Exceptional Trees

Baobab

The baobab, also known as "the Tree of Life" for its vitality and longevity, grows in African and Indian savannas. Its height can reach up to 25 meters. Baobabs can live for several thousand years. This tree remains leafless for nine months of the year. Some people describe it like a tree that has been picked out of the ground and stuffed back in upside-down. The secret of the baobab's surviving in harsh environments is that it has little wood fibre but a large water storage capacity. It is able to hold up to 300 litres of water. In the wet months water is stored in its thick, corky, fire-resistant trunk for the nine dry months ahead. They produce leaves for only a short time during the rainy season, when they also develop huge pink or white flowers. The trees are pollinated by bats and have a fruit as unique as the tree itself. It has a furry coating around a tough, gourd-like shell that shields a soft pulp inside called 'monkey bread' and seeds that are rich in citric acid and oil.

General Sherman Tree

General Sherman is a giant Sequoia, located in Sequoia National Park, California. It is the largest tree in the world. The tree is believed to be approximately 2200 years old. It's diameter and height are incredible and unbelievable. It is equal to a a 27 story building. The maximum base diameter of the Sherman tree equals 36 feet. A branch that fell in February, in 1978, had a diameter over six feet and a length of at least 140 feet. In January of 2006 the largest branch on the tree, which had a diameter of over 2 m (6 feet) and a length of over 30 m (100 feet), broke off. No one was present for the incident, but the branch smashed part of the enclosing fence and cratered the walkway pavement surrounding the sequoia.

Banyan Tree

The Banyan Tree is originally from Africa and India. The tree grows to an immense size. It has an ability to spread to a great area. Its aerial roots run from branches to the ground. This enables trees to become very large - up to 200 metres in diameter Just fancy, a single tree can cover many acres with the strength of a forest. In Hindu mythology, the banyan tree represents eternal life because of its expanding branches. By the way, shellac (which is an important component in French polish) is produced by insects which parasitise banyan trees.

Bristlecone Pine

Bristlecone Pine is the Earth's oldest living inhabitant. it is remarkable not only for its great age but also for its ability to survive in harsh conditions with cold temperatures, a short growing season, and high winds. Bristlecone pines grow very slowly. Such slow growth makes their wood very dense and resistant to insects, fungi, rot, and erosion. Vegetation is very sparse, limiting the role of fire. The bristlecone pine is a multi-trunked tree, twisted by the elements. Much of the pine is dead wood. As a survival strategy much of the bark and tissue that conduct water dies back after the tree is damaged by fire, drought or storms.

The Tree of Tule, Ahuehuete Cypress

The Tree of Tule, Ahuehuete Cypress, is one of the biggest and most spectacular trees in the world. It is about 140 feet tall, its trunk measuring more than 50 feet in diameter. It is also incredibly old - possibly as much as 3,000 years. Ahuehuete means "old man of the water". The tree has a broad, spreading crown with strong, horizontal branches. The roots of trees growing in standing water often send up conical projections. The appearance of the massive tree is that of multiple trunks fused together. Recent DNA tests, however, suggest that it is in fact a single individual tree.

Pando, or The Trembling Giant

Pando, or The Trembling Giant, is a clonal colony of a single male Quaking Aspen tree. The quaking aspen gained its name because of the way the tree’s leaves tremble in even the slightest breeze. French Canadian woodsmen believed that the trees quaked in fear because the cross on which Jesus was crucified was made of aspen. In Latin Pando stands for “I spread”. Pando is a part of a single living organism by identical genetic markers and one massive underground root system, which is claimed to be among the oldest known living organisms in existence at 80,000 years of age. Pando was discovered in 1992 and is estimated to be 6,000 tonnes which would also make it the heaviest known living organism. The clonal colony encompasses 43 hectares (107 acres) and has around 47,000 stems, which continually die and are renewed by its roots. Quaking aspen regularly reproduces. An individual stem can send out lateral roots that, under the right conditions, send up other erect stems; from all above-ground appearances the new stems look just like individual trees. When a single stem dies, the entire clone feels the effect. Normally each stem sends hormones into the root system that suppress the formation of new ramets. But when a stem dies, its hormone signal dies as well.

Chandelier Tree, a Drive-Through Tree

Chandelier Tree is a 315 foot (96 metre) tall redwood tree in California. The hole in its base, which 6 foot (1.83m) wide by 9 foot (2.74m) high, allows a car to drive through. The hole was carved in the 1930s. The Chandelier Tree derives it's name from the enormous branches balanced on either side of the trunk.

The Chapel-Oak of Allouville-Bellefosse

The Chapel-Oak is the biggest, oldest, and the most famous tree of France. The tree is a religious monument and an object of pilgrimage. There are two small chapels built in it.

Circus Trees

The Circus Trees were originally grown and created by Axel Erlandson, by using intricate techniques. He spent over 40 years growing his experimental tree shapes. As a result - woven wonders made from living wood.