The mountain ash dominates as the tallest species of tree, but they did not win tree with the biggest girth.

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/602308

Older article.

Our newly published paper documents the tallest and the biggest circumference trees across the continent, and the biggest trees in each state and territory.

The top 20 tallest trees in Australia are all mountain ash trees, between 90m and 100m tall.

Stands of old-growth trees produce significantly more water than catchments dominated by young trees.

Tasmania again dominates as land of the giant trees, with 12 of the 20 trees with the biggest girth.

A white fig in northern New South Wales is the tree with the largest known circumference in Australia at 31m. To put that into perspective, it would take about 18 people from fingertip to fingertip to circle the tree.