10 World Oldest Living Trees

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10. General Sherman

Jim Bahn, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

General Sherman is a giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) tree located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, in the U.S. state of California. By volume, it is the largest known living single-stem tree on Earth.

While the General Sherman is the largest currently living tree, it is not the largest historically recorded tree. The Crannell Creek Giant, a coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) near Trinidad, California, is estimated to have been 15–25% larger than the General Sherman tree by volume. That tree was cut down in the mid-1940s. Another larger coast redwood, the Lindsey Creek tree with more than 90,000 cubic feet (2,500 cubic meters) was reported felled by a storm in 1905 Humboldt Times Standard article. It is estimated to be around 2,300 to 2,700 years old.

Source - Wiki

09. Chestnut Tree of One Hundred Horses

W.carter, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Hundred-Horse Chestnut (Italian: Castagno dei Cento Cavalli; Sicilian: Castagnu dî Centu Cavaddi) is the largest and oldest known chestnut tree in the world. Located on Linguaglossa road in Sant'Alfio, on the eastern slope of Mount Etna in Sicily — only 8 km (5.0 mi) from the volcano's crater — it is generally believed to be 2,000 to 4,000 years old (4,000 according to botanist Bruno Peyronel from Turin). It is a sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa, family Fagaceae). Guinness World Records has listed it for the record of "Greatest Tree Girth Ever", noting that it had a circumference of 57.9 m (190 ft) when it was measured in 1780. Above ground, the tree has since split into multiple large trunks, but below ground, these trunks still share the same roots.

The tree's name originated from a legend in which a queen of Aragon and her company of 100 knights, during a trip to Mount Etna, were caught in a severe thunderstorm. The entire company is said to have taken shelter under the tree.

Source - Wiki

08. Jōmon Sugi

Chris 73 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Jōmon Sugi (縄文杉) is a large Cryptomeria tree (yakusugi) located on Yakushima, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Japan. It is the oldest and largest among the old-growth cryptomeria trees on the island, and is estimated to be between 2,170 and 7,200 years old Other estimates of the tree's age include "at least 5,000 years", "more than 6,000 years", and "up to 7,000 years old". The tree's name is a reference to the Jōmon period of Japanese prehistory.

Jōmon Sugi is located on the north face of Miyanoura-dake, the highest peak on Yakushima, at an elevation of 1,934 m (6,300 ft). Discovery of the tree in 1968 "sparked moves to protect the forests" of Yakushima and gave rise to the island's tourist industry, which today comprises more than half of its economy.

Source - Wiki

07. Olive Tree of Vouves

Eric Nagle, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 

The Olive tree of Vouves (Greek: Ελιά Βουβών) is an olive tree in the village of Ano Vouves in the municipal unit of Kolymvari in Chania regional unit, Crete, Greece. Probably one of the oldest olive trees in the world, it still produces olives today.

The exact age of the tree cannot be determined. The use of radioisotopes is not possible, as its heartwood has been lost down the centuries, while tree ring analysis demonstrated the tree to be at least 2000 years old. and on the other end of the scale, scientists from the University of Crete have estimated it to be 4,000 years old. A possible indicator of its age are the two cemeteries from the Geometric Period discovered near the tree. Current research in Crete and abroad indicates that earlier estimates of the age of olive trees are to be debated as far as their accuracy. There is not yet an agreed upon scientific method to ascertain the age of olive trees. In the case of the Vouves Olive, it could be much younger than earlier estimates or even than the ancient tree in Finix (Sfakia).

The tree remains productive to this day, having been grafted with the cultivar 'Tsounati'. The trunk has a perimeter of 12.5 m (41 ft) and a diameter of 4.6 m (15 ft).

In 1997, the tree was declared a protected natural monument, and in October 2009, the Olive Tree Museum of Vouves was inaugurated in a nearby 19th-century house, displaying the traditional tools and process of olive cultivation. Branches from the tree were used to weave victors' wreaths for the winners of the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Source - Wiki

06. The Senator

Anthony Scotti, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Senator was the biggest and oldest bald cypress tree in the world, located in Big Tree Park, Longwood, Florida. At the time of its demise in 2012, it was 125 feet (38 m) tall, with a trunk diameter of 17.5 feet (5.3 m). The tree was thought to have been destroyed by a fire from a lightning strike, but it was later discovered that the fire was accidentally started by a drug user.

As of 1993, the Senator was estimated to be 3,500 years old, making it the 5th oldest tree in the world. The tree's volume had previously been estimated at 4,300 cubic feet (120 m3), but a 2006 survey by Will Blozan of the Native Tree Society has measured the volume at well over 5,100 cubic feet (140 m3), making The Senator not only the largest Bald Cypress in the United States, but also the largest tree of any species east of the Mississippi River.

Source - Wiki

05. Patriarca da Floresta

Bruna Leone Gagetti, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This tree, an example of the species Cariniana legalis named Patriarca da Floresta in Brazil, is estimated to be over 2,000 years old, making it the oldest non-conifer in Brazil. The tree is believed to be sacred, but its species is widely threatened due to forest clearing in Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela.

Source - Treehugger.com

04. Llangernyw Yew

Emgaol, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Llangernyw Yew ([ɬanˈgɛrnɨu] (About this soundlisten)) is an ancient yew (Taxus baccata) in the village of Llangernyw, Conwy, North Wales. The tree is fragmented and its core part has been lost, leaving several enormous offshoots. The girth of the tree at the ground level is 10.75 m (35.3 ft).

This yew tree lives in the churchyard of St. Digain's Church in Llangernyw village. Although it is very hard to determine the age of yew trees, the churchyard gate holds a certificate from the Yew Tree Campaign in 2002, signed by David Bellamy, which states that "according to all the data we have to hand" the tree is dated to between 4,000 and 5,000 years old. There is an alternative theory that presumes the tree is only as old as the adjacent saint site, which would make it around 1,500 years old.

In the mid-1990s the church oil tank stood in the space between the two trunk fragments; however, this was moved when it was realised that the tree was ancient. When this tank was built a lot of the dead wood was removed from the site which makes dating the age of the tree more difficult for dendrochronologists. In June 2002, the Tree Council, in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II designated the Llangernyw Yew tree one of the Fifty Great British trees in recognition of its place in national heritage.

Source - Wiki

03. Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi

Image from Srimahabodi.lk

Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi (Sinhala: ජය ශ්‍රී මහා බොධිය) is a sacred fig tree in the Mahamewna Gardens, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. It is said to be the southern branch from the historical Sri Maha Bodhi at Buddha Gaya in India under which Lord Buddha attained Enlightenment. It was planted in 288 BC, and is the oldest living human-planted tree in the world with a known planting date. Today it is one of the most sacred relics of the Buddhists in Sri Lanka and respected by Buddhists all over the world.

The other fig trees that surround the sacred tree protect it from storms and animals such as monkeys, bats, etc.

In April 2014, the government banned all construction within 500 meters of the tree. Only construction that obviously will not harm the tree will be allowed.

Source - Wiki

02. Gran Abuelo

Gonzalo Zúñiga Solís, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Gran Abuelo (Spanish for “great grandfather”), which is located in the Alerce Costero National Park in Chile, is the oldest living tree in South America. The tree stands at more than 60 m tall (196 ft) with a diameter of 4 m (13 ft) and a perimeter of 11 m (36 ft). Gran Abuelo’s age was determined in 1993 after researchers used a growth ring to verify its antiquity – they estimated that the tree was around 3,622 years old at the time.

Its age means that the Gran Abuelo germinated around 1,500 BCE. There is a possibility that the Gran Abuelo wasn’t even the oldest tree in the grove as many of the larger ones were logged in the past.

Source - Oldest.org

 01. Methuselah

TiggyPop, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 

Methuselah is a 4,852-year-old Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) tree growing high in the White Mountains of Inyo County in eastern California. It is recognized as the non-clonal tree with the greatest confirmed age in the world. Methuselah is the oldest-known living tree in the world.

                                                                                      &nb sp;                                                            Methuselah is located between 2,900 and 3,000 m (9,500 and 9,800 ft) above sea level in the "Methuselah Grove" in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest within the Inyo National Forest. Its exact location within the grove is a secret protected by the United States Forest Service.

                                                                                                Methuselah was 4,789 years old when sampled (likely in 1957) by Edmund Schulman and Tom Harlan, with an estimated germination date of 2833 BC. Since this tree ages back to this date, using tree rings, research shows precipitation patterns that date back to 1983 BC.

Source - Wiki