World’s largest tree: General Sherman is about 2200 years old and its trunk weighs nearly 1400 tonnes |
The world’s largest tree by volume stands in a fenced clearing in Sequoia National Park, California, where the air is thinner and cooler than the valley below. Visitors walk a paved trail and arrive without much warning at a trunk that fills their view. The General Sherman tree does not look hurried or dramatic. It rises, steady and thick, through filtered mountain light. Measured by volume, it is the largest tree on Earth. Park records estimate its volume at about 52,500 cubic feet, or 1,486 cubic metres. The tree is roughly 275 feet tall and more than 2,200 years old. These figures are checked and rechecked over time, but the impression on the ground is simpler. It is vast, quiet, and still growing.
General Sherman in California holds the record for largest tree by volume
General Sherman is a giant sequoia, a species known for bulk rather than extreme height. Its trunk alone weighs close to 1,400 tonnes. In timber terms, the tree contains an estimated 630,000 board feet of wood. Foresters sometimes note that this would be enough to build around 120 average-sized houses. The circumference at ground level measures about 102 feet, while the maximum diameter at the base is 36.5 feet. Even 180 feet above the ground, the trunk remains around 14 feet wide. The scale is difficult to hold in mind. Standing beside it, numbers feel secondary.
Rapid growth over centuries shaped its size
Despite its age, General Sherman is not the oldest known tree. Current estimates place it at around 2,200 years. Its size comes from sustained growth across centuries rather than extreme age. An average mature giant sequoia can add enough wood in a single year to form a 60 foot tall oak tree of moderate thickness. That steady accumulation explains the density and mass. The first large branch on General Sherman begins about 130 feet above the base. The crown spreads wide, averaging more than 100 feet across, though much of the tree’s bulk remains in the trunk.
Fire management has protected the tree in recent years
In September 2021, as the KNP Complex Fire moved towards Giant Forest, firefighters wrapped General Sherman and other large sequoias in protective aluminium material. Giant sequoias depend on fire to regenerate, yet recent high-intensity fires have damaged many old trees. Previous prescribed burns in the forest reduced flame length and slowed the wildfire’s spread. Crews were able to work close to the fire line. The tree remained standing, as it has through many earlier fires, its bark thick and marked by older scars.
