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Wonder
Sir Vim – (White Knight) the tallest manna gum
In short
Several coincidences have spared the highest known white gum of the world – Sir Vim – from felling. It is one of giant trees in a group called “White Knights”.
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Map of the site
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In detail
Saving the giant trees
A group of enormous, incredibly tall trees in the forest some 30 km north from Fingal is known for many decades. There was an attempt to cut the trees already in the 1940s – 1950s – but loggers rated that they will not get the logs out and it is not worth spending time on this.
In the 1970s there was the next attempt to cut the trees. Loggers built a road coming close to the giant trees and local forester Des Howe was assessing the potential gain from the cut. Forester was surprised at the incredible height of several trees – first measurements witnessed that one tree is 91 m tall. After some discussions, it was decided to save the trees and in 1977 there was created Evercreech Forest Reserve specifically for the protection of this group of eucalypts.
Tourist attraction
Des Howes was convinced that these trees are white gums (many species of eucalypts are called white gums – thus here we will use another name – manna gum). This was a botanical surprise – manna gum is common, for the most part, comparatively small tree. Only samples from the trees convinced botanists that there exists supertall white gum. Manna gum has a very light color of the trunk – thus the largest four or three trees have been nicknamed – White Knights.
Evercreech Forest Reserve is a beautiful natural forest. A well equipped walking track leads up to the trees – may be the trail is too much equipped because the tallest tree is enclosed in a boardwalk like a hand in handcuffs.
Tourism promoters constantly mention that eucalypts in this reserve exceed 90 m and even 100 m height. Exact measurement though tells a different story – the tallest tree is 91.3 m tall. It is estimated to be more than 300 years old, the circumference is 11 m.
The tree lately (2016) is in rather a bad shape and it looks that it is dying. (3.)
References
- Giant Trees. Tasmania’s world class giants. Former website.
- The excellent, excellent Tasmanian Plants page by David Tng in Flickr. Last visited in 20.12.10.
- Tasmanie. En Quête d’Arbres. Last visited in 4.12.19.
Sir Vim is included in the following list:
Linked articles
Wonders of Australia
The enormous and diverse area of Australia contains countless amazing and unique monuments. Parts of the country have not been thoroughly investigated and sometimes there are reported new, surprising finds.
Wonders of Australia and Oceania
The word “exotic” definitely refers to Australia and Oceania. Here are located many unique and mysterious landmarks, many places here deserve to be called – “One of the most beautiful places in 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.
Recommended books
Eucalypt Ecology: Individuals to Ecosystems
Eucalypts make up a remarkable genus as the dominant trees of Australia. This authoritative volume provides current reviews by active researchers in many disciplines, including evolutionary history, genetics, distribution and modeling, the relationship of eucalypts to fire and nutrients, ecophysiology, pollination and reproductive ecology, interactions between eucalypts and other coexisting biotas as well as conservation and management.
In Tasmania
The settlement of Tasmania by Europeans began two hundred years ago. Nicholas Shakespeare first went there, having heard of the island’s exceptional beauty, because it was famously remote. He soon decided that this was where he wanted to live. Only later did he discover a cache of letters written by an ancestor as corrupt as he was colorful: Anthony Fenn Kemp, the so-called Father of Tasmania.
[…] indrukwekkende statuur. De hoogst bekende suikereucalyptus mat 91,3 meter in 2016. Hij was toen kennelijk wel in slechte conditie, dus het is de vraag of hij nog overeind staat. Maar zo niet, dan is er vast een andere witte […]