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Most
Massive Living Tree - The
world's most massive living tree is “General Sherman,” the giant
sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) growing in the Sequoia National
Park, California, USA. It stands 83.82 m. (275 ft.) tall. |
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Deepest
Root - The
greatest reported depth to which roots have penetrated has been
calculated at 120 m (393.7 ft) for a wild fig tree at Echo Caves, South Africa in the Northern
region of the Drakensberg range. The common fig is a member
of the genus Ficus. Ficus is a large genus with some 2,000 tropical
and subtropical tree, shrub, and vine species distributed around the
whole world. |
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Fastest
Growing Plant - Some
species particularly of the 45 genera of bamboo
particularly 'Bambusa oldhamii' have been found to grow at up to
91 cm (3 ft) per day, or at a rate of 0.00003 km/h (0.00002 mph).
Bamboo grows one third faster than the fastest growing tree. Some
species can grow up to one meter per day. It is said you can almost
watch it grow! |
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Garden
With Most Number Of World's Tallest Trees - The
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey, UK, has the tallest known
specimens of 138 species of tree. |
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Greatest
Tree Girth Ever - The
European chestnut (Castanea
sativa), known as The Tree Of A Hundred
Horses, on Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy, had a circumference of 57.9 m
(190 ft) when measured in 1780. The tree has now split into three
seperate parts. |
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Heaviest
Cabbage - A
cabbage grown by Bernard Lavery of Llanharry, Rhondda Cynon Taff,
Wales, in 1989, weighed 56.24 kg. (124 lb). |
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Highest
Ring Count (Tree) - The
world record for the highest ring count ever found on a tree is
4,867 and belonged to a bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva)
known as Prometheus, which was cut down in 1963 on Mt Wheeler,
Nevada, USA. |
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Largest
Bouquet - The
largest bouquet was made from 101,791 roses and measured 31.55 m
(103 ft 6 in) long, 7.3 m (24 ft) wide with an area of 148 m©˜
(1,596 ft©˜). It was created by Ashrita Furman (USA) and members
of the Sri Chinmoy Centre for Sri Chimnoy's 73rd birthday in
Jamaica, New York, USA on August 27 2004.
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Largest
Edible Fungi - A
giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea) measuring 2.64 m (8 ft 8 in) in
circumference and weighing 22 kg (48 lb 8 oz) was found by Jean-Guy
Richard of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1987. |
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Largest
Flower - The
orange, brown, and white parasite (Rafflesia arnoldi) has the
largest flowers. These attach themselves to the cissus vines of the
jungles of Southeast Asia. They measure up to 91 cm (3 ft) across,
weighing up to 11 kg (24 lb). |
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Largest
Forest - The
vast coniferous forests of northern Russia, lying between Lat. 55°N
and the Arctic Circle cover a total area of area 1.1 billion ha.
(2.7 billion acres).
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Largest
Fruit Collection - Brogdale,
near Faversham, Kent, UK, has over 4,500 fruit trees including 2,300
apple trees and 400 pear trees, making it the largest fruit
collection in the world.
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Largest
Garden - The
largest garden is arguably that created by Andre Le Notre at
Versailles, France, in the late 17th century, for Louis XIV. Created
in what had been a muddy swamp, it covers over 15,000 acres. |
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Largest
Leaf - The
raffia palm (Raphia farinifera) of the Mascarene Islands, Indian
Ocean, and the Amazonian bamboo palm (Raphia taedigera), of South
America and Africa, have the largest leaves of any plants, at a
length of up to 20 m
(65 ft 7 in).
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Largest
Undivided Leaf - The
largest undivided leaf is that of Alocasia macrorrhiza (Elephant's Ears), from
Sabah,
Malaysia. A specimen found in 1966 was 3.02 m. (9 ft. 11 in.) long,
1.92 m. (6 ft. 38 in.) wide, and had a surface area of 3.17 sq. m.
(34.12 sq. ft). |
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Largest
Rhododendron - A
scarlet Rhododendron arboreum on Mt.
Japfu, Nagaland,
India, reached a height of 20 m (65 ft).
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Largest
Tree Canopy - The
tree canopy of the great banyan (Ficus benghalensis), in the Indian
Botanical Garden, Calcutta, covers an area of 1.2 ha (3 acres). It
has 1,775 prop or supporting roots, a circumference of 412 m (1,350
ft) and dates back to 1787. |
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Largest
Rose Bush - A
specimen of the rose bush, Lady Banksia (Rosa banksiae,), known as
"Banks", at Tombstone, Arizona, USA, has a trunk
circumference of 4.09 m (13 ft 6 in). It stands approx. 2.75 m (9
ft) high and covers an area of 740 sq m (8,000 sq ft).
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Largest
Seed - The
largest seed in the world is that of the giant fan palm (Lodoicea
maldivica), commonly known as the double coconut or coco de mer. The
single-seeded fruit weighs up to 20 kg (44 lb) and can take 10 years
to develop. |
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Largest
Seed Collection - The
Millenium Seed Bank, Wakehurst
Place Garden, West Sussex, the country department of the Royal
Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey, UK, has the greatest number of plant
specimens held as seeds. A key MSBP International Target is to
collect and conserve 24,200 species new to the MSB
by 2010. As of March 2008, they are 75% of the way
there and are on course to succeed with this
ambitious target. |
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Vine - The
Great Vine at Hampton Court
Palace, Greater London, UK, has a
circumference of 2.16 m (7 ft 1 in) and has branches up to 34.7 m
(114 ft) long. |
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Largest
Weed - The giant hogweed
(Heracleum mantegazzianum),
originally from the Caucasus, reaches 3.65 m (12 ft) in height and
has leaves 91 cm (36 in) long. It was introduced into Europe,
Canada, and the US as a garden ornamental and – after taking hold
as a pest – has since become naturalized in these parts of the
world. |
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Longest
Surviving Tree - The
earliest surviving species of tree is the maidenhair (Ginkgo biloba)
of Zhejiang, China, which first appeared 160 million years ago
during the Jurassic era. |
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Tree-Lined Avenue - The
world's longest tree-lined avenue is the Nikko Cryptomeria Avenue,
Imaichi City, Tochigi, Japan. It has a total length of 35.41 km (22
miles). |
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Most
Baby Plants From One Spider Plant - Helen
Richards of Bristol, England, owned a spider plant which had
produced 1,308 baby plants three years after she bought it at a
village fair. The plant measured 91 cm. (3 ft.) across and 60 cm. (2
ft.) tall in June 1999. |
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Most
Massive Plant - The
most massive organism was reported in December 1992 to be a network
of quaking aspen trees (Populus tremuloides) growing in the Wasatch
Mountains, Utah, USA, from a single root system, covering 43 ha.
(106 acres). |
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Most
Massive Tree Ever - The
world's most massive tree ever (by trunk-size) was the Lindsey Creek
tree, a coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) in California, USA. It
had a total trunk volume of 2,549 cubic meters (90,000 cubic ft) and
a mass of 3,300 tonnes (3,248 tons). The tree blew over in a storm
in 1905. The name is widely thought to honor Sequoyah, also known as
George Guess, inventor and publisher of the Cherokee alphabet. |
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Most
Poisonous Fungi - The
yellowish-olive Death Cap (Amanita phalloides), which originated in Britain, is the world's most poisonous fungus, responsible for
90% of fatal poisonings caused by fungi. Coincidentally, these toxic
mushrooms resemble several edible species (most
notably the straw mushroom) commonly consumed by
humans, increasing the risk of accidental
poisoning. |
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