More than three trillion trees grow on Earth, but a handful of individual trees have become famous in their own right, for their size, their great age or the history they have witnessed. Some are thousands of years old; others are tied to legends and landmark events. Here are ten of the most famous trees in the world.
1. General Sherman, USA
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Growing in the Giant Forest of California’s Sequoia National Park, General Sherman is the largest tree on Earth by volume. This giant sequoia stands about 83 metres tall with a base more than 11 metres wide, and is estimated to be between 2,300 and 2,700 years old.
2. Arbol del Tule, Mexico
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In the town of Santa Maria del Tule in Oaxaca, this Montezuma cypress has the stoutest trunk of any tree in the world, so wide it was once thought to be several trees fused together, until DNA tests confirmed it is a single tree. Estimates of its age range from 1,200 to over 3,000 years.
3. The Major Oak, England
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Deep in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire stands the Major Oak, an enormous English oak thought to be 800 to 1,000 years old. Local legend says it sheltered Robin Hood and his outlaws, and its huge limbs are now propped up to protect them.
4. The Tree of Life, Bahrain
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Standing alone in the Bahraini desert, this mesquite tree is around 400 to 500 years old and survives with no obvious water source, its roots reaching deep underground. Its improbable survival has led some to link it to legends of the Garden of Eden.
5. The Cotton Tree, Sierra Leone
The Cotton Tree was a symbol of Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, for centuries. By tradition, freed slaves who settled the city in 1792 gathered beneath it to give thanks, making the towering tree a powerful emblem of freedom. Sadly, the historic tree was brought down by a storm in 2023.
6. The Lone Cypress, USA
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Perched on a granite outcrop along California’s famous 17-Mile Drive near Monterey, the Lone Cypress has clung to its windswept spot for an estimated 250 years. It is one of the most photographed trees in North America.
7. The Socotra Dragon Trees, Yemen
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Found only on the island of Socotra, these dragon’s blood trees have a strange upturned-umbrella shape and bleed a deep red resin when cut, which gave them their name. The dense crown shades the roots and helps the tree survive the island’s arid climate.
8. The Cedars of God, Lebanon
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High in the mountains of northern Lebanon, this small grove of Lebanon cedars is among the last survivors of the vast forests that once covered the region. Mentioned many times in the Bible, the cedars were prized in antiquity for their timber and resin.
9. The Boab Prison Tree, Australia
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This huge, hollow boab near Derby in Western Australia is over a thousand years old. It is widely believed to have been used in the 1890s to hold Aboriginal prisoners overnight, a difficult part of its history, and it is now fenced off and protected as a heritage site.
10. The Avenue of the Baobabs, Madagascar
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On the road between Morondava and Belon’i Tsiribihina in western Madagascar, a line of towering baobabs up to 800 years old creates one of the country’s most photographed scenes. Once part of a dense forest, they now rise dramatically over open farmland.
Keep exploring: the 10 most amazing trees in the world, the most famous natural landmarks in Africa, and the largest islands in the world.
