World's widest trunk - Coast Redwood
Wider than Sequoiadendron, El Arbol del Tule Cypress, or Baobab
Continued from: Largest Coast Redwoods
Copyright 2021 - 2025 by Mario Vaden
This was mentioned with other new discovery information. I added this page to compare with some other species. Between 2014 and 2015 new discoveries in Redwood National and State Parks moved the Coast Redwood species past Sequoiadendron and even El Arbol del Tule tree for widest trunk - a SINGLE and complete trunk. The world's widest known trunk diameter is a new Coast Redwood discovery which surpassed all Giant Sequoias, Baobabs and apparently the Montezuma Cypress in Mexico called El Arbol del Tule. Because photos of the widest coast redwood and several others were not published, the Coast Redwood below should suffice to illustrate.
The coast redwood in the photo below is just shy of 28 ft. diameter at dbh. The coast redwood discovered in 2015 is now 29.3 ft. diameter at dbh.
Continue reading below this image
A few aspects to review ...
1. Giant Sequoia - For years, quite a few people spoke of widest Giant Sequoia in terms of girth at ground level where the trunk flare is exaggerated. Professionals measure diameter and circumference near chest height known as dbh. If you saw diameters listed for Sequoiadendron like 35 feet, that was ground level.
2. Coast Redwood - Historically, Coast Redwoods were wider and more massive than Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron) seen today. The volume was documented, but any Coast Redwoods more massive by volume than General Sherman were cut down or fell in the early 1900s. Between 1930 and recent times, Coast Redwoods are often described as the tallest, and Sequoiadendrons described the largest and widest. That left the impression that Coast Redwoods do not grow diameter comparable to Sequoiadendron. Between 2013 and 2015 more Coast Redwoods were discovered with trunk diameters at dbh and circumference at ground level that surpass all known Sequoiadendron trees. The world's widest single trunk tree is a Coast Redwood discovered 2015 with a dbh diameter 29.2' (2026 / 29.3' dbh)
3. Baobab - Africa has Baobabs with very wide trunks. The largest are two or more trunks and are not the world's widest single trunk They are cool looking organisms though and if you haven't heard of them, search for some of the photos. Almost Disney-like.
4. The Montezuma Cypress, El Arbol del Thule - Regarding the Montezuma Cypress in Santa Maria de Tule, it has been described having a 46 ft. wide trunk. Here's more information below.
The trunk is elliptical and does not look so big from the narrow side, rarely shown. It is very buttressed inflating the dbh measurement. The tape literally floats over air much of the way around. I included a diagram below to illustrate the "footprint" and air space voids. El Arbol del Tule must be merged multiple trunks evident from seams and included bark when individual stems pinch together, trapping bark. Over decades, air gaps vanished as opposite bark grew together. Testing was done for DNA in the trunks leading to claims of being proof for a single tree. But DNA tests alone are not proof because several propagated trees or reiterations can have the same DNA. This can happen from root sprouts, rooted stem cuttings that were propagated centuries ago or even layering of branches. There are several ways it can happen.
If any arborists reading this have pruned low-branched redcedars or cypress they understand this from experience. Low branches root into needle mulch, later growing outward and curving upward producing several extra inner stems. Given centuries, growth swells diameter and compresses into one mass of wood and bark. The DNA would all be the same. The layering and stem growth happens often with western redcedar, Port Orford cedar or Leyland Cypress. Even trees like big leaf maple will do it. At Jedediah Smith park's Simpson Reed trail there's a maple with 3 root systems as branches grew, leaned, and rooted, grew, leaned and rooted.
So DNA testing is not proof.
Apparently, one botanist Juan Bolanos climbed the Arbor del Tule tree to the point where common trunk ends and primary branches begin and found a large enclosed space "which could serve as a habitation in case of need." This convinced him that the trunk belonged to one individual tree. But there's a flaw with his conclusion.
Having found hollows in the midst of single and multiple trunks ourselves, his conclusion isn't persuasive because it's contrary to the way these conifers grow cells, wood and tissue. But there's been speculation for a long time that El Arbol del Thule may be at least 3 trunks (http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/475.pdf)
The "nail in the coffin" for El Arbol del Tule being one tree trunk is the inner hollow characteristics. The inner walls of bark and cambium are inward facing - inward growing. We will not find that in nature insice existing ancient single trunk evergreens. For example, walk into the goosepens (hollows, caves) of some massive redwoods, then look at the inner facing surface. It's dead, rotted or charring due to decay or fire. The cambium and bark are all on the outer perimeter continually growing and facing outward. The inside of these caves are just wood, rot or charcoal if burned. The inner room and wall of cambium and bark within El Arbol del Tule denotes it's not one single trunk.
In the image below, you can see why its girth is exaggerated. The red line represents a tape wrap for diameter. Most of the widest giant sequoia and coast redwood are solid masses of trunk, wood and bark with very little air space in the tape-wrap. El Arbol del Thule cypress is a wide irregularity mixed with air space. It is almost 50% open void.
Image: the ground "footprint" of El Arbol del Thule with red representing a tape wrap. The white represents the inner room or space and green for the cambium and direction of wood expansion.
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