Lynn Valley Tree

{{Short description|One of the tallest known Coast Douglas-fir trees}} {{Use Canadian English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox tree | name= Lynn Valley Tree | image= | image_size= | alt= | image_caption= | map= | map_alt= | map_size= | map_caption= | relief= | label_position= | map_image= | native_name= | species= Douglas fir | binomial= Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii | location= Lynn Valley, Vancouver, <br />British Columbia, Canada | height= {{convert|126.5|m}} | girth= | diameter= {{convert|4.34|m}} | volume= | coordinates= | seeded= | felled= {{End date|1902|||df=y}} | custodian= | website= }} The '''Lynn Valley Tree''' was one of the tallest known Coast Douglas-fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii''), at a measured height of {{convert|126.5|m}}.{{sfn|Carder|2005| p=14}} It was cut down by the Tremblay Brothers, at Argyle Road in 1902 on the property of Alfred John Nye in Lynn Valley, now part of metropolitan Vancouver, BC. In 1912, Alfred Nye told historian Walter Mackay Draycott that the tree had first drawn his attention because of its vast columnar bole, and that it towered above the neighbouring forest. After it was felled, Nye told Draycott he had measured its length at {{convert|125|m}}, with a remaining stump height of {{convert|1.52|m}} where its diameter was {{convert|4.34|m}} across the butt, and the bark was {{convert|13.5|in|cm|order=flip}} thick.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|last1=Draycott|first1=Walter|title=Early Days in Lynn Valley|date=1978|publisher=North Shore Times|isbn=9780968322116|page=29}}</ref> Since that time, in the lower valley where the tree grew, the entire old-growth forest has been logged,{{sfn|Van Pelt|2001|p=128}} including a nearby {{convert|4.24|m|adj=on}} diameter fir tree that contained 1,280 rings, and another fir tree felled in the same valley that was said to have measured {{convert|107.3|m}} tall.<ref name=":0" />

It was one of the tallest trees ever recorded on the planet, exceeded only by a small number of Australian mountain ash (''Eucalyptus regnans'') other Douglas firs, and perhaps several historic Coast Redwood. In addition, a giant sequoia known as the Father of the Forest<ref>Report on the Big Trees of California, US Forest Service, 1900</ref> from Calaveras grove reportedly measured {{Convert|133|m}} after it fell many centuries ago. However, Douglas firs seem to have more routinely reached such heights in the past, with anecdotal reports of {{convert|110|m}} to over {{convert|120|m}}-tall trees being relatively numerous in old records.{{sfn|Carder|2005| p=136 (chart 1: world's ten tallest trees ever measured)}}

Despite measurements of such size being generally considered unreliable, there is a reliable record of a Douglas fir exceeding {{convert|140|m}} in height: the Nooksack Giant was measured at {{convert|142|m}} tall with a tape after the tree was cut down in the 19th century.<ref name=ST20110904>{{citation|title=Giant logged long ago but not forgotten|newspaper=The Seattle Times|date=September 4, 2011 |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/life/giant-logged-long-ago-but-not-forgotten/}}</ref>

Both of these heights are close to or, in the latter case, exceed the maximum height a tree can attain as calculated by some theorists, or just within the upper limits according to other theorists.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wolchover |first=Natalie |date=2011-06-17 |title=How Tall Can Trees Grow? |url=https://www.livescience.com/14667-tall-trees-grow.html |access-date=2024-06-15 |website=livescience.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name=Kinver>{{cite news|last=Kinver|first=Mark|date=August 13, 2008|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7556065.stm|title=Water's the limit for tall trees|work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|publisher=Oregon State University|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081008140507/http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2008/Aug08/douglasfir.html|url=http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2008/Aug08/douglasfir.html|archive-date=October 8, 2008|title=Douglas-fir: A 350-foot-long Drinking Straw is As Long As It Gets|date=August 11, 2008}}</ref> Given widespread reports that trees have been measured after felling as exceeding this maximum height, it lends some credibility to the idea that extremely tall trees growing in especially foggy environments are able to reverse the transpiration stream inside them and maintain adequate water supply to parts of the tree above that height.<ref>The Wild Trees, Preston 2007</ref>

There are no known surviving photographs of the Lynn Valley Tree.

== See also == * List of tallest trees

==References== {{reflist}}

===Sources=== * {{citation| last=Van Pelt|first=Robert|title=Forest giants of the Pacific Coast|year=2001|publisher=Global Forest Society in association with University of Washington Press|location=Vancouver, San Francisco, Seattle|oclc=45300299}} * {{cite book | last=Carder | first=Al | title=Giant Trees of Western America and the World | chapter= Remarkable trees of British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest | publisher=Harbour Publishing | location=Madeira Park, British Columbia| year=2005 | isbn=978-1-55017-363-5}}

Category:Individual Douglas firs Category:Individual trees in British Columbia