With a much longer lifespan than the average human, some very old, magnificent trees function as not only landmarks and living works of art, but as reminders of our own short life spans. Certain celebrity trees around the world have developed a broad reputation for their age, size, shape or general beauty. This blog post takes a moment to pay homage to some of these stunning and wondrous living things that share this world with us.
A southern live oak or Quercus virginiana living in Jacksonville, Florida has been estimated to be around 250 years old - making this enormous tree the single oldest living thing in the city. Called the Treaty Oak, this piece of living beauty actually predates the founding of the city of Jacksonville in the 1820s. Surrounded by what is now a park named after the oak, Treaty Oak can be found at Treaty Oak park in downtown Jacksonville.
Named General Sherman after the tenacious American Civil War general William T. Sherman, the giant sequoia pictured above is a Sequoiadendron giganteum located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in California. General Sherman is one of the most impressive specimens of perserverance, growth, power, and strength on earth; it is the largest known living single stem tree on Earth (by volume).
*images via Wikipedia