Where is and how old is the largest tree in the world?
The world’s largest tree, a giant sequoia growing in California’s Sequoia National Park, just keeps getting younger. The massive conifer, named General Sherman in 1879 by admirers of the Civil War general, may be little more than 2,000 years old, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study. New age estimates for this and several other famous giant sequoias — including the General Grant tree, known as the “Nation’s Christmas Tree” — are found in an article by research ecologist Dr. Nate Stephenson of the USGS Western Ecological Research Center in the botanical journal Madroño. The General Sherman tree measures 275 feet tall and 30 feet across at the base. Early estimates placed the tree’s age at 5,000 to 6,000 years, and later at 2,500 to 3,500 years, as techniques for estimating sequoia ages have become more accurate. “We now think the tree is even younger, perhaps only 2,100 to 2,200 years old,” said Stephenson. “The Sherman tree’s extreme bulk, more than ten times larger than a blu
