Largest living tree (volume)

The world’s largest living tree is General Sherman the giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) growing in the Sequoia National Park, California, USA. It stands 82.6 m (271 ft) tall, has a diameter of 8.2 m (27 ft 2 in) (dbh)* and a circumference of approximately 25.9 m (85 ft). The trunk had a volume of 1,487 m³ (52,508 ft³) in 1980 when it was last measured accurately, but by 2004 it was thought to be almost 1,530 m³ (54,000 ft³). This tree is estimated to contain the equivalent of 630,096 board feet of timber, enough to make over 5 billion matches, and its red-brown bark may be up to 61 cm (24 in) thick in parts. Its weight, including the root system, is estimated at 1,814 tonnes (4,000,000 lb).

The tree is thought to be approximately 2,100 years old.

* dbh is the diameter at 1.3 m (4 ft 6 in) above the ground, on the uphill side (the standard used by the USA).

A tree larger than General Sherman was the Maple Creek Tree, which was also a giant redwood. Although it was recklessly logged in the 1940’s, the volume is believed to have been approximately 1,727 m³ (61,000 ft³), even though its height was only 93 m (308 ft).