Natural Environment Blog

I’ve already posted about the tallest tree in the world. And I’ve posted about the top 15 tallest California redwood trees, which are the tallest known living trees today.

In this post, I’ll talk about the tallest tree ever recorded. Or maybe that should be, the tallest trees ever recorded.

Australia’s Eucalyptus regnans trees (also referred to as Eucalyptus trees) have been widely regarded as the tallest trees ever recorded.

Here’s a list of some of the tallest Eucalyptus trees ever recorded:

• Many sources have stated that the tallest tree ever recorded is the “Ferguson Tree” (measured by William Ferguson). On February 21, 1872, the fallen tree was measured at 132.6 meters (435 feet) - and that was after the top had broken off! The trunk, where it had broken off, was still a meter in diameter, and some estimated that the tree could have been taller than 152.4 meters (500 feet) tall.
• Another tall tree was the “Robinson Tree” (measured by G.W. Robinson) at Mount Baw Baw. In 1889, the Robinson Tree was found to be 143 meters (470 fee) tall.
• In 1867 another Eucalyptus tree was measured at 132.9 meters (436 feet)
• A Eucalytus tree known as T. Rolla Tree was measured at 124.9 meters (410 feet)
• The “David Boyle Tree” (measured by David Boyle) was located in the Dandenong Ranges (near Melbourne). In 1862 it was measured at 119 meters (390 feet), but it had fallen and had a broken top. David estimated that the tree would have been 128 meters (420 feet) if it’d kept it’s top.
• In 1888, the Menzies Creek tree was measured at 122 meters (400 feet) after it had fallen.
• In 1866, the C Walter tree was said to be 118.8 meters (390 feet)
• In 1880, the Cornthwaite tree was measured at 114 meters (374 feet) after it had been cut down. It was located in South Gippsland in the Thorpdale area.

Isn’t it a shame that the tallest trees always seem to get cut down?

I remember, as a kid, being fascinated in world records. For some reason, I loved reading about anything that was the biggest, fastest, longest, oldest, tallest… anything that made it stand out from the rest of the pack.

Now many years later, I still remember reading that the tallest tree was a California redwood. And if memory serves me correctly, the 2nd tallest was also a California redwood. I’ve now learned that these are also known by other names - such as Coast redwood, redwood, coastal sequoia, palo colorado, giant redwood, and of course, it’s technical name of Sequoia sempervirens.

So, given that there are so many tall California redwoods, I decided to search for the top 10 redwood trees. What I ended up with was a list of the top 15 tallest redwoods.

These were all measured by tape drop and/or Criterion 400 laser surveyor. The tape drop is the most accurate method of measuring a tree. You can see the tape drop in action on the tallest tree in the world.