List of superlative trees
The world's superlative trees can be ranked by any factor. Records have been kept for trees with superlative height, trunk diameter or girth, canopy coverage, airspace volume, wood volume, estimated mass, and age. Tallest The heights of the tallest trees in the world have been the subject of considerable dispute and much exaggeration. Modern verified measurements with laser rangefinders or with tape drop measurements made by tree climbers (such as those carried out by canopy researchers), have shown that some older tree height measurement methods are often unreliable, sometimes producing exaggerations of 5% to 15% or more above the real height. Historical claims of trees growing to , and even , are now largely disregarded as unreliable, and attributed to human error. The following are the tallest reliably measured specimens from the top 10 species. This table shows only currently standing specimens: Tallest historically Despite the high heights attained by trees nowadays, records exist of much greater heights in the past, before widespread logging took place. Some, if not most, of these records are without a doubt greatly exaggerated, but some have been reportedly measured with semi-reliable instruments when cut down and on the ground. Some of the heights recorded