Aristotle said, “In all things of nature there is something of the marvellous.” The search for superlatives like the tallest, biggest, and widest around the world has led us to the largest living tree on Earth. Read on to find out more about this 275-ft-tall natural wonder. By Upasana Singh

This single-stem tree was named in 1879 by naturalist James Wolverton, who served as a lieutenant under the American Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman. Seven years later, the land of the national park came under a socialist community who worked as loggers. They respected the pivotal role played by Sherman in the forced relocation of Native American tribes and so renamed the tree in honour of Karl Marx. However, in 1892, the community was disbanded and the tree was reverted to its previous name.

General Sherman is a giant sequoia tree located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in the Tulare County of California. It is older than 2,000 years and is the world’s largest living tree. Perched at a height of 275 ft, the tree trunk’s diameter is 25 ft with an estimated volume of 1,487 cubic meters. While other trees in the world have registered greater circumference and length, General Sherman, by far, has the largest size/volume of wood, i.e., 52,508 cubic feet.

General Sherman has been identified as the largest tree in the world due to its sheer volume. In 1931, the tree’s wood volume started being accepted as the standard for measuring and comparing the size of different trees. An interesting fact is that if you hollow out the tree and fill it with water, it would contain enough water for a person to take a bath every day for 27 years.

This largest living tree is connected to the General’s Highway, which runs through the park. The Giant Forest in which the tree is located also contains five of the 10 largest trees in the world.