have died so that the parties in these consolidated cases may present their respective cases, and it would not be surprising if the trees had a complaint or two to lodge against them.
Dracaena cinnabari image via MFS – The Many Faces of Spaces on Flickr
Dracaena cinnabari image via Stefan Geens on Flickr
Dracaena cinnabari image via Stefan Geens on Flickr
Dracaena cinnabari image via Alexbip on Flickr
Image via Alexbip on Flickr
Image via Soqotra (Yemen) on Flickr
Image via Wikipedia
Adansonia grandidieri in Madagascar. Image via Rita Willaert on Flickr
The famous “Avenue or Alley of the Baobabs” showing Adansonia grandidieri near Morondava, Madagascar. Image via Rita Willaert on Flickr
Adansonia grandidieri in Madagascar. Image via Alex ’77 on Flickr
Adansonia digitata of Africa. Image via jipol on Flickr
At over 3000 years old, the bottle boabab tree, Adansonia rubrostipa, is the oldest-known baobab in Madagascar. It is located in Tsimanampetsotse National Park. Image via gr0uch0 on Flickr
The Australian baobab tree, Adansonia gibbosa, is endemic to Australia. Image via Wikipedia
Adansonia sp. growing in Madagascar’s unique xerophytic forest, which is often called the spiny forest. Image via Wikipedia
Adansonia sp. growing in Madagascar’s spiny forest. Image via dennis.tang on Flickr
Brachychiton rupestris image via louisa_catlover on Flickr
Brachychiton rupestris image via djpmapleferryman on Flickr
Brachychiton rupestris image via superciliousness on Flickr
Image via lithopman on Flickr
A closeup of Alluadia procera. Image via lithopman on Flickr
Pinus spp. image via ebuechley on Flickr
Image of the Tree of Life via omar_chatriwala on Flickr
Image via Wikipedia
The image was taken by Michael Nichols for National Geographic
Image of the angel oak via zeynep’arkok on Flickr
Image of the angel oak via Charleston’s TheDigitel on Flickr
Rainbow eucalyptus image via thaths on Flickr
Rainbow eucalyptus image via harryalverson on Flickr
Rainbow eucalyptus image via sarahracha on Flickr
Tetrameles nudiflora image via CX15 on Flickr
Tetrameles nudiflora image via randomix on Flickr
Tetrameles nudiflora image via leyaya on Flickr
Tetrameles nudiflora image via lecercle on Flickr
Image of quaking aspens in Utah via CDSanderson on Flickr
Image of quaking aspens in Utah via scottks1 on Flickr
Image of the the Tree of Ténéré via Wikipedia
The Tree of Ténéré “has been replaced by a simple metal sculpture representing a tree.” How ironic.
Image of the Tree That Owns Itself via Wikipedia
The authors or licensors of these images do not endorse my work or me, and their images are protected under an attribution license.
