Top Tree Flashcards

In the White Mountains of California, there is a bristlecone pine tree that has been standing in the same spot for 5,000 years. By the time the Great Pyramid of Giza was built, this tree had already been alive for 500 years - longer than Shakespeare has been dead. It was 3,000 years old when Christ was born. And just a few hundred miles away is another tree, of a related species, that is not nearly as young, but much larger - a giant sequoia that is the largest living thing on Earth.

Trees are overwhelming in their size, age, and ecological importance. Nearly every ecosystem on earth depends on some kind of tree, and countless animals make their homes in the branches. Human beings depend on trees for everything from fruit and lumber to shade and the very oxygen we breathe. It’s not for no reason that so many of the world’s mythologies tell of a tree that supports the whole world - in an ecological sense, it’s really true!
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