The Methuselah Tree is a

giant sequoia ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' (giant sequoia; also known as giant redwood, Sierra redwood, Sierran redwood, California big tree, Wellingtonia or simply big treea nickname also used by John Muir) is the sole living species in the genus ''Sequoiade ...

located in Mountain Home State Forest, a

sequoia grove This is a list of giant sequoia grove (nature), groves. All naturally occurring giant sequoia groves are located in the moist, unglaciated ridges and valleys of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada range in California, United States. They can ...

located in

Sequoia National Forest Sequoia National Forest is located in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. The U.S. National Forest is named for the majestic Giant Sequoia (''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') trees which populate 38 distinct groves within the boundar ...

in the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

in eastern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It is the 28th largest giant sequoia in the world, and could be considered the 27th largest depending on how badly

Ishi Giant Ishi Giant is a giant sequoia in California, United States. It is located in Kennedy Grove, which is part of a group of eight closely spaced giant sequoia groves situated in Sequoia National Forest in the Sierra Nevada in eastern central Californ ...

atrophied during the

Rough Fire The Rough Fire was a wildfire of the 2015 California season. It burned of land, a season record, and was extinguished by 3,742 firefighters. Progression The fire, caused by a lightning strike on July 31, approximately North of Hume Lake, bu ...

in 2015. The Methuselah Tree of the Mountain Home Grove is not to be confused with another Methuselah Tree in the White Mountains of eastern California that is a bristlecone pine (''Pinus longaeva''), which at one time was considered to be the oldest tree in the world.

History

Jesse Hoskins, who about 1884 named many of the other trees in the

Mountain Home Grove Mountain Home Grove is a grove of giant sequoia trees located in the southern part of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, and includes some of the largest trees in the world. Description Mountain Home Grove is located partly in Balch ...

, also named the Methuselah tree, imagining that moss streamers hanging down from its bark were reminiscent of the beard of the biblical character Methusaleh, the oldest man in the world. The Methuselah Tree has a broken top and an unusually large diameter at its base, which rivals that of the better known

Boole tree The Boole Tree is a giant sequoia in the Giant Sequoia National Monument, Fresno County, California. The Boole Tree is the eighth tallest sequoia in the world and is the largest in terms of base circumference at 112 feet. It is estimated to be mo ...

in the

Converse Basin Converse Basin Grove is a grove of giant sequoia (''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') trees in the Giant Sequoia National Monument in the Sierra Nevada, in Fresno County, California, 5 miles (8 km) north of General Grant Grove, just outside K ...

Grove.

Dimensions

When the tree was measured in the 1950s it had a height of about , but at some point prior to the 1980s the top was broken off, probably during a storm. This reduced the height to under , but a new leader at the top has subsequently grown, and the height of the tree continues to increase. Wendell D. Flint in 1987 collected the dimension data given below, which provide a calculated volume that ignores burns. In 2013 it was found to have in

tree height measurement :''This article outlines the basic procedures for measuring trees for scientific and champion tree purposes. It does not cover timber assessment for production purposes, which is focused on marketable wood volumes rather than overall tree size.'' ...

References

Notes

Sources

* * Individual giant sequoia trees Natural history of Tulare County, California Sequoia National Forest Tulare County, California History of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Roadside attractions in California History of Tulare County, California {{California-protected-area-stub

History

Dimensions

See also

References

Notes

Sources