Tallest Hardwood    Robert Van Pelt
   May 20, 2005 08:01 PDT 

Greetings,

I recently was on a tour of Washington State lands with an old-growth commission and measured two more Populus balsamifera trichocarpa at over 54 m! That now makes five, with the tallest being 54.5 m.

Is this the tallest native hardwood tree in North America? I think it might be.

Unfortunately, and unlike you on the East Coast, our next tallest hardwood is only 45.4 m. I think I might be able to find 4 or 5 species over 45 m, but I have not yet.

But then again, we have conifers... Oh yes, we have conifers.

Cheers,
- BVP
RE: New finds    Rory Nichols
   May 20, 2005 12:00 PDT 

BVP:

Roughly where are these trees located in WA? Usually, the tallest I see are
pushing 150 here in the Willamette Valley. Not sure if I have seen any
160'+. I love the ones that get about 6' thick and clearly a single stem. Is
the next tallest native hardwood red alder?



Rory Nichols
RE: New finds    Will Blozan
   May 20, 2005 14:41 PDT 

DUDE!

Our tallest Liriodendron is 54.33m, so yes, a new champion! But just wait
for the end of this growing season!

What is the common name of the species?

Will
RE: New finds    Rory Nichols
   May 20, 2005 16:03 PDT 

black cottonwood.... you'll still see it as P. trichocarpa (e.g. National
Register of Big Trees) but i think P. balsamifera trichocarpa is becoming
more accepted.


Rory Nichols

"The things you own end up owning you." -Tyler
RE: New finds    Robert Van Pelt
   May 21, 2005 09:34 PDT 

Rory,
Currently we have:

Quercus lobata            45.5
Acer macrophyllum         44.9
Alnus rubra               43.6
Lithocarpus densiflorus   42.0
Umbellularia californica 40.2

I suspect with some diligent searching, we could place all of these above 45 m.

Cheers,
- BVP