Here's a link to a pretty interesting story.... Have a nice day... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6942733.stm Cheers
1st thought that came to mind was the Redwood forest in California. I was there about 27 years ago. It was wonderful. :>)
WOW! What a great topic! :) I foud it a bit late... :((( The Taxodium trees should moved to a Museum, here are some pics... the transporting was not easy! :)
Thankyou both Bob and Lila. I totaly missed this. Lila did they make it in one piece to the museum storage. The BBC article said one was damaged when they tried to move it. Liz
So... the trees were found in Bükkábrány, wich is a lignit-mine... They found 16 huge, standing Taxodium tree, and a lot of other small tree piecies... The taxodiums are probably 8 million age old, they were probably 35-40 meter tall trees!!! But now they were 60 meter under the ground... 6 trees dried out, and go to pieces... :( 4 trees were transported to Miskolc (Herman Ottó Múzeum) and now they want to find a speciel conservationsmethod... 6 trees were transported to Ipolytarnóc, there is a paleontology centrum... (More photos, by Alfréd Dulai)
I would think Taxodium stumps that diameter could well have been more than 40m tall - there are still some alive now in North America in the 40-44m range, and taller trees existed before they were cut down in the last 200-300 years.
Hmmm... yes, possibly they were taller... because they were 300-400 years old trees (they counted the annual rings...) But they don't know yet, what Taxodium species are they, could be that this is just a "big foot" species... :))) With 3m stump-diameter, and 10 m tall... :) (40 m was all in the hungarian News...)
If I where to compare these stumps to some of the really big old eucalypt stumps and logs that can still be seen in parts of our old growth forest they would have been huge trees. This is a tree near where I live "Ada Tree The highlight of this stroll through myrtle beech rainforest is the Ada Tree (an ancient mountain ash) which is one of the largest known flowering trees in the world. Thought to be over 300 years old it is 76 m tall with a circumference of 15 m. " http://www.nre.vic.gov.au/virtualexhibition/trees/tree20m.htm Liz
In the SE US, Taxodium tree height is more or less limited by lightning strikes (the trees seem to survive pretty well) and wind. To judge from hurricane wind damage, the wood may be fairly brittle, but the trees hold together by being massive.
Likewise large old Thuja plicata on the outer coast here all have a broken, forking apex due to high winds. However, this does not necessarily indicate extra brittleness. When gales sufficient to break off the uppermost parts of these veterans occur the rest of the forest around them blows down. http://www.forestgiants.com/thetrees4.htm Some here also have rapidly tapering trunks, creating an appearance of exceptional largeness that evaporates as one gazes upward through the rest of the tree's top. Notice that the Hungarian stumps shown are almost triangular looking, with narrow diameters at their highest points. A comparatively short and slender crown may have been perched atop these when the trees were alive.
The "Ada tree" pic I sent has actually been hit by lightening and is smaller than it was in it's prime. There is a tablet at its base and if I have it right it was much taller than the leaning tower of Pisa. We have a trio of large mountain ash (eucalypts) up on the old farm above us and one has recently been hit by lightening. There is a major die back happening but also new growth. They are survivors. http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/forest/plants/ash.html This pic shows a red gum in South Australia that was used as a dwelling. This was not unusual there are quiet a few pictures showing this. http://www.australianbusinessesforsale.com.au/sainfo/Springton .htm http://www.geco.org.au/biggesttree.htm http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/trees.htm Liz
