Top 10 Famous Trees in the World
Sept 27, 2011 0:52:22 GMT
Post by vninfo on Sept 27, 2011 0:52:22 GMT
1/Arbol del Tule
Santa Maria del Tule is a small town in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico with its famous Arbol del Tule in the chuchyard. It is located about 10 kilometers , it is easily reached by bus or car.Arbol del Tule is Mexico’s most famous tree, and some say the world’s largest single biomass. The Tule tree and its environs comprise a unique natural monument, an attraction for locals and visitors alike.The town of Santa Maria del Tule takes its name from the famous tree and boasts not just one, but seven extremely large and ancient cypress trees.
The largest dwarfs the town’s church and is more than 2,000 years old and has a circumference of 54 meters – the largest girth of any tree on the planet. Imagine… this tree was a sapling at the time when the civilization at Monte Alban was flourishing!This living ancient tree still growing. It’s age is calculated in 2000 years, it’s weight is almost 550 tons, a 705 cubic meters volume, diameter of 42 meters.
2/Baobab
The Baobab is called the Tree of Life with good reason. It is capable of providing shelter, food and water for the animal and human inhabitants of the African savannah regions.
The cork-like bark is fire resistant and is used for cloth and rope. The leaves are used for condiments and medicines. The fruit, called “monkey bread”, is rich in vitamin C and is eaten. The tree is capable of storing hundreds of litres of water, which is tapped in dry periods.Mature trees are frequently hollow, providing living space for numerous animals and humans alike. Trees are even used as bars, barns and more. The Baobab also features as the Tree of Life in Disney’s “Lion King”, and is the centrepiece in Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
For most of the year, the tree is leafless, and looks very much like it has its roots sticking up in the air. There are numerous legends offering explanations of how the tree came to be stuffed in the ground upside down, so it could no longer complain.
There are also numerous superstitions amongst native African people regarding the powers of the tree. Anyone who dares to pick a flower, for instance, will be eaten by a lion. On the other hand, of you drank water in which the seeds have been soaked, you’d be safe from a crocodile attack.
3/Cedars of God
The Cedars of God are among the last survivors of the extensive forests of the Cedars of Lebanon that thrived across Mount Lebanon in ancient times. Their timber was exploited by the Assyrians, Babylonians andPersians as well as the Phoenicians. The wood was prized by Egyptians for shipbuilding; Solomon used them in the construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem and the Ottoman Empire also used the cedars in railway construction.
The Cedars has a lot to offer – scenic beauty, hiking and skiing. And, of course, there are the famous Cedars of Lebanon where some of the oldest and most majestic examples of this ancient tree grow.
Once the plains of Lebanon were shaded by thick cedar forests, so it is no coincidence that the tree is the symbol of the entire country. Today, after centuries of persistent deforestation, the extent of this forest heritage has been markedly reduced. The trees however, do survive in areas and there they seem to reign supreme. This is the case of the slopes of Jabal Makmel that tower over the Qadisha Valley where, at an altitude of more than 2000 meters, we come to a vast forest known as “The Cedars.” Here there are 12 trees that are over one thousand years old, and about 400 that are more than one hundred.
4/General Sherman
The General Sherman is a giant sequoia tree located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, California. By volume, it is the largest known living single stem tree on Earth.The General Sherman Tree is neither the tallest known living tree on Earth , nor is it the widest , nor is it the oldest known living tree on Earth.
For a long time it was thought that this tree had reached an age of 2000 to 3000 years. Others even spoke about ages of 6000 to 11000 years. Research from 2002 has shown that he is probably ‘only’ about 2000 years old. In the past sequoias have been cut down that appeared to be 3220 years old and it is assumed that there might be giant sequoias up to 4000 years old out there, because the biggest are not always the oldest ones.
5/Dragon Trees
One of the most famous Botanical curiosities of Socotra is the Dragon’s tree, the tree is so named because any injury to the bark results in a deep red liquid excreting from the scar – compared in the past to the “Blood of Dragons”Its fruits are small fleshy berries containing between 1 and 3 seeds. As they develop they turn from green to black and then become orange once they are ripe. The berries are eaten by birds and thereby dispersed. The seeds are between 4mm and 5mm in diameter and weigh on average 68 mg.The berries exude a deep red resin, known as dragon’s blood.
The dragon’s blood tree is given some protection from international commercial trade under the listing of all Dracaena species on Appendix II of CITES, but if its populations are to be effectively preserved, a variety of measures will need to be taken. These include urgent monitoring of the species’ natural regeneration and the expansion of Skund Nature Sanctuary to cover important areas of the habitats. Also, efforts on avoiding road construction in the dragon blood’s habitat, and limit grazing need to be brought to attention. Additional conservation efforts for the tree involve fencing against livestock, watering of seedlings in open areas, and involving local communities in planting seedlings.
6/Tree of Life
The Tree of Life in Bahrain is one of the mysteries of world which is bound to be in your sightseeing list while in this Middle Eastern country.The Tree of Life stands alone with almost majestic flair, miles away from other vegetation and with no apparent source of water. The Tree of Life in Bahrain is a mesquite tree that has grown at the highest point in Bahrain for over 400 years. The mystery of the survival of the tree has made it a legend.
The local inhabitants believe with heart and soul that this was the actual location of the Garden of Eden. The Tree of Life or Sharajat-al-Hayat, as the Arabs call it, is located 1.2 miles or 2 kilometers away from Jebel Dukhan. The tree stands lonely in the heart of desert, on top of a 25-foot-high sandy hill. The tree of life has continued growing-despite the extremities of the climate. At present it is 32 feet in height.
7/Lone Cypress
The Lone Cypress Tree is over 200 years old and because its one of the most famous trees in the world, is also the official symbol of Pebble Beach and you will see it during your drive through 17-Mile Drive. The tree is perched on a rock with supporting cable around it to keep it from falling.The Lone Cypress Tree is one of the many Monterey Cypress trees native to the Del Monte Forest area, defined by the headlands of the Carmel River to the north and Point Lobos to the south. Sandy Lydon, author of “Chinese Gold: the Chinese in the Monterey Bay Region” has stated that the Monterey Cypress may have been brought to the California coast from China by a fifth-century Buddhist monk, Hui-Shen. The account cannot be historically corroborated, although substantial evidence exists that supports the strong possibility of travel from China to pre-Colombian America.
8/Major Oak
The Major Oak is a huge oak tree near the village of Edwinstowe in the heart of Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, England. According to local folklore, it was Robin Hood’s shelter where he and his merry men slept.The Major Oak’s first recorded name was the Cockpen tree, a reference to its use as a cockerel pen to hold the birds before a cockfight. However, the tree became better known as “The Major’s Oak” after it was described in 1790 by a local historian, Major Hayman Rooke. Throughout the 19th century it was also known as the Queen or Queen’s Oak.In the Spring, many birds including jackdaws, woodpeckers and great tits make their nest in what is Sherwood’s most famous Oak. Look out for young grey squirrels in May-June as they make their first journeys away from their nests, you can often see them practising their tightrope acts on the oak’s network of supporting cables.
9/Boab Prison Tree
The Boab Prison Tree is a large hollow Adansonia gregorii tree just south of Derby, Western Australia. It is reputed to have been used in the 1890s as a lockup for Indigenous In recent years a fence was erected around the tree to protect it from vandalism.
The massive ancient Boab Prison Tree is believed to be around 1,500 years old and sits on the outskirts of the remote northern town of Derby in Western Australia’s rugged Kimberley region. The tree is an incredible 14 metres in circumference. With its hollow centre and door cut into its side, the Boab Prison Tree was once used by early police patrols as a staging point for prisoners being walked into Derby.
Today, the tree is a registered Aboriginal Site and is of cultural significance to local tribes.The Boab Prison Tree is seven kilometres from Derby making it an easy drive from town.
10/Cotton Tree
The Cotton Tree is an historic symbol of Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone. According to legend, the “Cotton Tree” gained importance in 1792 when a group of former African American slaves, who had gained their freedom by fighting for the British during the American War of Independence, settled the site of modern Freetown. The Cotton Tree is a rapidly growing deciduous tree that reaches heights of 80 feet or more, and a diameter of five to eight feet above its buttresses. The buttresses themselves can be up to ten feet tall and extend ten feet from the main trunk. The tree has a broad, flat crown of horizontal branches. The leaves are compound with five to eight lance-shaped leaflets that are three to eight inches long.
The tree produces three-to-six-inch long, elliptical fruits. These fruits contain many seeds surrounded by a dense mat of cottony fibers. The tree gets its common name from these fibers which rain from the tree when the fruits ripen. The fibers are almost pure cellulose, buoyant, impervious to water, and have a low thermal conductivity, but they do not lend themselves to spinning. Called Kapok in Asia, the fibers are used for insulation, padding in sleping bags and life preservers, and for stuffing mattresses and pillows. In Puerto Rico the tree was often planted in the center of plazas for shade, and it is considered a valuable honey tree.
source theazon.com/2011/09/top-10-famous-trees-in-the-world/
Santa Maria del Tule is a small town in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico with its famous Arbol del Tule in the chuchyard. It is located about 10 kilometers , it is easily reached by bus or car.Arbol del Tule is Mexico’s most famous tree, and some say the world’s largest single biomass. The Tule tree and its environs comprise a unique natural monument, an attraction for locals and visitors alike.The town of Santa Maria del Tule takes its name from the famous tree and boasts not just one, but seven extremely large and ancient cypress trees.
The largest dwarfs the town’s church and is more than 2,000 years old and has a circumference of 54 meters – the largest girth of any tree on the planet. Imagine… this tree was a sapling at the time when the civilization at Monte Alban was flourishing!This living ancient tree still growing. It’s age is calculated in 2000 years, it’s weight is almost 550 tons, a 705 cubic meters volume, diameter of 42 meters.
2/Baobab
The Baobab is called the Tree of Life with good reason. It is capable of providing shelter, food and water for the animal and human inhabitants of the African savannah regions.
The cork-like bark is fire resistant and is used for cloth and rope. The leaves are used for condiments and medicines. The fruit, called “monkey bread”, is rich in vitamin C and is eaten. The tree is capable of storing hundreds of litres of water, which is tapped in dry periods.Mature trees are frequently hollow, providing living space for numerous animals and humans alike. Trees are even used as bars, barns and more. The Baobab also features as the Tree of Life in Disney’s “Lion King”, and is the centrepiece in Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
For most of the year, the tree is leafless, and looks very much like it has its roots sticking up in the air. There are numerous legends offering explanations of how the tree came to be stuffed in the ground upside down, so it could no longer complain.
There are also numerous superstitions amongst native African people regarding the powers of the tree. Anyone who dares to pick a flower, for instance, will be eaten by a lion. On the other hand, of you drank water in which the seeds have been soaked, you’d be safe from a crocodile attack.
3/Cedars of God
The Cedars of God are among the last survivors of the extensive forests of the Cedars of Lebanon that thrived across Mount Lebanon in ancient times. Their timber was exploited by the Assyrians, Babylonians andPersians as well as the Phoenicians. The wood was prized by Egyptians for shipbuilding; Solomon used them in the construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem and the Ottoman Empire also used the cedars in railway construction.
The Cedars has a lot to offer – scenic beauty, hiking and skiing. And, of course, there are the famous Cedars of Lebanon where some of the oldest and most majestic examples of this ancient tree grow.
Once the plains of Lebanon were shaded by thick cedar forests, so it is no coincidence that the tree is the symbol of the entire country. Today, after centuries of persistent deforestation, the extent of this forest heritage has been markedly reduced. The trees however, do survive in areas and there they seem to reign supreme. This is the case of the slopes of Jabal Makmel that tower over the Qadisha Valley where, at an altitude of more than 2000 meters, we come to a vast forest known as “The Cedars.” Here there are 12 trees that are over one thousand years old, and about 400 that are more than one hundred.
4/General Sherman
The General Sherman is a giant sequoia tree located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, California. By volume, it is the largest known living single stem tree on Earth.The General Sherman Tree is neither the tallest known living tree on Earth , nor is it the widest , nor is it the oldest known living tree on Earth.
For a long time it was thought that this tree had reached an age of 2000 to 3000 years. Others even spoke about ages of 6000 to 11000 years. Research from 2002 has shown that he is probably ‘only’ about 2000 years old. In the past sequoias have been cut down that appeared to be 3220 years old and it is assumed that there might be giant sequoias up to 4000 years old out there, because the biggest are not always the oldest ones.
5/Dragon Trees
One of the most famous Botanical curiosities of Socotra is the Dragon’s tree, the tree is so named because any injury to the bark results in a deep red liquid excreting from the scar – compared in the past to the “Blood of Dragons”Its fruits are small fleshy berries containing between 1 and 3 seeds. As they develop they turn from green to black and then become orange once they are ripe. The berries are eaten by birds and thereby dispersed. The seeds are between 4mm and 5mm in diameter and weigh on average 68 mg.The berries exude a deep red resin, known as dragon’s blood.
The dragon’s blood tree is given some protection from international commercial trade under the listing of all Dracaena species on Appendix II of CITES, but if its populations are to be effectively preserved, a variety of measures will need to be taken. These include urgent monitoring of the species’ natural regeneration and the expansion of Skund Nature Sanctuary to cover important areas of the habitats. Also, efforts on avoiding road construction in the dragon blood’s habitat, and limit grazing need to be brought to attention. Additional conservation efforts for the tree involve fencing against livestock, watering of seedlings in open areas, and involving local communities in planting seedlings.
6/Tree of Life
The Tree of Life in Bahrain is one of the mysteries of world which is bound to be in your sightseeing list while in this Middle Eastern country.The Tree of Life stands alone with almost majestic flair, miles away from other vegetation and with no apparent source of water. The Tree of Life in Bahrain is a mesquite tree that has grown at the highest point in Bahrain for over 400 years. The mystery of the survival of the tree has made it a legend.
The local inhabitants believe with heart and soul that this was the actual location of the Garden of Eden. The Tree of Life or Sharajat-al-Hayat, as the Arabs call it, is located 1.2 miles or 2 kilometers away from Jebel Dukhan. The tree stands lonely in the heart of desert, on top of a 25-foot-high sandy hill. The tree of life has continued growing-despite the extremities of the climate. At present it is 32 feet in height.
7/Lone Cypress
The Lone Cypress Tree is over 200 years old and because its one of the most famous trees in the world, is also the official symbol of Pebble Beach and you will see it during your drive through 17-Mile Drive. The tree is perched on a rock with supporting cable around it to keep it from falling.The Lone Cypress Tree is one of the many Monterey Cypress trees native to the Del Monte Forest area, defined by the headlands of the Carmel River to the north and Point Lobos to the south. Sandy Lydon, author of “Chinese Gold: the Chinese in the Monterey Bay Region” has stated that the Monterey Cypress may have been brought to the California coast from China by a fifth-century Buddhist monk, Hui-Shen. The account cannot be historically corroborated, although substantial evidence exists that supports the strong possibility of travel from China to pre-Colombian America.
8/Major Oak
The Major Oak is a huge oak tree near the village of Edwinstowe in the heart of Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, England. According to local folklore, it was Robin Hood’s shelter where he and his merry men slept.The Major Oak’s first recorded name was the Cockpen tree, a reference to its use as a cockerel pen to hold the birds before a cockfight. However, the tree became better known as “The Major’s Oak” after it was described in 1790 by a local historian, Major Hayman Rooke. Throughout the 19th century it was also known as the Queen or Queen’s Oak.In the Spring, many birds including jackdaws, woodpeckers and great tits make their nest in what is Sherwood’s most famous Oak. Look out for young grey squirrels in May-June as they make their first journeys away from their nests, you can often see them practising their tightrope acts on the oak’s network of supporting cables.
9/Boab Prison Tree
The Boab Prison Tree is a large hollow Adansonia gregorii tree just south of Derby, Western Australia. It is reputed to have been used in the 1890s as a lockup for Indigenous In recent years a fence was erected around the tree to protect it from vandalism.
The massive ancient Boab Prison Tree is believed to be around 1,500 years old and sits on the outskirts of the remote northern town of Derby in Western Australia’s rugged Kimberley region. The tree is an incredible 14 metres in circumference. With its hollow centre and door cut into its side, the Boab Prison Tree was once used by early police patrols as a staging point for prisoners being walked into Derby.
Today, the tree is a registered Aboriginal Site and is of cultural significance to local tribes.The Boab Prison Tree is seven kilometres from Derby making it an easy drive from town.
10/Cotton Tree
The Cotton Tree is an historic symbol of Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone. According to legend, the “Cotton Tree” gained importance in 1792 when a group of former African American slaves, who had gained their freedom by fighting for the British during the American War of Independence, settled the site of modern Freetown. The Cotton Tree is a rapidly growing deciduous tree that reaches heights of 80 feet or more, and a diameter of five to eight feet above its buttresses. The buttresses themselves can be up to ten feet tall and extend ten feet from the main trunk. The tree has a broad, flat crown of horizontal branches. The leaves are compound with five to eight lance-shaped leaflets that are three to eight inches long.
The tree produces three-to-six-inch long, elliptical fruits. These fruits contain many seeds surrounded by a dense mat of cottony fibers. The tree gets its common name from these fibers which rain from the tree when the fruits ripen. The fibers are almost pure cellulose, buoyant, impervious to water, and have a low thermal conductivity, but they do not lend themselves to spinning. Called Kapok in Asia, the fibers are used for insulation, padding in sleping bags and life preservers, and for stuffing mattresses and pillows. In Puerto Rico the tree was often planted in the center of plazas for shade, and it is considered a valuable honey tree.
source theazon.com/2011/09/top-10-famous-trees-in-the-world/