Lincoln Tree

Depending on who held the tape, this tree holds 44,471 cubic feet of wood or 51,000. That gap of some 6,500 cubic feet is the argument between the measurers, and it is why the Lincoln Tree is usually called the fourth largest tree on Earth rather than simply stated to be. The lower figure was calculated by the dendrologist Wendell Flint. The higher one came from earlier measurements by White and Pusateri. Neither side has been proved wrong, and the ranking survives both: whichever number you take, very few trees anywhere are bigger. The base alone is about 30 metres round, irregular rather than neatly cylindrical, and the tree stands close to 80 metres tall. It carries the marks of a long life in a forest that burns. There are prominent fire scars on its north, south and west faces, a white burl swelling out of the northeast side, and at the top a bleached, broad-branched crown that looks weathered from the ground. It stands in the Giant Forest grove near the Congress Trail, within walking distance of General Sherman and the President. Nobody has published an age for it. If you know one, tell us.