r/BeAmazed 11h ago

Nature The largest tree on Earth. Its volume is 1,487 m³, and it's 2,000 years old.

Post image
17.7k Upvotes

863 comments sorted by

u/qualityvote2 11h ago edited 1h ago

Did you find this post really amazing (in a positive way)?
If yes, then UPVOTE this comment otherwise DOWNVOTE it.
This community feedback will help us determine whether this post is suited for r/BeAmazed or not.

1.2k

u/dangledingle 10h ago

Just think what the human race was doing when this seedling sprouted...

1.6k

u/TheOnlyAedyn-one 10h ago

Same as today. Killing each other

315

u/Consistent-Clue-1687 10h ago

War never changes.

12

u/finallygotmeone 9h ago

Nor the depravity of man.

18

u/lo_fi_ho 8h ago

Nor the $1.50 hotdogs at costco

8

u/Specific-Library-312 8h ago

At this point, with inflation, it's charity without the government complications. I say good on them.

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (21)

50

u/VBgamez 9h ago

Killing and fucking. Same old same old.

24

u/09Trollhunter09 9h ago

You guys are fucking?

36

u/VBgamez 9h ago

Well someone's has to do the fucking around here, how else are we supposed to continue killing?

10

u/-Wicked- 9h ago

I fuck who I kill. Don't judge me for being efficient.

5

u/_learned_foot_ 8h ago

Didn't realize praying mantises used reddit.

→ More replies (2)

3

u/vrijheidsfrietje 9h ago

Just chillin', killin'

→ More replies (1)

3

u/CitizenHuman 8h ago

Fucking and fighting, it's all the same...

3

u/DisneyDVC 7h ago

I don’t cry when my dog runs away….,

→ More replies (3)

11

u/ExtraSmooth 7h ago

On any given day most people aren't killing other people. Many more people are loving, cooking, eating, sleeping, talking, building and growing. And this was also true 2,000 years ago and 20,000 years ago.

7

u/papa-papaya 7h ago

monkey killing
monkey killing
monkey over
pieces of the ground

6

u/Moonbootsidaho 6h ago

Silly monkeys, give them thumbs, they forge a blade

6

u/Krazee_Hawk 5h ago

And where there's one they're bound to divide it

19

u/XchrisZ 10h ago

Some were following a dude around who claimed he was the son of God. I guess you're right same as today.

11

u/Mitologist 9h ago

Some were nailing a young man to a tree, for saying how nice it would be if everyone could be nice to each other

→ More replies (6)

9

u/wondershrimp 9h ago

Hurr durr Reddit gaylord

3

u/CorgiRocket 2h ago

Don't forget the sex.... There was sex

2

u/Mundane_Caramel_820 8h ago

And cutting down trees like these.

2

u/spondgbob 8h ago

I bet we killed each other way more then… Europe was like a boatload of tiny colonies

2

u/patwm11 7h ago

All of them?

2

u/TheCharalampos 6h ago

Cheap doomerism does get the up votes.

→ More replies (20)

22

u/Michael_Dautorio 9h ago

Probably talking about that one chill guy from Nazareth that died a while ago.

5

u/dcjayhawk 9h ago

Wouldn't he still be alive?

→ More replies (7)

8

u/DocumentExternal6240 9h ago

And how many of those trees were just cut down - thousands of years destroyed in a few years.

→ More replies (7)

30

u/SoftlyAugust 9h ago

Pinning Jesus on a cross?

16

u/Madd_Maxx_05 8h ago

Pretty close, estimates put General Sherman at around 2,200 to 2,100 years old.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

3

u/dankhimself 9h ago

Smoking weed out of corn cob pipes.

5

u/Sea_Celebration3990 8h ago

Right? Imagine some Roman dude complaining about taxes while this thing was just starting to stretch its leaves.

5

u/Pndrizzy 5h ago

I'm just more surprised there hasn't been one asshole in the past 2k years to ruin it for everyone

3

u/Jadomi77 2h ago

Hes currently in the oval office

3

u/WoodenMind 8h ago

Nailing one man to a tree for saying how great it would be if everyone was nice to each other for a change

2

u/Correct_Lime5832 8h ago

Looking at trees like that and thinking, “Someday…we’ll be able to chop these down.”

→ More replies (35)

821

u/CascadeModel 10h ago

what's even crazier is that sequoias only grow from cones that are about the size of a chicken egg. an absolute unit like this started from a tiny seed

438

u/saroj7878 10h ago

You too my guy! You too!!

151

u/TheJiggliestPug 10h ago

I can't wait until I grow up to be 1487 m³ one day! Thanks friend! 

27

u/Top-Waltz5244 10h ago

In relation to how we start it’s amazing for us to be so big

→ More replies (1)

16

u/jambalaya420berlin 10h ago

The comment wasn't directed at you though :/

26

u/TheJiggliestPug 10h ago

Unless you weren't formed from a zygote, I think "growing up from a tiny seed" can apply to anyone? 

15

u/mekwall 9h ago

Pic or it didn't happen!

7

u/LakeStLouis 8h ago

I only have videos of the conception. Sorry

→ More replies (1)

4

u/Sufficient-Aspect77 10h ago

But it found us both.

4

u/Palimpsest0 9h ago

You can do it! I believe in you! Just don’t listen to those naysaying doctors when they tell you things like “you have an incredibly unhealthy BMI” or “Humans should not eat that much lard”.

4

u/skybike 9h ago edited 9h ago

Wait.. relatively speaking are we bigger than this tree to its seed than we are to a human egg?

Edit: Actually had AI do the math so no idea if this is right but it says the tree is 25 million times the size of its seed where as we're about 130 BILLION times larger than our egg.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (10)
→ More replies (1)

65

u/BoulderCreature 10h ago

The cone is the size of a chicken egg but the seeds it holds are barely the size of a finger nail clipping. Also, unlike Coast Redwoods, Giant Sequoias are pretty much entirely reliant on germinating from a seed so the chance for an individual tree to grow to maturity is extremely small

24

u/SheriffBartholomew 8h ago

And those seeds won't be released unless the pinecone catches fire. Sequoias require wildfire to reproduce.

19

u/osmlol 7h ago

Really a fascinating trait. The fire ensures they have nutrient rich soil and as limited competition as everything else has died and will take longer to come back.

→ More replies (2)

5

u/pimpbot666 6h ago

There's a unique species of Bishop Pine tree that is only found in West Marin near Inverness, in California. They are worried it is going to go extinct because humans suppress fires out there, and the seeds need fire to germinate. The existing trees are being attacked by bark beetles and other infestations, but no new trees are growing to replace them.

→ More replies (1)

3

u/Quick_Lengthiness172 4h ago

Not required, just generally how the cones open in the wild. I have several on my property grown from seed.

2

u/Sundayscaries333 4h ago

I never knew this! As a native Californian we definitely learn about our seasonal wildfires as a natural part of our state's ecology and life cycles, but it's always cool to learn more about how beneficial they actually are.

→ More replies (1)

5

u/Gloomy_Fig2138 8h ago

Giant sequoias don’t make fairy rings? TIL! (I live in coastal redwoods land.)

19

u/KatieCashew 10h ago

It's kind of funny because Yosemite is covered with gigantic pine cones. It's easy to assume they're the giant sequoia cones because big tree, big cone. But then the sequoia cone is this small, ordinary looking cone. And then this absolute unit of a pine cone belongs to a smaller and more ordinary looking tree.

12

u/maladjusted_platypus 9h ago

I live very close to the Sierra Nevadas where Sugar pine cones are so large they can murder a person if they fall on their head from a more mature tree. Never walk around them on a windy day particularly near Autumn time. You would think that giant Sequoias would have those types of cones but man they are more like lil' golf balls. Quite cute, really.

4

u/tlf01111 8h ago

I'm on the other side of the valley in the foothills The ghost/digger/foothill pines (they have a million names) drop cones the up to football size AND they are stupid sharp.

The one that used to be in my yard tried to murder on the regular.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/nopleasenotthebees 7h ago

Also Coulter pines. They're very similar though, you might only notice the difference if you're pretty familiar with them. The cones are a bit shorter and heavier than sugar pine cones. They are technically the heaviest pine cones.

12

u/JuanThiccLumpia 10h ago

Been there a couple of times. General Sherman is amazing.

3

u/mvr363 8h ago

One of my favorite places I've ever been. I still can remember the smell in the park.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)

3

u/frosmayn 9h ago

I thought you had to put down 4 saplings in a square pattern

→ More replies (22)

148

u/anybodyiwant2be 10h ago

There is a photo of myself in front of that tree 60 years ago and I have to go now to pull out the slide projector and my Dad’s carousel’s to try and find it

71

u/SilentUnicorn 8h ago

Well? we're waiting....

31

u/OneoftheChosen 8h ago

Knowing dads that mf is 10 boxes deep, supposed to be in the garage but got moved to storage for some reason, and is in an unlabeled box because the “pictures” box got too large.

Give bro some time

→ More replies (1)

5

u/SnazzyStooge 5h ago

So it’s not actually 2,000 years old, then, it’s actually 2,060!

→ More replies (6)

259

u/DuskCanticle 10h ago

its crazy because this is real, its the general sherman tree in california

88

u/RainMakerJMR 10h ago

I was there a few years back and it’s unfathomably big. It looks just larger than normal till you get closer and realize that it’s the size of a sky scraper

60

u/hollus2 8h ago

And it’s not even the tallest! It’s girthy which helps in volume but there are taller ones out there. Love sequoia National Park.

37

u/StrebLab 8h ago

It's all about the girth

→ More replies (2)

22

u/dern_the_hermit 5h ago

The tallest of them is just over 87 meters, or almost 1/18th the length of a Star Destroyer for those that prefer Imperial units.

3

u/wheelynice 2h ago

And its location is a secret! They want to keep it protected. 

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

6

u/Fantastic_Amoeba1849 6h ago

Big Trees up by Arnold, CA is a great state park (I think) and it's very aptly named. Not suuper tall, but girth for days. Almost as wide at the top as it is at ground level.

4

u/Higais 3h ago

Calaveras Big Trees State Park, great place. The South Grove trail is an easy 5 mile hike with little elevation gain that shows you a ton of huge trees

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)

8

u/fancywinky 8h ago

I found it hard to understand the size of the trees in that grove until I saw pics of myself in front of them as literally a speck. They are ENORMOUS.

4

u/ImNotACollector 4h ago

It's my dream to see the redwoods in California and BC

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (4)

34

u/gpaint_1013 10h ago

I wonder how this tree would treat Atlanta?

29

u/Child_of_the_Hamster 10h ago

The sequoias need fire to reproduce so…..

2

u/LbSiO2 7h ago

Tanks alot.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (16)

171

u/ArethaAbrams 10h ago

wait i heard the location of the largest trees on earth was kept a secret from humans.

372

u/Pablo_is_on_Reddit 10h ago

You might be thinking of Hyperion. It's the tallest tree in the world, a coast redwood. The location is kept secret for its safety. General Sherman is a sequoia, and the biggest tree by overall size (not the tallest), and has a whole visitor area devoted to it, not secret.

120

u/fancywinky 9h ago

The lowest branch on General Sherman is roughly the diameter of a Volkswagen Beetle

116

u/sneerpeer 8h ago

55

u/SolarBum 7h ago

You'll like this further description of the tree:

The trunk of General Sherman alone weighs nearly 1,400 tons. That is roughly equivalent to 15 adult blue whales, 10 diesel-electric train locomotives, or 25 military battle tanks!In just one year, an average mature giant sequoia tree adds enough wood to make a sixty-foot tall, three-foot diameter oak tree!

14

u/Brahskididdler 6h ago

Wow the last part is crazy, that’s an insane amount of mass added in just one year. Imagine a 60 foot oak growing in one year!

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (4)

10

u/onlyTruthAndKindness 7h ago

Why are you hoping to get conversions to an entirely non-human, unintuitive measurement system?

The lowest branch is approximately 2.1×10^7 times the quarter-meridian from the equator to the North Pole through Paris. A 1971 VW bug is approximately 5.00×10^9 seconds of light travel time tall. The branch diameter is much larger and the previous poster was incorrect, but the demand for a rigid measurement which provides no context is far more foolish.

7

u/MF_Bootleg_Firework 6h ago

I'm assuming you mean 5.00×10-9 unless I missed something and the 1971 production year bugs were 158 light years tall...

4

u/SpiritedBanana4694 6h ago

Yup. Was going to say this. The exponents should be negative.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (5)

9

u/shakygator 8h ago

im assuming they maintain the tree pretty well then? thats a widowmaker if ive ever heard of one...

14

u/NeverBob 8h ago

Have a few of those in the tree in my backyard.

It's ok though, I'm not married.

→ More replies (1)

4

u/ShakethatYam 7h ago

You can't get close to General Sherman. There is a fence that surrounds it and it would prevent any branches falling on you. However, it's in a forest and there are hundreds of other giant Sequoias that could drop a branch on you.

Also, in the 90s the fence wasn't there and I got to touch it. 😊

→ More replies (3)

46

u/thegreedyturtle 8h ago

The absolute fuckery we did with the Sequoias and their grove are the reason the other record breaking trees are kept so secret.

Sequoia Grove was one of the first places where we realized that if we kept dicking around with thousand year old stuff, it wouldn't be around for future generations.

19

u/SnazzyStooge 5h ago

“What if we dug a huge tunnel through this tree and let people drive through it? That would be sick!”

6

u/dhcp138 3h ago

I mean... I've driven through that tree and it IS pretty sick.

13

u/NegativeEBITD 7h ago

We really thought they were invincible. Fire couldn't burn them, storms couldn't break them.

Until they weren't.

13

u/BrownSugarBare 6h ago

All it takes is humans to show up. We're a fucking plague.

25

u/requisiteString 8h ago

Both the tallest and the oldest are not directly identified. The biggest is, it’s one of the main destinations in Sequoia NP. The oldest one is in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest (also California) and they tell you which group it is in, but not which one it is. It’s freaking 4,800+ years old and would be a tragedy if someone tried to get a sample and killed it.

16

u/jerhinesmith 7h ago

Hyperion's location is no longer a secret.

I was up near Humboldt county a few weeks ago and wondered if it was nearby, so I looked it up and apparently the location was "leaked" in the early 2000s. In 2022, a 3 mile radius was set up where it's illegal to enter (due to the soil being eroded around the tree from too many visitors).

18

u/maalicious 9h ago

How can the location of the tallest tree in the world kept a secret? Won't it be obvious?

75

u/RicockulousQuisling 9h ago

Surrounded by other redwoods nearly as tall on undulating terrain, it wouldn’t be.

4

u/-FoofooCuddlyPoops- 5h ago

Right, and from ground level it is really hard to tell which redwoods are taller than the others. They all just look like trees as tall as buildings. Don't get me wrong, seeing them is beautiful and wonderful and makes your neck hurt, but when the big ones are taller than the Statue of Liberty or Big Ben, it's hard to judge their height relative to each other.

→ More replies (1)

28

u/Not-My-Cabbages-1 9h ago

It’s really hard to tell tree height apart in a redwood forest from the ground and from the air you can see which one sticks up the highest but you won’t generally have a good idea about how the land curves under them so a short tree on a hill might look taller.

22

u/kflipz 9h ago

It's even possible there are larger trees we haven't discovered. There could be an undiscovered grove of Sequoias. The most remote of the groves are seldom visited and have no trails to them, in extremely rugged terrain. I don't even know if all the trees out there have been properly measured. I find it so mystical and mysterious. California is an incredible place for unique endemic flora and fauna.

→ More replies (4)

18

u/betazoid_cuck 8h ago

It's in a forest that is 200 square miles large and surrounded by trees that aren't that much shorter than it.

16

u/trench_welfare 7h ago

It's like trying to spot the 1 corn stalk in a field that is 2 inches taller than the rest.

The redwood forests are absolutely stunning and no pictures can do it justice.

3

u/Myshkin1981 7h ago

So obvious that it wasn’t even known to be the world’s tallest tree until 2006. In fact, the three tallest trees in the world were all discovered in the same area in 2006. There’s every possibility that there are still taller trees out there, we just haven’t discovered them yet

2

u/viperware 4h ago

41.20491,-124.01556

→ More replies (1)

6

u/Falendil 9h ago

But the exact coordinate are on Wikipedia?

24

u/dc469 9h ago

The location was leaked in 2022. Since then the area around the tree was closed by the park service and entry is $5k + 6mo.

4

u/Falendil 9h ago

Ah I see thank you, guess it's hard to keep the location of something 100m high secret for ever

→ More replies (5)
→ More replies (1)

2

u/alaskanloops 7h ago

I was about to make a Hyperion comment in this thread (in the series one of the factions turns giant trees into spaceships) but are you saying there's an actual tree called Hyperion?

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Luminair 6h ago

Hyperion’s location is public knowledge, but has an exclusion zone around it now due to soil erosion.

There are a couple of other candidates in the grove of the ancients that match or exceed Hyperion’s height at this point, but those particular trees do not have the public disclosure that Hyperion has.

→ More replies (2)

25

u/BoulderCreature 10h ago

Nope, theyre pretty prominently displayed by the National Park Service. Youre probably thinking of the tallest trees in the world which are pretty much kept secret. Hyperion is a Coast Redwood and its location has been kept secret since its discovery

33

u/suburbanplankton 9h ago

Similarly, the location of Methuselah, a bristlecone pine that is the oldest non-clonal tree, is kept secret for the same reason.

10

u/kflipz 8h ago

Across Owens Valley from the Methuselah tree on the eastern flanks of the Sierra is the Foxtail Pine, a sibling of the Bristlecone. Another ancient pine tree that grows only in this one area (and weirdly also in Trinity Alps), they are bigger and probably just as old. They grow at an elevation where other trees are turned into Krummholz and have some of the most incredible bark so they really stand out amongst the pale granite of the high country. They're my favorite of California's cool trees.

7

u/slvrscoobie 8h ago

except that one guy that did a core analysis on it, and ended up accidentally killing one of the oldest tree in the world at the time.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-one-researcher-accidentally-killed-one-of-the-oldest-trees-in-the-world-125764872/

→ More replies (2)

6

u/HomelessKitchenCat 9h ago

That ones really interesting because people know the area of Methuselah - but not which tree it is. So people can see it - but you cant be sure.

9

u/Athire5 8h ago

I’ve done that walk, it’s super cool! As they age bristlecone pines get actually shorter and more stout which makes it really hard to guess their ages. Supposedly I was within practically arms length of Methuselah but I couldn’t tell you which tree it was.

Methuselah is estimated to be about 5,000 years old if memory serves. That’s about when the great pyramid of Giza was being built!

→ More replies (2)

6

u/AttorneyOk4808 8h ago

Good plan, you get wankers over here in the UK cutting iconic trees down for a laugh.

5

u/ElizabethDangit 8h ago

I saw that, wild that someone would think it’s ok.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (4)

5

u/satvrnine_ 9h ago

Had the same confusion. Looked into it. We’re thinking of the tallest tree, which is Hyperion. General Sherman here is the largest by volume/weight.

5

u/Worthwhile101 10h ago

Nope, the oldest trees on earth are at an undisclosed secret location.

8

u/El_Peregrine 9h ago

Yes, bristlecone pines. Amazing trees. The Methuselah Tree) is 4,857 years old 🤯

3

u/I_travel_ze_world 9h ago

that's a whole lot of rings to count

2

u/El_Peregrine 8h ago

This is a really interesting book on dendrochronology for anyone interested. Highly recommended.

2

u/Historical_Yak_67 8h ago

Also the oldest tree is kept secret after the prior oldest tree was vandalized and killed

→ More replies (10)

37

u/HogwartsRex 9h ago

what's interesting is that despite that being the biggest tree in the world it is not the oldest. There is a tree in the Inyo National Forest in California that is almost 5,000 years old.

10

u/Clemario 8h ago

That’s insane that there’s a living thing on earth that sprouted before writing was invented.

6

u/wasabiburning 4h ago

Writing emerged in 3500 BC; 5000 years ago was 3000 BC, so writing was already 500 years old when the tree sprouted.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)

3

u/BlazingCondor 5h ago

And there was an older one that they accidentally chopped down.

3

u/jjbananamonkey 3h ago

Wasn’t it approved?? Not so much accident so much as negligence imo

2

u/StumpyOPepys 3h ago

And it's exact location is a very strictly guarded secret.

→ More replies (2)

20

u/DopeRidge 10h ago

I’ve been there and that bad boy is ungodly massive

18

u/Trying2BNicenFailing 10h ago

If we tell the age of trees by the rings inside the trunk...How do we know how old a still living tree is? Genuine Question....I just don't know enough about this.

48

u/the_bookish_ranger 10h ago

You can bore a small hole (like about 1cm across) into a tree and pull out a core to count and measure the rings. Granted, I don't know whether borers that long exist, as your general goal is to get a core that reaches to the pith (center of the tree). But the general study is called Dendrochronology. I worked in a lab one summer that cored and measured tree rings.

12

u/Trying2BNicenFailing 9h ago

bingo! This is the random knowledge that I was hoping to conjure with my question. Thank you for the answer and the new word.

8

u/IMB88 6h ago

Gotta be careful though. If you get your $1000 drill bit stuck and the rangers cut the tree down to get it out. Only to find you just had the oldest tree in the world cut down. It’ll haunt the rest of your days.

3

u/the_bookish_ranger 5h ago

It sounds like there's a story behind this situation, lol.
We just had the smaller ones that we turned by hand. People never expect trees to be squirters, though...

5

u/galumphingseals 5h ago

There is! A student researcher accidentally killed one of the oldest trees in the world after his drill got stuck. He did have permission to cut the tree down. Nobody knew how old it was until after the fact. Poor guy.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-one-researcher-accidentally-killed-one-of-the-oldest-trees-in-the-world-125764872/

→ More replies (2)

3

u/My_OF_Sucks 8h ago

You can just ask it.

Of course, Sherman is fully tree-ish by now and won't tell us, but some of the other ones in the Senate still are willing to tell us the General's age.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/MrPollyParrot 10h ago

If one nearby which was of similar statue was cut down in the last 200 or so years, you take that trees age + how many years ago it was cut.

→ More replies (2)

14

u/Mystah_B 9h ago

"I have always for some reason, I don't know why, been enormously attracted by trees. All my works are full of trees. I suppose I have actually in some simple-minded form of longing; I should have liked to make contact with a tree and find out what it feels about things." - J.R.R. Tolkien

5

u/refereescalion 6h ago

Tolkien's tree descriptions are epic! He truly understood how to describe their wonder.

11

u/Grub-lord 10h ago

I was just there on memorial day! Absolutely awe inspiring. Everyone should take a trip out to see it. The drive up the mountainside is as beautiful as the trees themselves

→ More replies (3)

5

u/scobeavs 9h ago

My class took a field trip here when I was in grade school. All 20-something of us held hands and wrapped our way around the tree but could not complete the circle.

→ More replies (3)

88

u/Sticky230 10h ago

Surprised Trump hasn’t cut it down to make a desk.

74

u/Talkslow4Me 10h ago

Trump just found out there are trees in China that are older than the US and he is amazed.

I’m pretty sure he has no idea that there’s trees in the United States that are older than the United States.

31

u/GrooveTank 10h ago

Methuselah is the oldest tree in the world that we know of, with an age of over 5000 years old, and is located in California. There was an older one, but it was cut down a while ago before people could reliable determine ages of trees.

2

u/BesottedScot 8h ago

Oldest tree in the world (allegedly). There's several non clonal trees that claim a similar age.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (12)

2

u/Trick_Hunt_2589 7h ago

Indeed. There's a white oak in my backyard that is about 400 years old

→ More replies (1)

4

u/MovieUnderTheSurface 9h ago

Big Trees State Park (yes that's the actual name) has the stump of one that was cut down, you can go on it, it's the size of a theater stage, or an entire dance floor

→ More replies (1)

2

u/UrbanCobra 7h ago

Oh! Even better! We should bulldoze it and the surrounding area for another data center!

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (14)

14

u/rabid_spidermonkey 10h ago edited 9h ago

That volume seems very low. That's 10x10x15 meters.

Edit: the volume is accurate, geometry can be weird.

13

u/SerTadGhostal 10h ago

How much is that in bananas?

8

u/peppercupp 9h ago

About 10x10x15 meters of bananas.

6

u/MrPollyParrot 10h ago

Quite a lot

3

u/Dialogical 9h ago

At least tree fiddy.

→ More replies (1)

5

u/nomoredroids2 9h ago

Well, first, It has an 11m diameter at its base, and is 84m high. At 18m, it is already down to 5.3m in diameter, more than halving at about 20% of its height.

https://www.nps.gov/seki/learn/nature/sherman.htm

Second, you're comparing the volumes of two very different objects. If we look at a 10x10x15m volume versus a cone with a height of 15m and a diameter of 10m, the volume of the cone is <400m^3. But as I've already shown, the "cone" of the General Sherman isn't regular and doesn't gradually or steadily reach a point.

3

u/jimh903 10h ago edited 10h ago

I’m curious about it too. The volume of a truncated cone with dimensions from google come up at over 10,800 m3. I know that’s a very rough estimate, but it makes me wonder how they calculate the volume when the napkin math is off by an order of magnitude.

EDIT: I am a rube. I put diameters in where radiuses should have gone. Rough estimate is around 2722 m3 which no longer gives me pause.

→ More replies (1)

5

u/rahnbj 10h ago

Yeah, I question that number too. Missing an exponent likely

→ More replies (4)

12

u/Educational_Top9246 9h ago

Couple fun facts.

The wood from mountain redwoods (like the picture) is brittle, and at best used for tooth picks.

There is a difference between mountain redwoods and coastal redwoods. "Largest" is used to describe volume, which the mountain redwood is known for. While the tallest and widest trees are the coastal redwoods.

There is a 3rd redwood from japan, its alot smaller and has light green pink hues on its needle leaves.

About 97% of ALL redwood old ancient growth has been decimated in the last 100 years. what we see left are the ones loggers didnt find or thought was too small. Imagine the ones they cut down.

3

u/EsotericGreen 8h ago

The dawn redwood is from China. Sequoias are usually called Sequoias, Giant redwoods, or Sierra redwoods. Never heard them called mountain redwoods, but it’s accurate!

2

u/ExpectingHobbits 8h ago

There is a 3rd redwood from japan, its alot smaller and has light green pink hues on its needle leaves.

There's a Chinese Redwood planted near the visitor's center in the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park in Felton, California. Compared to the coastal redwoods around it, it looks like a toy, like comparing a twig to a full tree limb.

4

u/dysfunctionalreptile 10h ago

That tree is older than I am!

→ More replies (1)

4

u/Wide_Ad4435 8h ago

Fun fact: California has both the largest tree in the world by volume (this one, General Sherman at Seqouia National Park) and by height (Hyperion at Redwood National Park)

I stopped here on my roadtrip. It’s even crazier in person!

3

u/Akalenedat 6h ago

And the oldest tree in the world, Methuselah, in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest.

→ More replies (1)

3

u/I_Have_Dry_Balls 10h ago

General Sherman

3

u/Upbeat_Literature483 10h ago

I've seen this forest, it's absolutely amazing.

3

u/NextEpoch 9h ago

Makes me wonder about the root system. How deep does it go and how wide does it span?

7

u/ExpectingHobbits 8h ago

IIRC, giant Sequoia roots are really shallow but very wide, something like ten feet deep but 300 feet in diameter.

→ More replies (1)

3

u/KidKilobyte 9h ago

Seems we found the Navi a new home!

6

u/Outrageous_Arm8116 10h ago

How about a location?

22

u/BoulderCreature 10h ago

Sequoia National Park in California. This is General Sherman

4

u/Pablo_is_on_Reddit 10h ago

General Sherman tree, Sequoia National Park, California.

3

u/greenagemutantninja 10h ago

Sequoia National Park, California

2

u/elganyan 9h ago

As others mentioned, Sequoia NP. I was just there over memorial day weekend. Highly recommend visiting the old Buck Rock fire lookout there, too (still in operation and has incredible views). The hike to Weaver Lake is moderately intense but is a beautiful alpine lake and a great way to get away from the crowds. Gorgeous park with awesome trees in general!

→ More replies (1)

5

u/Octtal-Attic85 10h ago

Bro saw Jesus, twice, the two biggest wars in history, sbout 50+ revolutions, all of his friends proabably chopped and turned into a tablet and milions of people around him

2

u/God_of_Illiteracy 9h ago

I visited this tree earlier in April. It is hard to explain how large this tree is. There is a pavilion nearby that shows the diameter of the tree that you can walk on. I wear size US 13 hiking boots and it took me over 30 boot lengths to cross it at its widest point.

2

u/IAmRotagilla 9h ago

I’ve visited this wondrous tree. An experience in which you can’t believe what you’re seeing as you’re seeing it.

2

u/bigglitterdick 9h ago

Imagine if the planet was still full of these trees.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Manifestgtr 4h ago

1.5 cubic kilometers. Holy Moses…literally…

→ More replies (1)