Trees
Tree records

Giants of the forest

Tallest, widest, heaviest, broadest: the record-breaking trees that make us feel tiny, and why trees can’t grow forever upward.

What does “biggest” mean?

There’s no single answer. Foresters crown different champions for volume (how much wood is in the trunk), height, girth (distance around the trunk) and canopy spread. And if you count clones, the heaviest tree is a forest of aspens.

General Sherman

Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), Sequoia National Park, California

  • Largest by volume
  • ~52,500 ft³ (1,487 m³)
  • 83.8 m (275 ft) tall
  • 2,000+ years old

General Sherman isn’t the tallest or widest tree, but no other single-stem tree holds more wood. Its trunk is about 36 feet (11 m) across at the base, and in lumber terms it holds an estimated 630,000 board feet. The Park Service says that is enough to build about 120 average-sized houses. The tree is protected inside Sequoia National Park.[1]

Hyperion

Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), Redwood National Park, California

  • Tallest known tree
  • 116.07 m (380.8 ft)
  • Found in 2006

Naturalists Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor discovered Hyperion in 2006, and it was measured at 116.07 m in 2019, taller than the Statue of Liberty on its pedestal.[2] Visitors’ trampling damaged the ground around it, so in 2022 the park closed the area. Anyone entering can face a fine of up to $5,000 and up to six months in jail.[3][4] Enjoy it from afar; the park’s other redwoods are just as awe-inspiring.

El Árbol del Tule

Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum), Santa María del Tule, Oaxaca, Mexico

  • Widest trunk
  • 36.18 m around
  • >1,000 years old

The Tule tree’s trunk is so wide it would take dozens of people holding hands to circle it. Guinness measured a circumference of 36.18 m (118.7 ft) in 2005, the greatest girth of any living tree.[5] It’s a close relative of the bald cypress in our leaf identifier.

Thimmamma Marrimanu

Banyan (Ficus benghalensis), Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh, India

  • Largest canopy
  • ~2.19 ha (5.4 acres)
  • Thousands of prop roots

Banyans drop roots from their branches that thicken into new trunks, so a single tree can spread into what looks like a forest. Thimmamma Marrimanu’s canopy covers about 2.19 hectares, roughly three soccer fields.[6]

And the heaviest tree? Probably Pando, the Utah aspen clone: about 47,000 stems on one root system, all one living thing.[9]

Side by side

Heights comparedHyperion 116 metres, Statue of Liberty 93 metres, General Sherman 84 metres, Tule tree 35 metres, a typical sugar maple 25 metres.0255075100125Hyperion (coast redwood)116.07 mStatue of Liberty (ground to torch)93 mGeneral Sherman (giant sequoia)83.8 mEl Árbol del Tule (cypress)35.4 mTypical mature sugar maple25 mmetres
Heights in metres. Hyperion: 2019 measurement; General Sherman: NPS; Statue of Liberty: ground to torch tip. A typical sugar maple is shown for scale.
TreeRecordKey numberWhere
General ShermanLargest by volume~1,487 m³ of trunkCalifornia, USA
HyperionTallest116.07 mCalifornia, USA
El Árbol del TuleGreatest girth36.18 m aroundOaxaca, Mexico
Thimmamma MarrimanuLargest canopy~2.19 haAndhra Pradesh, India
PandoHeaviest (clonal)~47,000 stemsUtah, USA

How tall can a tree get?

Water has to travel from roots to the very top leaves, pulled upward through tiny tubes. The higher it goes, the harder it is to lift. Studying the tallest redwoods, scientists calculated that the maximum possible height for a tree is about 122–130 m, so Hyperion is already close to the limit.[7]

Built for fire. Giant sequoias are fire-adapted. Thick, insulating bark lets them withstand moderate fires, and fire’s heat helps their cones open and clears ground for seedlings.

Sources

  1. National Park Service, Sequoia & Kings Canyon: The General Sherman Tree. https://www.nps.gov/seki/learn/nature/sherman.htm
  2. Guinness World Records: Tallest tree living (Hyperion). https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/tallest-tree-living
  3. National Park Service, Redwood National and State Parks: Hyperion (closure). https://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/hyperion.htm
  4. NPR (2022): Visiting the world’s tallest tree could get you fined $5,000. https://www.npr.org/2022/08/01/1114846960/hyperion-tree-off-limits-fine
  5. Guinness World Records: Living tree with the greatest girth (El Árbol del Tule). https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/living-tree-with-greatest-girth
  6. Guinness World Records: Largest canopy on a living tree (Thimmamma Marrimanu). https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/66385-tree-greatest-spread
  7. Koch, Sillett, Jennings & Davis (2004), The limits to tree height, Nature 428. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature02417
  8. Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation: Overview & history. https://www.statueofliberty.org/statue-of-liberty/overview-history/
  9. Pineau et al. (2024) and USFS Fishlake NF: Pando (see Oldest Trees page). https://www.fs.usda.gov/r04/fishlake/recreation/explore-forest/pando