Among the trees growing on Earth today, there are many real old-timers, whose age exceeds several hundred years. In terms of durability, only stone buildings created by human hands can compete with them.

Although the most tall trees- sequoias and sequoiadendrons - are distinguished by their venerable age (2-3 thousand years), no less tall eucalyptus trees rarely exceed even the century mark (“Centurion” - 364 years at a height of 99.6 meters). The appearance of the thickest trees, such as baobabs, is even more deceptive: they live relatively short lives. The tallest pedunculate oak (43.6 meters) grows in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, and the thickest (14.8 meters in girth) is in Sweden, he is 514 years old.

Really existing

  • Bodhi, the city of Anuradhapura - the most famous and oldest tree in Sri Lanka, under which, according to legend, Buddha achieved enlightenment
  • - acacia, once considered the loneliest tree on Earth
  • Hyperion (sequoia) - the tallest known tree (115.5 meters)
  • Kaiser Oak (Berlin)
  • Memory Oak - numerous oak seedlings planted throughout Poland in memory of the 21,857 Polish citizens who died in the USSR
  • Oak chapel
  • Zaporozhye oak - the tree under which the Cossacks wrote letters to the Turkish Sultan
  • Key and fairy tree in Domremi
  • The Oak of Mamre is the tree under which, according to the Bible, three angels appeared to Abraham.
  • Lonely poplar - a natural monument in Kalmykia
  • Nikulin nut
  • Baikusheva pine is the oldest tree in Bulgaria and one of the oldest in the whole world
  • The elder of the Chuvash oaks - the oldest oak of Chuvashia, a natural monument
  • Stelmuzhsky oak and Tsar oak are the oldest oaks in Europe
  • - tree with the largest crown area in the world
  • Methuselah - the oldest known tree on Earth, a specimen of Pinus longaeva
  • Blackthorn in Glastonbury (UK) - “planted” by St. Joseph of Arimathea
  • The Kam Ting Tree House is a stone structure entwined with the roots of a giant old banyan tree in Hong Kong.
  • Pugachev oak is a large oak tree growing in Mari El (Russia). According to legend, after the defeat near Kazan in 1774, Emelyan Pugachev climbed to the crown of an oak tree, from where he watched Kazan burning.

Famous trees in religion and mythology:

  • Tree of the knowledge of good and evil;
  • Tree of Life;
  • The barren fig tree, cursed by Jesus Christ (Matthew 21:19);
  • Yggdrasil is the world tree in German-Scandinavian mythology;
  • World tree;
  • Égig érő fa - Hungarian tree of life;
  • Jievaras - Lithuanian tree of life.

Legendary trees:

There are many trees with record life expectancy in Russia, and there are some in Moscow. It is interesting to find out where many old trees grow, as well as details about the oldest tree on the planet.

The oldest tree in Russia

In Russia there is a register where all the oldest trees growing in the country are entered. Almost twenty of the oldest trees have the status of protected natural sites. Each old tree is inspected and studied before being included in the register. This is done by a commission that includes botanists, forest scientists, ecologists, and forest pathologists. During the research, the species, condition of the tree and its age are determined. The oldest trees are protected and, if required, measures are taken to promote the preservation of the tree. In addition, a sign is installed indicating the status and age of the centenarian.

In Russia, the register includes an oak tree growing in Chuvashia that is four hundred and eighty years old, a four hundred year old oak tree on the Don, and a plane tree from Dagestan that is seven hundred years old. There are also several Cajander larches, growing in a whole area in Yakutia, ranging in age from seven hundred and fifty to eight hundred and eighty-five years. The list also included the “Grunwald oak” growing in the Kaliningrad region, which is more than eight hundred years old.


The oldest tree grows in Yakutia. This is a larch tree that is eight hundred and eighty-five years old. Interestingly, she is not different at all large sizes. So its diameter at the level of a person’s chest is only twenty-five centimeters, and its height is no more than nine meters. Such modest sizes are associated with complex climatic conditions in the place where the long-lived tree grows. The height of the tree increases by no more than 0.22 mm per year.


Among the growing larches in Yakutia, many dry trunks have been preserved. Among them, a tree was discovered that grew from the year three hundred and ten to the year one thousand two hundred and twenty-eight, that is, its life expectancy was about nine hundred and nineteen years. This record is documented as the longest life of a tree in Russia.

Since in Yakutia many long-lived trees grow in one area, scientists propose giving this forest area the status of a protected area.

The oldest tree in Moscow

It is believed that the oldest trees in the capital grow in Kolomensky Park; these are oaks, whose age is approximately equal to the age of Moscow itself. A tree of the same age grows in Kuskovsky Park. This is a veteran oak. All these oak trees are estimated to be between four hundred and six hundred years old. According to some scientists, in Kolomensky Park there are oak trees whose age has exceeded a thousand years.


One of the oldest Moscow trees is considered to be a three-hundred-year-old willow, growing in the botanical garden of Moscow State University "Apothecary Garden". This botanical garden is the oldest in Russia.

Where are there a lot of old trees?

There are places on earth where many old trees grow. One such place is Mount Fulu in Sweden. Scientists, taking a census of trees, accidentally discovered pine trees there that are several thousand years old. There is a pine tree growing there, which is supposedly about ten thousand years old. It’s surprising that several other record-breaking pines grow next to it.


In America, in the state of Utah, there is a colony of poplars, which are supposed to be at least eighty thousand years old. The fact is that poplars do not live long, but a poplar colony exists as a single organism with a common root system, producing new shoots from time to time. It turns out that all poplars today are clones of a single tree.


The neighbors of the elder among the trees of Methuselah are trees that could well have witnessed the beginning of our era. There is a park in the USA where there are several cypress trees that are at least three and a half thousand years old - this is Big Tree Park. Many long-lived redwoods can be found in California national park. There also grows a tree whose name is “General Shermann,” which is the tallest and at the same time one of the oldest on the planet.


It is quite possible that people will discover many new oldest trees. After all, many of them grow in remote corners, where people rarely set foot, and where they can only be found by chance. By the way, sequoias, according to the site, are also the largest plants in the world. They easily grow over 100 meters in height. True, this requires more than a dozen years.

The world's oldest tree

California's Inyo National Forest is home to the oldest tree on the planet, four thousand eight hundred and forty-two years old. He was given the name "Methuselah". This is an intermountain bristlecone pine. Judging by its age, the tree grew when none of the pyramids had yet been built in Egypt.


This tree was discovered by one of the botanists in the mid-twentieth century. For five years, scientists studied this pine, after which a message about Methuselah appeared in National Geographic. To protect the tree, information about its exact location is not disclosed. This is done to avoid vandalism. Several teams of scientists claim that it is not Methuselah who is long-lived, but a pine tree growing in Sweden, whose age is about ten thousand years.
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During his life, long or short, a person undergoes many difficulties and troubles, experiences millions of moments of joy and happiness. We enjoy the time allotted to us by fate, we try to leave behind some kind of legacy and good memory in the hearts of those around us. However, human life is very short compared to the life of other living organisms on planet Earth. For example, there are plants that scientists date back several thousand years. Among them, the longest-living ones are oaks, which grow in many parts of the globe. The age of trees is determined by the number of rings on the cut of a branch or trunk. Their number is greater the older the tree. Of course, cut rings can be of different sizes. It all depends on how much nutrition and water the plant receives in a given year. As time passes, the tree becomes wider and wider, higher and higher. This is facilitated by the appearance of new layers of bark.

On average, in terms of the number of years, scientists recognize bristlecone pine, growing in the USA and California, as the oldest living trees on our planet. One of the oldest pine trees is 4,600 years old. Sequoias (California mammoth tree) are also classified as “long-livers”. They grow on the Pacific coast and some specimens are about 4000 years old. Power, strength and longevity in the understanding of many people are represented by patriarchal oaks. After all, for thousands of years, many plants have witnessed world events and historical changes. It’s even impossible to imagine how many things these trees could tell us if they could speak. The oldest tree on Earth, scientists discovered in North America in 2009. Unique Palmer's scrub oak, the only one similar look, formed as a result of asexual reproduction 13,000 years ago. The Sacred Oak of Mamre, according to Christian legends, is more than 5000 years old. Legend says that Abraham received God's revelation of the Holy Trinity near this tree. As long as the Palestine Oak lives, the world will not end. And although in 1997, as a result of the merciless attitude of pilgrims to the tree, it dried up, after one year a new shoot appeared. People again believed in the power of tradition and began to treat their shrine very carefully.

As a result of research by dendrologists, it was found that the most an old oak Europe is located in Lithuania. Listed as a nationally protected site since 1960, the Stelmuzh Oak is a truly powerful sight. The giant reaches a height of 25 meters, and its diameter is 2.7 meters. The age of the “old man plant” is about 2000 years. The Grunwald oak is just over 800 years old, growing in the Kaliningrad region. It would seem that the older the tree, the weaker it becomes. However, specialists find it difficult to saw off, for example, a branch for the purpose of research and scientific work. Unfortunately, many of the oldest trees officially registered as such have died. Until 1974, a magnificent oak grew in Armenia, the size of its trunk was 10 meters. The tree dried up in 1520 of its existence. Ukraine has a national tree - a 750-year-old giant oak. It grows on the island of Khortitsa, a 36-meter plant with a crown diameter of 43 meters. It is worth mentioning that this national monument dates back to the times of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, who rested under a tree during one of his military campaigns. Although, according to some experts, this Zaporozhye oak is somewhat younger than its relative, growing near the village of Stuzhitsa, which is 1300 years old.

One of the oldest oak trees in Russia, growing in the Lipetsk region. It is the main attraction not only of the village of Kon-Kolodez, but of the entire region. For more than 800 years, the plant has delighted travelers and tourists with its uniqueness and power. In Belarus, record holders among trees grow in the Brest region. The oldest of them, King Oak, reached the age of 800 years, and his neighbor - 700 years. Undoubtedly, not only oaks are famous for their age characteristics, but also many other trees. Most of the “long-living trees” are protected by environmental and historical associations in many countries. Trees have their own energy, which heals and restores lost strength. They can shelter a person from bad weather, help to escape from wild beast. The life of plants is also very difficult, because you need to withstand drought or a strong hurricane, survive a snow storm and severe frost. And with the onset of spring, it will turn green again to delight birds, animals and people with bright green foliage. Of course, you need to leave behind seeds so that the species does not disappear, and so that more and more young trees grow on the ground.

List of the world's oldest oak trees

Raleigh, North Carolina is known as the City of Oaks.

Jurupa Oak tree or Palmer oak in Riverside County, California - considered oldest tree in the world - 13,000 years.
Large groups of very old oaks are rare. One of the oldest groups of oaks, found in Poland, the group is about 480 years old.

  • The Tamme-Lauri oak is the oldest tree in Estonia.
  • Liberation - National geographical society this oak is considered one of the 10 Great Trees of the World.
  • The Ivenack Oak, Europe's largest tree, is located in Mecklenburg (Vorpommern, Germany), and is approximately 800 years old.
  • Bowthorpe Oak, located in Bourne (Lincolnshire, England), 1000 years old.
  • Minchenden (or Chandos) Oak, at Southgate, in London - the largest oak tree in England, 800 years old.
  • Seven Sisters is the largest oak tree, with a trunk measuring 11.6 meters, located in Mandeville, Louisiana, and is up to 1,500 years old.
  • Friendship Oak, a 500-year-old oak tree in Long Beach, Mississippi.
  • Major Oak, 800-1000 year old tree - found in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire. According to folklore, it was used by Robin Hood for shelter.

Crouch Oak - 11th century - located in Addlestone, Surrey. An oak tree is used to mark a boundary in Windsor Great Park. Legend has it that Queen Elizabeth I stopped by to have a picnic.

Angel Oak - On John's Island near Charleston, South Carolina. The Angel Oak is estimated to be over 1,400 years old, 20.3 meters tall, and 8.5 meters in circumference.

Kaiser Oak, located in the village of Gommecourt in Artois, France.

Oak as a National Symbol

The oak, a symbol of strength and endurance, is chosen as the national tree in many countries. This is an ancient Germanic symbol.

In November 2004, the United States Congress passed legislation designating the oak as America's national tree.
Other countries also consider the oak as their national tree, including Serbia, Cyprus, England, France, Germany, Moldova, Romania, Jordan, Wales, Galicia and Bulgaria.

The name of the Irish county comes from the city of Derry, which was originally known in Irish as the city of Doire, meaning oak tree. The Irish county of Kildare takes its name from the town of Kildare, which was originally Cill Daragh in Irish, meaning Church of the Oak.

Iowa designated the oak as its official state tree in 1961; and White Oak, a tree of Connecticut, Illinois and Maryland. The Northern Red Oak is a native tree of New Jersey and Georgia, United States.

  • Oak national symbol Basque Country, Biscay Province.
  • The coat of arms of West-Agder has the oak tree as its national symbol.
    IN Greek mythology, oak is the sacred tree of Zeus, the king of the gods.
  • At the oracle of Dodon, Epirus, the sacred oak was the central site of the ritual, and the priests divined the statements of God by interpreting the rustling of the oak leaves.
  • In Baltic mythology, the oak is the sacred tree of the Latvian Pērkons, Lithuanian Perkūnas and Prussian Perkūns. Pērkons is the god of thunder and one of the most important deities in the Baltic pantheon.
  • In the Celtic religion of polytheism, the name of the oak was part of the proto-Celtic word for 'druid': derwo-weyd / druwid; synonym for "strong". However, Ranko Matasovic interprets the word druwid as "firm knowledge".

As in other Indo-European beliefs, Taranus, being the God of Thunder, was associated with the oak tree. The Indo-Europeans worshiped oak and this was associated with the god of thunder or lightning; "Tree" and Drus can also be related to "Druid". For the priests of the Celtic culture, the oak was a sacred tree. There have even been studies that have shown that an oak tree is more likely to be struck by lightning than any other tree of the same height.

According to legend, the Christianization of pagan tribes was accompanied by the symbol of the oak being replaced by the fir (whose triangular shape symbolizes the Trinity) as the “sacred” tree.
, the oak was the most important tree of the god Perun.


Photo: Instagram / @smelov.photo

Topics of the day

    “Sankt-Petersburg.ru” talks about trees in the Northern capital that are more than 300 years old. They witnessed great historical events, survived revolutions and blockades.

    St. Petersburg has a huge number of different architectural monuments and art objects, but there are also unique monuments of wildlife. We decided to highlight 9 memorial trees and places that preserve the history of the Northern capital.

    Maple tree near Peter's Summer Palace

    First honor tree in Summer Garden- maple tree near Peter's Palace. Previously, there were many maples here in the “Dutch Garden”, but only this one remains among the old residents.

    For a maple, it has a respectable age. If an ordinary oak can last about seven centuries, then maples in urban areas very rarely live up to 200 years. The age of the tree is 200 years.

    Where is: emb. Kutuzova, 2 (near Peter's Summer Palace)

    Photo: wikipedia.org

    Oak in the Summer Garden

    The oak tree that survived three floods is the “King Tree.” It was planted under Peter the Great during the formation of the city on the Neva.

    Today, the resilient tree reaches three and a half meters in girth and has its own personalized passport, as well as a place of honor in the national tree registry. The height of the tree is approximately 38 meters and its age is more than 300 years.

    Where is: emb. Kutuzova, 2

    Photo: nevnov.ru

    Oak in the Mikhailovsky Garden

    Previously, a Swedish hunting estate was located on the site of the garden. It is believed that the tree was planted here in those ancient times. You can see the mighty giant in the Butter Meadow of the garden.

    The oak also occupies a place in the national register of trees in Russia and bears the title of a monument of living nature. This is the oldest tree in St. Petersburg, it is approximately 360 years old.

    Where is: Mikhailovsky Garden

    Photo: rosdrevo.ru

    Oaks on Elagin Island

    Two spreading oak trees, whose age exceeds 200 years, can be found on Elagin Island. It is believed that both trees were planted on the estate of Baron Shafirov back in the 18th century.

    The oak trees recently underwent a course of “treatment” and continue to delight St. Petersburg residents with their splendor.

    Where is: Elagin Island, 4b

    Photo: elaginpark.org

    Potemkin oak

    According to legend, Prince Potemkin planted it opposite his estate to please the empress. Moreover, the oak was already 80 years old; it was brought from Crimea. Catherine II loved to relax in its shadow while traveling through the south of the Russian Empire.

    Where is: emb. Moika River, 108

    Photo: vecherka-spb.ru

    Oak trees in the park of the Forestry Academy

    Two ancient oak trees have been preserved here, which were planted back in the 30s of the 19th century. They are approximately 180 years old. Today both plants are included in national register long-lived trees.

    Where is: Institutsky lane, 5

    Photo: wikipedia.org

    Oak in the Northern Coast of Neva Bay nature reserve

    The mighty oak was planted on the territory of today's reserve at the beginning of the 18th century. Despite its three-hundred-year age, the tree looks beautiful: the height of the oak is 21 meters, the diameter of the crown is 25 meters, and its powerful trunk reaches one and a half meters in girth.

    Where is: on the territory of the Lakhta-Olgino district and the village of Lisiy Nos

    Park "Dubki"

    It is believed that oak was Peter's favorite tree, and its wood is an indispensable material in shipbuilding. So he planted these trees everywhere. Dubki Park also owes its existence to the founder of St. Petersburg.

    Returning from victory in the Battle of Gangut, the king stopped to rest in the shade of an oak grove near the mouth of the Sestra River, and three years later, on his orders, several thousand young trees were planted here. Some oak trees in the park are up to 350 years old.

    Where is: Sestroretsk, Bolshoi Liteiny lane, 37

    Photo: tripadvisor.ru / @popovvr

    Lindulovskaya Grove

    Peter's interests were not limited to oak trees. In 1738, by his order, the first seeds of Arkhangelsk larch were planted in the fields near St. Petersburg.

    Planting of new trees continues here to this day. The historical trees of the park are numbered with special signs. Lindulovskaya Grove is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

    Where is: Lindulovskaya (Ship) Grove, Vyborg district, Leningrad region

    Photo: tripadvisor.ru / Karina G.

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