Five Fascinating Tree Facts

Today is youth day here at Tree Hugging Family and we’re going to look at trees all day. Mainly because trees rock, but also because I forgot to hug one this week – yup, feeling a little guilty.

One of the best reasons to conserve trees is simply that they’re so amazing. There are tons of cool facts about trees, but these five are some of the most interesting.

First I’ll post the question. After the jump I’ll put the answer – see if you can guess correctly before looking.

1. The tallest living trees are located where?
2. About how long do you think the roots of a mature oak tree are?
3. The average person kills how many trees a year?
4. Aspirin originally came from trees… true or false?
5. What is the oldest species of tree?

Answers:

1. This is actually a debatable question, thus sort of a trick. Some of the tallest trees in the world are located in Australia – they’re eucalyptus trees and have been measured at over 500 feet. However, while I’ve seen this fact in more than one place the New York Times noted a while back that the tallest tree in the world is a redwood (yeah redwoods!). The redwood is 379.1 feet tall. So are the eucalyptus trees myth? Well, here’s more to read on this debate.

2. Long enough (and spread enough) to cover the area of a football field.

3. This one we discussed here at Tree Hugging Family before. Were you paying attention? The average person kills 7 trees a year – too many.

4. True – the very first type of aspirin, or pain killer and fever reducer came from the tree bark of the willow tree.

5. The very oldest tree species is the ginkgo. The reason the ginkgo has survived millions of years is due to it’s stellar resistance to pests and diseases.

To see more tree facts visit Trees Are Good.

What’s your favorite tree fact? Let me know.