Largest Tree in Australia Killed By Mistake

The eucalyptus, known as “El Grande”, was damaged earlier this year when a controlled burn went awry. Located in Tasmania, this individual tree was not the highest, but rather the largest by volume. Forestry Tasmania hoped that it would recover, but now that the Australian spring has passed, it has officially been declared dead.

Interesting tidbit: although none of the reports I've read mention it, I'm going to assume that this tree was likely an individual of Eucalyptus regnans. Individuals of Eucalyptus regnans are thought to be the tallest flowering plants in the world, and second only to the coastal redwoods of California (Sequoia sempervirens) as the tallest plants in the world.

Links:

Forestry officials admit killing biggest tree from BBC News
Tasmania's forests 'at growing risk' from BBC News in 2002 - interesting article complete with photographs of some endangered animals that are endemic to these forests
Eucalyptus regnans from the University of Tasmania web site
Eucalyptus regnans from the Farrer Centre at Charles Sturt University in New South Wales. This site is interesting because it explicitly states: "Unlike many other eucalypts, Eucalyptus regnans is killed outright by severe fires and does not regenerate from a lignotuber or from epicormic shoots under the bark".

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 1:17 AM on December 11, 2003

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