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Livescience_2013 07534.txt

#What Is the World's Largest Tree? The largest tree in the world is a giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) in California's Sequoia National park. Called General Sherman the tree is about 52500 cubic feet (1487 cubic meters) in volume. That's the equivalent of more than half the volume of an Olympic-size swimming pool commonly considered to be 88500 cubic feet (2506 cubic meters. General Sherman is estimated to be about 2000 years old. That makes it only a middle-age giant sequoia as other trees are believed to be more than 3220 years old based on tree ring counts. The tree lost a huge branch in 2006 which shattered a new walkway and fence below. It didn't affect General Sherman's ranking as the largest tree however as that was calculated using trunk volume and not branches. General Sherman is also tall standing 274.9 feet (83.8 meters) high but that doesn't put it anywhere close to the record of tallest tree. The honor of tallest tree in the world is bestowed upon Hyperion a 379.7-foot-tall (115.7 m) redwood also located in California. Follow Livescience on Twitter@livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google

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