Where is the General Sherman tree located, and what is significant about it?
General Sherman is the name of a Giant Sequoia with a height of 275 feet (83.8 metres). As of 2002, the volume of its trunk measured about 1487 cubic meters, making it the largest non-clonal tree by volume. The tree is located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in the United States, east of Visalia, California. The tree is believed to be between 2,300 and 2,700 years old. In 1879, it was named after American Civil War general, William Tecumseh Sherman, by naturalist James Wolverton, who had served as a lieutenant in the 9th Indiana Cavalry under Sherman. The tree was identified as the largest, in a 1931 dispute involving the nearby General Grant tree, after which wood-volume was the widely accepted determining-factor. In January 2006 the largest branch on the tree (seen most commonly, in older photos, as an “L” or golf-club shape, protruding from about 1/4th down the trunk) broke off. There were no witnesses to the incident, but the branch—bigger around than the trunks of mos
The General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park is the largest (by volume) tree in the world. Computing the volume of a standing tree is the practical equivalent of calculating the volume of an irregular cone. For purposes of volume comparison, only the trunk of a giant sequoia is measured, including the restored volume of basal fire scars. Using these accepted standards and actual field measurements taken in 1975, the volume of the Sherman Tree was calculated to be slightly over 52.500 cubic feet (1486.6 meters). Sources: http://www.nps.gov/archive/seki/shrm_pic.
From Wikipedia: General Sherman is the name of a Giant Sequoia with a height of 275 feet (83.8 metres). As of 2002, the volume of its trunk measured about 1487 cubic meters, making it the largest non-clonal tree by volume. The tree is located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in the United States, east of Visalia, California. The tree is believed to be between 2,300 and 2,700 years old. In 1879, it was named after American Civil War general, William Tecumseh Sherman, by naturalist James Wolverton, who had served as a lieutenant in the 9th Indiana Cavalry under Sherman. The tree was identified as the largest, in a 1931 dispute involving the nearby General Grant tree, after which wood-volume was the widely accepted determining-factor. In January 2006 the largest branch on the tree (seen most commonly, in older photos, as an “L” or golf-club shape, protruding from about 1/4th down the trunk) broke off. There were no witnesses to the incident, but the branch—bigger around than t
