81 Facts about Trees and Wood

Originally Posted by Author-Johnny W. Morlan

For several years, I have compiled facts on wood and trees. Here are 81 that I will share with you. I add to and update it frequently. Some are pretty astounding.

1 * The oldest workable wood/lumber on earth is Ancient Kauri {Agathis australis}. The trees from ancient forests on North Island, New Zealand have been buried under peat moss since the last ice age. They are well preserved and are now being dug up from the tundra. They have been radio carbon dated to approximately 30,000 - 50,000 years old. Of coarse, 50,000 years is the ultimate limit of radio carbon dating so it is quite possible that these trees could be older!


It is estimated that the trees were growing approximately 12 - 20 centuries before they were buried by the ice. Some of the trees have a circumference of approximately 40 foot and heights of almost 200 foot. The Ancient Kauri trees are native to New Zealand and are not found anywhere else in the world. The wood/lumber from these trees can be purchased from, Ancientwood, LTD. Each piece of Ancient Kauri wood/lumber purchased, comes with a Certificate Of Authenticity.


2 * It is not uncommon for a Pohutukaw, New Zealand Christmas tree {Metrosiderosis excelsa} to have multiple trunks. An ancient Pohutukaw named Te Waha O Rerekohu, is growing on the grounds of the Te Waha O Rerekohu School in Te Araroa that has 22 trunks! It is approximately 65 foot tall and is over 600 years old.


3 * Balsa {Ochroma pyramidale} is the lightest and softest commercially sold wood in the world. It's average specific gravity averages .16. Note: There are 4 other woods that are lighter, but none of them are suitable for any purpose. They are extremely weak and are not actually anything like wood as far as looks, feel and texture.


4 * The world's largest, recorded harvested burl was a Redwood {Sequoia sempervirens}, located near Big Lagoon in Humboldt County, California in 1944. It was approximately 105 foot in circumference {over 33 foot in diameter}, nine feet tall at the crown and weighed 60 tons. Seven redwoods up to six foot in diameter were growing out of it. It took four men about a month to harvest and make it into veneer stock.


5 * In the United States alone, it takes approximately 57 million trees per year, just to produce the catalogs that are made!


6 * Not all species of wood floats in water. In order to sink in water the specific gravity of the wood, has to be 1.00 or more. The 27 below sink.

Kiln Dried 6% - 12% Moisture Content

African Blackwood - {Dalbergia melanoxylon} Average Specific Gravity 1.18
Billian - {Eusideroxylon zwageri} Average Specific Gravity 1.17
Black Ironwood - {Olea laurifolia} Average Specific Gravity 1.08
Brazil Ironwood - Caesalpinia ferrea} Average Specific Gravity 1.18
Brazilwood - {Caesalpinia echinata} Average Specific Gravity 1.22
Burma Ironwood - {Xylia xylocarpa} Average Specific Gravity 1.26
Ceylon Ironwood - {Mesua ferrea} Average Specific Gravity 1.10
CocoBolo Rosewood - {Dalbergia retusa} Average Specific Gravity 1.11
Desert Ironwood - {Olneya tesota} Average Specific Gravity 1.13
East Indian Satinwood, Ceylon - {Chloroxylon swietenia} Average Specific Gravity 1.02
Ebony - {Diospyrus crassiflora} Average Specific Gravity 1.03
Ekki - {Lophira alata} Average Specific Gravity 1.03
Greenheart - {Ocotea rodiaei} Average Specific Gravity 1.03
IPE - {Tabebuia serratifolia} Average Specific Gravity 1.09
Kingwood Rosewood - {Dalbergia cearensis} Average Specific Gravity 1.18
Knobthorn - {Acacia nigrescens} Average Specific Gravity 1.17
Leadwood - {Krugiodendron ferreum} Average Specific Gravity 1.29
Lignum Vitae - {Guaiacum officinale} Average Specific Gravity 1.34
Macassar Ebony - {Diospyros celebica} Average Specific Gravity 1.07
Marblewood - {Diospyros marmorata} Average Specific Gravity 1.03
Mountain Mahogany - {Cercocarpus ledifolius} Average Specific Gravity 1.11
Quebracho - {Schinopsis balansae} Average Specific Gravity 1.26
Satine, Bloodwood - {Brosimum paraense} Average Specific Gravity 1.01
Snakewood - {Piratinera guianensis} Average Specific Gravity 1.37
Sucupira - {Bowdichia nitida} Average Specific Gravity 1.01
White Topped Box - {Eucalyptus quadrangulata} Average Specific Gravity 1.01
Womara - {Swartzia leiocalycina} Average Specific Gravity 1.27


7 * Bamboo, although often tree like, is actually not a species of tree.


8 * The whitest wood in the world is Holly {Ilex opaca}. The Silver Striped Holly seems to produce the whitest wood of all the species of Holly. To produce the whitest wood, the best time to cut down Holly tress is in the winter when the sap is lower, and then mill and kiln dry it before summer.


9 * The blackest wood in the world is Ebony {Diospyros crassiflora}.


10 * Not all wood that comes from hardwood {flowering} broadleaf trees is hard and wood that comes from softwood {conifers} cone-bearing trees is soft. There are exceptions to this. For instance Balsa {Ochroma pyramidale} and Basswood {Tilia americana} are hardwoods even though they are extremely soft. The southern pines {Pinus strobus} are softwoods but are moderately hard and much harder than Balsa or Basswood.


11 * Osage Orange {Maclura pomifera} is the species of wood that produces the most heat when burned, approximately 33 million BTU's per 20% air dried moisture content cord. A cord of wood is 4 foot wide x 4 foot high x 8 foot long {128 cubic foot} and has on average 80 cubic foot of burnable wood, the rest is just air space.


12 * The most recently discovered tree specie is the Wollemi Pine, {Wollemia nobilis}. It was discovered in September 1994, by, a New South Wales National Parks officer named David Noble in a secluded area in the Blue Mountains of the Wollemi National Park, approximately 124 miles west of Sydney Australia. The total count of the wild mature trees is fewer than a hundred. The largest one is a little over 131 foot tall and a little short of 4 foot in diameter. The species is from the Araucariaceae family of conifers which are around 200 million years old, one of the oldest on earth.


In October of 2005, 292 five year old, 6 foot 6 inch to almost 10 foot tall cultivated Wollemi Pine trees from the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney Australia, were auctioned off by Sotheby's Auction House, selling from $2000 - $7000 each, with one bidder paying $115,000 for a set of trees. The auction took in $1.17 million.


Sometime in the spring of 2006, Wollemi Pine trees ranging in height from 16 inches to a little under 5 foot will be available to the general public at reasonable prices through retail outlets.


13 * White Oak {Quercus alba} is the species of wood that is easiest to steam bend. With thin stock {1/8 inch or thinner} you can bend it, into an extremely small {tight} radius.


14 * The name Ironwood is actually a slang term given to the hardest wood of an area, region or country. There are over 80 species of wood in the world, referred to or having the word Ironwood in them.


15 * The heaviest and the hardest wood in the world is Snakewood {Piratinera guianensis}. It's specific gravity averages 1.30.


16 * The tree with the world's greatest recorded root depth is a Wild Fig {Ficus natalensis}, located at Echo Caves, close to the town of Ohrigstad, Transvaal, located in South Africa. One of its roots goes down 393 foot 8 3/8 inches.

17 * The Ombu {Phytolacca dioica} tree, looks like a tree but is actually not a tree specie, it is a bush. It grows in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. The Ombu can live with very little water, can survive violent storms, insect attacks and intense heat. Its wood is so moist it will not burn and so spongy the tree can be cut down with a knife. Its trunk can have a diameter of 16 foot and the total overall height can reach 60 foot.


18 * Palm Sunday was named after the Palm tree {Phoenix dactylifera} because people took branches of Palm trees with them to greet Jesus Christ in Jerusalem {John 12:13}.


19 * The world's tallest natural uncut and living Christmas tree is 276 foot. It is a Eucalyptus {Eucalyptus regnansis} located in the Styx Valley, a tract of ancient forest in Tasmania, Australia.


To date, the world's tallest cut down and decorated Christmas tree was a Fir of 215 foot. It was used to celebrate the Christmas of 1950 in the city of Seattle Washington.


20* The world's shortest tree specie is the Dwarf {Least} Willow {Salix herbacea}. It is rare to find one more than 2 1/2 inches tall. They are also dioecious, producing both male, yellow colored and female, red colored catkins. They have been found growing on frozen tundra in the Arctic.


21 * The tree specie with the thickest bark is the Redwood {Sequoia gigantean}, its bark can be up to 24 inches thick.


22 * The tree specie with the thickest bark other than a Redwood {Sequoia gigantea}, is the Coast Douglas Fir tree {Pseudotsuga menziesii}. On the older trees, the bark can be 8 - 12 inches thick.


23 * The tree specie that produces the largest cones is the Sugar Pine {Pinus lambertiana}, ranging in size from 12 to 24 inches in length and 4 to 5 inches in diameter.


24 * Lignin is the substance found in wood that helps determine how hard the wood will be. The more Lignin present, the harder the wood and vice versa, the less present, the softer the wood.


25 * The bark of the Cork Oak {Quercus suber} is used to produce cork wine stoppers). The species grows in Northwest Africa and Southwest Europe with Algeria, Morocco, Portugal and Spain, manufacturing the majority of the world's supply.


26 * Up until a few years ago, the world's oldest living tree, a Bristlecone Pine {Pinus longaeva}, named the Methuselah was located in the Great Basin National Park, California. It is approximately 4,844 years old. It is also the tallest living {55 foot} Bristlecone Pine. Now there may be at least two trees that are older!


With John White's refined measurement techniques of today {see below}, The Lime {Tilia cordata}, in the Silkwood at Westonbirt Arboretum (Near Tetbury, Gloucester, U.K.) is probably around 6000 years old.


The Fortingall Yew {Taxus baccata}, in Glen Lyon, Perthshire, Scotland, might be as much as 9000 years old. The usual way of calculating a trees age by counting the annual rings in the trunk or by carbon dating, are not accurate when it comes to Yews because a Yews trunk tends to hollow with age, while it continues to grow by rooting its branches and wrapping them around itself. There is even documentation of the formation of aerial roots growing inside the hollow trunk. Another reason are Yews have been known to stop growing for long periods of time, {documented 325 years}, thus having no growth rings for that period.


John White's method of estimating a tree's age is by measuring its trunk circumference approximately 5 feet from ground level. He had access to and studied more than 100,000 tree measurements and multitudes of growth ring patterns from broken or cutoff stumps and concluded that growth rings are closer together on the outside portion of the stump. His technique shows that trees grow at different rates in the three phases of their lifetime, Formative, Middle Age and Senescence (Old Age}. With the evidence he has complied, tables of expected growth, relative to trunk size have been made for numerous common trees.


27 * There are two types of trees that it is impossible to tell how old they are by counting their growth rings. Trees produce growth rings because of the distinguishable temperature changes that occur over a yearly cycle causing their growth to slow down and speed up.


Trees in certain tropical regions that have a consistent year round climate where growth is ongoing do not form pronounced growth rings. Trees that are endogenous, the majorities of which is some specie of Palm tree {Arecaceae, Palmae or Palm Family), which grow by adding new material inwards, do not produce growth rings.


28 * In 1964, after his coring tool broke and getting permission from the U.S. Forest Service, a research scientist to get an accurate age measurement cut down a Bristlecone Pine {Pinus longaeva}, in Great Basin National Park, since named Prometheus! It turned out the tree was over 4,950 years old making it older than the Bristlecone Pine named Methuselah, which at the time was 4,803 years old. He had not only found the oldest living thing on the planet, but he had also killed it. A cross-section of the tree is on view at the Great Basin National Parks, visitor center in California.


29 * The world's largest divided tree leaf to date was growing on a West African Raphia Palm {Raphia vinifera}. When measured, it was approximately 82 foot in length. Note: Only a very small percentage of tree species in the world have divided leaves.


30 * The tree specie with the largest undivided leaves is the Bigleaf Magnolia {Magnolia macrophylla}. The leaves are 7 to 12 inches wide and 12 to 32 inches long.


31 * In an article written in 2004 and featured in the weekly magazine Nature, it states that theoretically, the tallest possible height that any tree could obtain is 400-425 foot. This is because of gravity and the friction between water and the vessels of the tree through which it flows.


32 * In 1872, trained forester William Ferguson, reported a fallen Eucalyptus Tree (Eucalyptus regnans), which was 18 feet in diameter and 435 feet long thus making it the tallest (or longest) tree ever found.

33 * The world's tallest living standing tree, a Redwood {Sequoia gigantea} named Hyperion, is in Redwood National Park located in California. Last measured in October 2006, it was approximately 379 foot 1 1/2 inches {almost 38 stories} tall, or approximately 6 stories higher than the Statue of Liberty.


34 * The world's tallest living standing tree, other than a Redwood {Sequoia gigantea}, is a 329 foot high Douglas Fir {Pseudotsuga taxifolia}, in Coos Bay, Oregon. It would make more than 60,000 board feet of lumber.


35 * The tree with the widest tree trunk in the world is the Santa Maria del Tule, an Montezuma Cypress {Taxodium mucronatum}, in Santa Maria del Tule, Oaxaca, Mexico. The town is named after the tree. It is approximately 37 foot 6 inches in diameter {wide}, approximately 141 foot tall and over 2000 years old.


Because the trunk of the tree is not circular in shape but in reality has an distorted and irregular shape, you can't multiply the diameter by approximately 3.14 {pi} and come up with its true approximate circumference {girth}.


It was thought that the trunks of the tree were several different individual trees that had merged together. A test of DNA samples taken from the trunks of the tree in 1996 using the technique Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA indicated that the trunks came from a single tree.


36 * At one time, in the late 18th century the world's greatest recorded tree circumference {girth} was a European Chestnut {Castanea sativa) known as the Tree Of The Hundred Horses, located on Mount Etna in Sicily, Italy. At that time it had a circumference {girth} of almost 190 foot. Since then, it has separated into three parts {trees}.


37 * The world's slowest growing tree is a White Cedar {Thuja occidentalis}, located in Canada. After 155 years, it grew to a height of 4 inches and weighed only 6/10th of an ounce. The tree can be found on a cliffside in the Canadian Great Lakes area.


38 * The world's largest forest is in northern Russia. It is located between 55 degrees North Latitude and the Arctic Circle {Siberia}. It is a coniferous forest. It covers a total area of 2.7 billion acres.


39 * The world's fastest growing specie of tree, is the Empress {Paulownia spp.}. This tree can grow up to 20 feet the first year and some have been documented growing 12 inches in 21 days!


40 * The world's fastest recorded growth of a tree was an Albasia {Albizzia falcate} located in Sabah, Malaysia in the year 1974. It grew, 35 foot 3 inches in approximately 13 months. That would be averaging about 1 1/10 inch per day.


41 * The tree with the world's largest canopy/crown {spread of its branches} is the great Banyan {Ficus bengalensis}, in the Indian Botanical Garden, Calcutta, India. It has over 1,700 prop supporting roots and dates back to 1787. The canopy/crown has a circumference of 1,350 foot, approximately 430 foot wide, almost 1 1/2 football fields.


42 * The world's largest living tree, and this is because of its volume is the General Sherman Giant Sequoia {Sequoia gigantea}, located in Sequoia National Park, in California. It is believed to be approximately 2,100 years old. It weighs a little over 2.7 million pounds and its largest branch is 6 foot 9 1/2 inches in diameter. At 120 foot above the ground, its trunk is still over 17 feet in diameter. It is estimated that it contains 600,000 board foot of lumber. Its trunk by itself, weighs approximately 1400 tons. Its champion tree score is 1321 points.


A trees score is determined by adding 3 measurements together, circumference in inches, measured at 4 1/2 feet above ground level {1 point for each inch}, height in feet {1 point for each foot in height}, and one-fourth of the crown spread. Add together the widest crown spread {nearest foot}, and the narrowest crown spread {nearest foot}, then divide by two to get the average ground spread, then divide by 4.

Originally Posted by Continued from above

43 * The state with the most registered national champion trees {largest of a particular species} is Florida with 163.


44 * Bible Trees, there are 36 individual different {going by botanical name} species of trees {listed below} mentioned in the Bible. A few such as Bay and Shittah only appear once while some others like Olive and Palm appear numerous times.


The one passage, Isaiah 41:19 has seven trees mentioned in it. It reads: I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together.

Acacia - {Acacia seyal} - Exodus 37:1, 4, 10, 15, 25, 28
Almond - {Amygdalus communis} - Jeremiah 1:11
Algum/Sandalwood - {Pterocarpus santalinus} - 2 Chronicles 2:8
Almug - {Trerocarpus santalimus} - 1 Kings 10:11
Apple - {Malus communis} - Joel 1:12
Ash - {Fraxinus excelsior} - Isaiah 44:14
Bay - {Laurus Nobilis} - Psalm 37:35
Box - {Buxus sempervirens} - Isaiah 60:13
Bramble/Buckthorn - {Rhamnus purshiana} - Judges 9:14 & 15
Broom - {Cytisus scoparius} - Psalm 120:4
Cedar of Lebanon - {Cedrus libani} - Ezekiel 27:5
Chestnut - {Aesculus hippocastanum} - Genesis 30:37
Citron/Thyine - {Ttetraclinis articulata} - Revelation 18:12
Cypress - {Cupressus macrocarpa} - Isaiah 44:14
Ebony - {Dalbergia melanoxylon} - Ezekiel 27:12 - 24
Elm - {Ulmus campestris} - Hosea 4:13
Fig - {Ficus carica} - Micah 4:4
Fir - {Abies cilicia} - Isaiah 41:19
Hazel - {Corylus avellana} - Genesis 30:37
Juniper - {Juniperus excelsa} - 1 Kings 19:4 & 5
Lign Aloes - {Aquilaria agallocha} - Numbers 24:6
Mulberry - {Morus laevigata} - 2 Samuel 5:23 & 24
Myrtle - {Myrtus communis} - Isaiah 41:19
Oak - {Quercus calliprinos} - Joshua 24:26
Oil/Oleaster - {Elaeagnus angustifolia} - Isaiah 41:19
Olive - {Olea europaea} - Judges 9:8 & 9
Palm, Edible Date Palm {Phoenix dactylifera} - John 12:13
Pine - {Pinus pinea} - 1 Kings 6:14
Plane - {Platanus orientalis} - Ezekiel 31:8
Pomegranate - {Punica granatum} - 1 Samuel 14:2
Poplar - {Populas alba} - Genesis 30:37
Shittah/Setim/Acacia - {Acacia gerrardii} - Isaiah 41:19
Sycamore/Sycomore - {Acer pseudoplatanus} - Luke 19:4
Tamarisk/Tamarix - {Tamarix aphylla} - Genesis 21:33
Teil/Terebinth/Turpentine/Lime - {Tilia cordata} - Isaiah 6:13
Willow - {Salix safsaf} - Ezekiel 17:5


45 * There are no leaves, just thorns on the Saguaro Giant Cactus tree {Carnegiea gigantea}. The tallest one is located in the Sonoran Desert, in the Cave Creek Complex, Maricopa County, Arizona. It is approximately 45 foot 3 inches tall and 3 foot 3 inches in diameter. On June 21, 2005 it was injured in a fire started by lightning.


It takes almost 10 years for this species of tree to reach 1 inch in height and approximately 75 years to begin to grow branches {limbs}. It produces dark red colored egg shaped fruit and it blooms in May and June, producing approximately 3 inch in diameter whitetish flowers with yellowish centers. In one out of approximately 200,000 Saguaro Giant Cactus trees, the top produces a mutation, making a crest called a cristate.

46 * The definition {below} of the word tree varies among experts. Actually, the exact number of tree species worldwide is unknown. If we go with definition # 5, there are approximately 2,600. I f we go with definition # 1, there are at least 21,000 and if we go with definition #6, there would be 50,000 to as many as 100,000.


1 A woody plant growing on a single stem usually to a height of over two meters {approximately 6 foot 6 3/4 inches}.


2 A tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms {conifers} and angiosperms {flowering}.


3 A perennial woody plant having a main trunk and usually a distinct crown usually over 10 foot tall.


4 In arboricultural terminology, the definition of tree is a woody plant with one main trunk and a rather distinct and elevated head {crown}. If not altered through human intervention, true trees (such as elm trees) will, by definition, generally reach a height of 15 feet or more.


5 Any perennial woody plant of considerable size (usually over twenty feet high) and growing with a single trunk.


6 A woody perennial plant having a single usually elongate main stem generally with few or no branches on its lower part.


7 A woody plant at least 5 meters {16 foot 4 3/4 inches} high with a main stem the lower part of which is usually unbranched.


8 A very tall plant that is mostly wood, except for its leaves.


9 A tree is a woody plant with a single erect perennial trunk at least 3 inches in diameter at breast height {DBH). Most trees have definitely formed crowns of foliage and attain heights in excess of 13 feet.


10 A tree can be defined as a large, perennial woody plant.


47 * The Longleaf Pine {Pinus palustris}, native to the southern part of the United States, does not have heartwood until it is 18 or so years old.


48 * The town of Flagstaff Arizona was named when On July 4th 1876; lumberjacks stripped the limbs from the tallest Ponderosa Pine {Pinus ponderosa} tree and then flew the American flag from it.

49 * One acre of full-grown medium sized trees removes approximately 6 tons of pollution from the air each year.


50 * One acre of average sized trees creates enough oxygen yearly to sustain 18 people.

51 * The Oak {Quercus spp.} as of November 2004, is the official National tree of the USA as it is Germany's and Great Britain's. It is also the species of tree that is struck by lightning the most.


52 * The tree that has traveled the farthest distance to be transplanted to date is a London Plane {Platanus acerifolia}, nicknamed Plane Ace. It was moved from Belgium and was replanted in the United Kingdom in January 2001. At the time, it was approximately 60 years old and almost 58 foot tall.


53 * The tallest tree to date to be transplanted was the 30 year old Silver Birch {Betula pendula}, which was moved from William Garfit's nursery in Cambridge and was replanted at a lifestyle housing development in the south London suburb of Deptford. At the time, it was almost 64 foot tall.


54 * The Copaiba {Copaifera langsdorfii} nicknamed the Diesel Tree, grows in the Amazon of South America particularly in Brazil, and produces oleoresin called copaiba that is so much like diesel fuel, that it can be used as fuel for diesel engines. On average a mature tree can produce approximately 14 gallons of diesel per year.


55 * If you burn Ceylon Satinwood {Chloroxylon swietenia}, the fumes will put humans to sleep and kill canaries.


56 * Purpleheart {Peltogyne pubescens} wood can be made to become a darker shade of purple in two ways. One is by placing it in direct sunlight, and this will only darken the color superficially, it can be sanded off very easily. The second way, is by heating it, at say 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 - 12 minutes. This will darken the color, not only on the surface but also throughout the whole piece.


57 * A Balsa tree {Ochroma pyramidale}, will start rotting after only 7 years, if not cut.


58 * For every 10,000 acorns that an Oak tree {Quercus spp.} produces, only one will become a tree!


59 * The world's rarest tree is the lone Paarijat located in the Barolia village close to Ramnagar in the Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is 45 foot tall and approximately 27 foot in diameter and during the month of August blooms white flowers.


60 * The largest known Alpine Ponderosa Pine {Pinus ponderosa} forest in the world is located on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.


61 * In a 25 acre plot of rain forest on the island of Borneo, approximately 700 different species of trees can be found.


62 * Approximately 1,182 different species of trees can be found in the United States.


63 * The only species of wood that can be used for holding liquids {other than acids} is White Oak {Quercus alba}. This is because the pores are filled with tyloses. This substance does not allow liquids to penetrate it. It is used to make barrels for Whiskey, Sherry and in general for ageing fine wines. Hence, one of its names is Stave Oak.


64 * The world's most massive tree trunk size ever recorded was the Lindsey Creek Coast Redwood {Sequoia sempervirens), in California. It was blown down in a storm in 1905. It had a total trunk volume of 90,000 cubic foot and a total mass weight of 3,248 tons, a little short of 6.5 million pounds.

65 * Since the early 1940's, the United States has been planting more trees than it harvests and today, has far more trees than in the 1920's.


66 * The wood species that has the most offensive odor {like rotten cabbage} after it is worked in any way, is Esia {Combretodendron macrocarpum}.


67 * The Coastal Redwood tree Sequoia sempervirens}, has winged shaped seeds. On average, the number of seeds per pound is approximately 120,000.


68 * Some African Baobab {Adansonia digitata} trees can store more than 25,000 gallons {in weight, approximately 100 tons} of water in their trunks. Also, some with age have become hollow and have been used as homes. One was even used as a bus stop and could shelter up to 30 people.


69 * Empress {Paulownia spp.} trees produce 3 to 4 times more oxygen than any other known tree.

70 * Cork trees {Quercus suber}, are stripped of their bark every 10 years or so and will continue to grow for 150 years or more.


71 * The Manchineel tree {Hippomane mancinella}, native to the Caribbean coast and the Florida Everglades, is the most dangerous tree specie on earth. It has had an evil reputation since the Spanish explorers first found it in the early 16th century. The tree exudes an extremely poisonous and caustic sap that was once used on the tips of arrows for poison. Contact with skin causes numerous blisters, a very small amount gets in an eye, it can blind a person permanently, and one bite of the fruit can make one deathly sick.


72 * In the Wasatch Mountains in Bryce Canyon National Park located in Utah, there exists a {clonal} tree network of 47,000 Quaking Aspen trees nicknamed Pando, (Populus tremuloides), growing from a single root system. The root system is estimated to be over 80,000 years old although the average age of the trees, measured by counting the tree rings is approximately only 130 years old. It is genetically uniform and acts as a single life form, thus changing the color and shedding the leaves of all the trees in unison. The entire system covers approximately 106 acres and weighs about 6600 tons.


73 * Rubber trees {Ficus populnea}, on the average yield about 4-5 pounds of rubber per year.


74 * A Sugar Maple tree {Acer saccharum} can produce approximately 3 gallons of sap a day. To make just one quart of maple syrup, it takes 11-13 gallons of sap.


75 * The softest American wood is the Corkbark Fir {Abies lasiocarpa}. It's specific gravity averages .28. It is native to Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.


76 * The hardest American wood is Black Ironwood {Krugiodendron ferreum}. It's specific gravity averages 1.16. It is native to southern Florida.


77 * A solitary Norwegian Spruce tree {Picea excelsa} on Campbell Island in the Pacific is the most isolated tree on earth. The next nearest tree to it, is located on the Auckland Islands, over 120 miles away.


78 * Ginkgo {Ginko biloba} is the world's oldest living tree species. It has been found numerous times in sedimentary rocks of the Jurassic and Triassic Periods (135-210 million years ago) when dinosaurs roamed the earth. At one time, thought to be extinct, the species was proliferated from 7 trees that were discovered in an ancient monastery in China. Years later, there were some found growing wild in the isolated valleys of eastern China.


79 * It is often said, that Pink Ivorywood trees {Rhammnus zeyheri} are rarer than diamonds.


80 * To build a 2000 square foot house takes approximately 16,000 board foot of lumber {wood}. (NAHB}, National Association of Home Builders, March 2005.


81 * American Black Walnut {Juglans nigra} produces a natural chemical called Juglone that repels some garden insects and fleas. By placing small branches or leaves of it around your house in inconspicuous areas and in and around your pets sleeping area you will find your dogs and cats will have less fleas.

Originally Posted by wulkowicz

That about says it all. Found the oldest living thing on the planet and killed it.

Originally Posted by Ekka

Dont try #55 at ya next BBQ!

Originally Posted by Sean Freeman

Here's a relevant link Oldest Living Tree Tells All, by Michael P. Cohen : Essays : Terrain.org from a previous thread on the topic

Originally Posted by Sean Freeman

(...) It is a real shame that the cork oaks in Spain have been supplanted over recent decades by Eucalyptus plantations (...)

Originally Posted by Sean Freeman

(...) not trying to suggest there is one single factor behind this (though human greed fits the bill nicely)

Originally Posted by Sean Freeman

(...)decline in the demand for cork, rising demand for paper products, speed of growth therefore returns etc.... (...)

Originally Posted by Sean Freeman

(...) Some of these pockets or buffers do require some inputs, most just require to be left alone-totally left alone. That is often not possible due to the location of the parcel of land, some kind of management/fencing etc... is required.

Looking again at land being managed for production...more and more farmers here in Oz are recognising the critical value to their own properties of conserving open Eucalypt woodland, sadaly not so much here in Queensland, but in NSW and Victoria, farmers groups, land conservation groups, ecologists, and agricultural extension services have made good progress in demonstrating the role this kind of vegetation community plays.(...)

Originally Posted by Sean Freeman

(...)From the outside of the farm fence such blocks do appear non-productive, they may be fenced for long periods of the year with stock only permitted access at certain times, hard to fit the returns into an annual balance sheet, but for me people with annual balance sheets the only thing driving them won't last long.(...)