Buzz
Although Triffids and Ents are absent from this list, there are still plenty of extraordinary trees that made the cut. From a eucalyptus grove with trees boasting golden leaves (yes, actual gold!) to a city where trees even have their own email addresses, these ten tree-related marvels will certainly catch your attention.
10. Trees' Peculiar Scientific Classification
In the scientific world, plants and animals are classified into specific families and orders, which gives them their complicated Latin names. However, trees don’t follow these conventional classifications. While individual species like oaks, maples, and cherry trees exist, as a whole, trees don’t fit into any distinct family, order, or species.
This brings up the question: “Do trees really exist in a scientific sense?” Forest scientist Tom Kimmerer explains that trees do exist scientifically, but they’re a bit unusual. He argues that trees are simply a ‘habit’ or a specific form that plants adopt to outshine other plants in their race for sunlight. That’s why trees can be found in so many different stages of evolution.
Although it may cause a bit of mental confusion, it doesn’t take away from the undeniable truth that trees are living beings in their own right.
9. The Final Tallest Tree
A remarkable tree called 'Menara' was discovered in Malaysian Borneo, and the name fits perfectly. In Malay, 'Menara' means 'tower,' and this tree certainly lives up to that name. Menara, a yellow meranti tree (Shorea faguetiana), is considered the world’s tallest flowering plant and the tallest tropical tree, spanning wider than a football field. Standing at 330 feet (100.8 meters) tall, it’s roughly the height of five bowling lanes stacked together.
Menara was found in 2018, and a year later, an individual scaled the tree to the top with a measuring tape and confirmed it as the tallest tropical tree. Additionally, this giant weighs an astounding 179,700 pounds (81,500 kg).
Despite the many wonders of nature, experts believe it’s unlikely that another tree will surpass Menara’s record. As trees grow taller, they face more challenges, like transporting water and nutrients to their highest branches. Menara seems to be the ultimate limit for tropical trees, give or take a few feet.
8. Napping Silver Birches
Do trees actually sleep? To explore this, scientists examined two silver birch trees (Betula pendula) located in Australia and Finland. The goal of the study was to detect any physical changes that might suggest the trees were resting after sunset.
To ensure optimal conditions, the researchers selected a time in September close to the solar equinox, when the length of day and night are roughly equal. They also predicted dry, calm weather, which would make for perfect study conditions. With nature cooperating, the two trees were measured using lasers over several days.
The data revealed that the trees relaxed their branches and leaves during the night. A few hours before dawn, they drooped to their lowest point, and just before sunrise, some of the branches returned to their daytime position. This strongly implied that the silver birch trees went through a type of sleep.
7. Deserts Are Unexpectedly Lush
In West Africa, the Sahel and Sahara deserts aren’t typically associated with lush rainforests. Instead, people envision endless sand dunes, perhaps accompanied by the occasional camel. However, a pair of scientists had an instinct that these deserts might be home to far more trees than initially apparent, and their hunch turned out to be remarkably accurate.
The researchers combed through nearly 11,000 satellite images to count the trees in an area covering 500,000 square miles (1.3 million square kilometers). Quickly realizing that manual counting would take too long, they enlisted the help of artificial intelligence. But before the AI could be deployed, it needed to be trained, a task one determined scientist undertook by personally counting 90,000 trees over the course of a year to teach the program. Once trained, the AI’s work proceeded swiftly, delivering surprising results even to the researchers themselves.
The AI revealed an astonishing 1.8 billion trees in the region covered by the satellite images alone.
6. The Ironic Trees of Angkor
In the 15th century, the temples of Angkor were abandoned, and the dense Cambodian jungle began reclaiming the ancient site. Today, enormous tree roots and trunks entangle the buildings in a vice-like grip. Conservationists feared the trees were causing irreversible damage to these iconic structures—and their concerns were valid. The dense vegetation had indeed caused considerable harm.
The natural solution was to remove any trees that had taken root on the buildings. To gauge the potential impact of this decision, a 2014 study compared two Angkor sites, Ta Keo and Beng Mealea. Both were crafted from the same sandstone, but while Beng Mealea remained enmeshed in the jungle’s grasp, photos indicated that Ta Keo had been stripped of all vegetation as early as 1920.
The digital analysis revealed that 79% of Beng Mealea’s original carvings were still well-preserved, whereas more than 90% of Ta Keo’s engravings had vanished. Without the protective cover of the forest, the stone surfaces of Ta Keo had been ravaged by centuries of monsoon rains and tropical heat. It seems that Angkor’s trees play a dual role: they both protect and destroy the site.
5. These Trees Have Email
Melbourne, Australia, boasts around 70,000 city-owned trees. Authorities wanted to ensure these trees stayed healthy and safe, particularly against threats like drought and general decline. But monitoring 70,000 trees proved to be an impossible task.
Then, an inventive solution was proposed. Why not involve the people of Melbourne? The idea was to assign unique ID numbers and email addresses to each tree so citizens could report any damage or disease they observed, triggering a prompt response for necessary treatment. However, things didn’t unfold as smoothly as expected.
When the program was launched, residents did use the email addresses, but instead of reporting damage, they sent love letters to the trees. They praised the trees' appearance and even expressed gratitude for the shelter they provided during harsh weather conditions.
Although the flood of fan mail wasn’t what the city had envisioned, Melbourne officials clearly took it in stride, as some of the trees 'responded' to their admirers.
4. Fake WWI Spy Trees
World War I forced the Allies to think outside the box, particularly when it came to gathering intelligence at the frontlines. Spying on the enemy in such perilous zones was no small feat. In 1915, the French devised a clever strategy: why not plant fake trees along the frontlines? A soldier could hide within the hollow trunk, using peepholes and periscopes to observe the area.
The effort put into creating these camouflaged trees was staggering. The process began with finding a real tree. Under the cover of darkness, engineers would take photographs, sketch the tree, and take measurements. These details were then handed off to artists who painstakingly crafted a life-size replica of the tree, using wood and 'bark' made from metal and crushed seashells.
Inside the artificial tree, an armored structure was added, and a rope ladder led to a high wooden perch. Once the mock tree was ready, the engineers waited for a dark night to move it into place where the real tree once stood. The original tree was removed, and the spy post was planted in its stead. By the next morning, the enemy remained unaware that the tree had been replaced by a fake one that concealed a soldier.
3. Trees Eat Meat
While a pine tree will never leap at a person, trees are not strictly herbivores. It may seem surprising, given that trees only appear to need sunlight, water, and soil. But the truth is much stranger beneath the surface.
Though trees can produce their own simple sugars, they cannot generate essential minerals like sodium, calcium, and potassium, which they need to survive. Fungi in the soil produce these minerals by breaking down proteins and fats from animal remains. However, fungi can’t produce their own sugars. So, trees and fungi have formed a mutually beneficial arrangement.
The fungi attach to the tree's roots, creating a two-way trade. The tree provides the fungi with sugars, and in return, the fungi supply minerals derived from animals. This means trees are indirectly benefiting from animal remains.
2. The Floating Trunk Mystery
Crater Lake in Oregon stands out for many reasons. It is the deepest lake in the United States, with strikingly blue water. But there’s also a 120-year-old mystery that began in 1896 when Joseph Diller first spotted a tree trunk floating in the lake.
The 30-foot (9-meter) tall stump exhibited strange behavior. Instead of floating horizontally, like most trees, it stayed upright. It was also remarkably buoyant—so much so that when a park ranger stood on it in 1930, the trunk held his weight without sinking.
Known as the “Old Man of the Lake,” this stump continues to perplex scientists. Ordinarily, the stump would drift with the wind, but sometimes, it moves across the lake even against the wind. Even stranger, it consistently remains upright while floating. Given its size, the tree should be positioned horizontally in the water, but it refuses to follow that natural law of physics, and no one can explain how or why it behaves this way.
1. Trees with Golden Leaves
In Western Australia, just a few miles north of Kalgoorlie, there is a grove of eucalyptus trees. On the surface, they appear to be ordinary trees, but in 2013, scientists made a remarkable discovery—gold particles were found in their leaves.
This discovery wasn’t by chance. In Australia, layers of sediment and rock can obscure valuable minerals, making them hard to find. In search of a better method for locating gold, researchers recalled that eucalyptus tree roots often extended deep into gold-bearing areas. With this knowledge and understanding that plants can absorb minerals from the soil and transfer them to their leaves, the team decided to test the eucalyptus leaves for traces of gold that might reveal hidden gold deposits beneath the surface.
The eucalyptus grove itself sits on a barren stretch of land that shows no obvious signs of treasure. Nevertheless, the gold particles found in the leaves led to the discovery of gold deposits located 100 feet (30.5 meters) underground, proving an unconventional but effective method for prospecting gold.
