Global ‘gigantism’ hotspot: Tasmanian tree standing at almost 100m tallest in the country

By Petra Stock
The Guardian
January 30, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Australian researchers have documented the tallest and most massive living trees in Tasmania, a “global hotspot of gigantism in plants”, including 18 examples over 90 metres. Most of the largest and tallest were Eucalyptus regnans, commonly known as mountain ash, including a tree known as “Centurion”, measuring 96 metres, according to new research in the Australian Journal of Botany. Located in the state’s Huon Valley, Centurion was once the world’s second tallest specimen, behind “Hyperion”, a coastal redwood in California measuring 115.6 metres. This made Australia, and especially Tasmania, a “global hotspot of gigantism in plants”, according to co-author Dr David Bowman, a professor of fire science at the University of Tasmania with a background in eucalypt ecology. Bowman said Tasmanian eucalypts were the “kings and queens of the forest” that were achieving “the physiological limit of what a giant tree can be”.

Related content from Yahoo!News: Hunters of Australia’s rare ‘giant trees’ warn time running out to visit them

Read More