Wonder
Boole Tree
In short
One of the largest trees on Earth is Boole Tree in California. This giant sequoia is 81.9 m tall and its trunk has a circumference of 24.3 m.
43.5%
GPS coordinates
Location, address
Species
Height
Circumference
Diameter
Volume
Map of the site
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In detail
Giant sequoias
Giant sequoias are unique trees – they are the largest single-stem trees in the world and some of the oldest living beings in the world with proven age of 3,500 years. These trees grow in a small area – on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains in California.
In order to propagate these trees need regular wildfires, thus in 1970 in this area started controlled burns.
King of Converse Basin grove
History
Boole tree by far is the largest tree in the Converse Basin grove of giant sequoias. Earlier this forest was magnificent, with thousands of magnificent sequoias in it, but in 1892 – 1918 here were cut most of the giant trees and now some 60 – 100 large trees remain.
Tree got its name sometime around 1895, when Fresno doctor A.H.Sweeny honored the feat of the supervisor of logging operations Franklin A. Boole – this man saved the tree from felling due to its giant size.
Until 1931 this tree frequently was named the largest tree in the world, just like another giant – General Grant Tree. Now General Grant Tree is the second largest and Boole Tree – the sixth largest sequoia.
Dimensions
Boole Tree by all accounts is one of the largest trees in the world. Especially impressive is its girth at the ground level – 34.4 m. Further up it becomes thinner and at the height of 1.37 m, the girth is 24.3 m (1). There are sequoias with larger circumferences, e.g. General Grant Tree.
The height also is beyond impressive – 81.9 m and the calculated volume of its trunk is 1,203 m³.
It is amazing that the trunk of this tree and its dead branches are seen even on the satellite images on Google Earth.
Not too far from this tree grows the tallest known giant sequoia – the Tallest Giant Sequoia in Converse Basin, 95.8 m tall.
References
- Giant sequoia in the Giant Sequoia National Monument, Monumental trees, accessed on July 19, 2014
Linked articles
Wonders of California
Although California is one of the states in the United States of America, Americans often compare it to a separate country, e.g. “if California would be a country, it would have the eighth largest economy in the world”. We can go on with this comparison – California has more landmarks and attractions than many large countries of the world.
Trees
The category includes some of the most impressive and interesting separate trees in the world. The total number of tree species in the world still is a wild guess – maybe 10,000 and maybe 100,000 but most likely somewhere in between. Every month there are reported new tree species from the whole world, including Western Europe.
Wonders of the United States
The United States of America is one of the largest countries in the world and offers a wide array of diverse attractions: many are unsurpassed in the world. Highlights of the United States are cliffs, canyons, and rock formations, several impressive downtowns of cities with numerous skyscrapers as well as a rich array of geothermal features, and the giant forest of California.
Recommended books
Coast Redwood: A Natural and Cultural History
Coast Redwood is the first contemporary illustrated book to focus exclusively on the natural and cultural history of the world’s tallest tree. This handsome volume, updated and revised in 2011, contains 230 color images and 100 black and white historic photos and describes the origins, distribution, life history, ecology, and wildlife associated with coast redwood.