page_title: List of largest giant sequoias
section_title: Distribution
hierarchical_section_title: List of largest giant sequoias / Distribution
caption_attribution_description: General Grant Tree in Kings Canyon National Park.
context_page_description: The giant sequoia is the world's most massive tree, and arguably the largest living organism on Earth. It is neither the tallest extant species of tree, nor is it the widest, nor is it the longest-lived. However, with a height of 87 meters or more, a circumference of 34 meters or more, an estimated bole volume of up to 1,490 cubic meters, and an estimated life span of 1800–2700 years, the giant sequoia is among the tallest, widest and longest-lived of all organisms on Earth.
  Giant sequoias grow in well-defined groves in California mixed evergreen forests, along with other old-growth species such as California incense-cedar. Because most of the neighboring trees are also quite large, it can be difficult to appreciate the size of an individual giant sequoia. The largest giant sequoias are as tall as a 26-story building, and the width of their bases can exceed that of a city street. They grow at such a rate as to produce roughly 1.1 cubic meters of wood each year, approximately equal to the volume of a 50-foot-tall tree one foot in diameter. This makes them among the fastest growing organisms on Earth, in terms of annual increase in mass.
context_section_description: Giant sequoias occur naturally in only one place on Earth—the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California, on moist, unglaciated ridges and valleys at an altitude of 1,500 to 2,400 meters (5,000 to 8,000 ft) above mean sea level. There are 65–75 groves of giant sequoias in the Sierra Nevada, depending upon the criteria used to define a grove. The northernmost of these groves is Placer County Grove in the Tahoe National Forest, Placer County, California, while the southernmost grove is Deer Creek Grove in the Giant Sequoia National Monument, Tulare County, California. The combined total area of all groves of giant sequoias is approximately 14,400 hectares (35,600 acres).
caption: General Grant tree, General Grant Grove, Kings Canyon National Park, 2007
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