On the edge of a public park in Lincoln, Kansas we found this towering cottonwood tree. (The cottonwood is the state tree of Kansas.) The photo just doesn’t capture how big this thing really is. What’s the biggest tree in Kansas? The Kansas Forest Service keeps a database of Champion Trees. It lists an eastern cottonwood with a circumference of 420″ (~ 11 feet in diameter) in Studley, up in the northwest section of the state. That’s WAY bigger than this one. Most of the giant cottonwoods were probably long ago harvested for lumber. Also, you can visit the American Forest web site to download a very nice PDF version of a National Register of Big Trees.
The largest tree in the world? That’s the General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park, about 36.5 feet across at the base and 275 feet high.
Now I must write a piece about the wonderful cottonwood tree. I had forgotten that it was the state tree of Kansas. They grow all over New Mexico, too. We had a huge old cottonwood in our backyard when I lived in Albuquerque.