The Nature Nut
Published 5:30 am Thursday, November 27, 2025
How tall can trees grow?
The tallest known tree on planet Earth today is a coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) known as “Hyperion” which has been measured as reaching 116 metres.
Redwoods grow in a humid, maritime climate and are often bathed in fog clouds coming off the Pacific Ocean along the west coast of southern Oregon and northern California. Obtaining enough water is not a big problem for them.
Studies on tree heights suggest that really tall trees peak at between 100 and 130 metres (330 to 426 feet). The maximum height possible is largely determined by gravity and the availability of water.
When we visited friends in Tasmania, we were very surprised to learn that the second-tallest tree then known in the world was in Tasmania – a spectacular individual of Eucalyptus regnans (mountain ash) known as “Centurion.”
We think of Australia as being hot and dry, but Tassie can be wet and cool – the right conditions for tall trees to live in. Centurion is no longer the second-tallest because it lost 4 metres in a forest canopy wildfire and is now listed as the seventh tallest.
The second tallest is a South Tibetan cypress (Cupressus austrotibetica) growing in Tibet measuring 102.3 metres tall and the 3rd tallest tree is a Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) growing in California that measures 100.2 metres tall.
Number 4 is a Coast Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii) at 99.5 metres tall growing in Oregon. Some people believe that there used to be taller Douglas fir trees growing in B.C. in Lynn Valley and in Washington, but they were cut down.
A noble fir (Abies procera) near Mt. St. Helens was 99 m tall but was levelled by the 1980 explosive eruption.
Note: The information on tree heights is from Wikipedia, but I could not find the date the trees were measured, so it is possible the list may have changed.
