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Estonia's tallest pine turns out to be tallest in the world

BC, Tallinn, 10.02.2016.Print version

The pine measured to be the tallest representative of the species Pinus sylvestris, or Scots pine, in Estonia has turned out to be the tallest such tree in the world, informs LETA.

 

The tree growing in the territory of the Veriora municipality of Polva county in southeastern Estonia measures 46.6 meteris in height, being 1.3 meters taller than the next tallest Scots pine in the world which grows in Poland, the Estonian state forest management center, RMK, said on Tuesday.

 

Research conducted recently by scientists from the Estonian University of Life Sciences shows the tree to be at least 214 years old.

 

Kaarel Tiganik, of RMK, said the pine that has turned out to be the world's highest was measured largely by chance at the end of last year by researchers examining a spruce growing nearby.

 

"When it came out that the spruce was the new Estonian record-holder with a height of 48.6 meters, scientists from the Estonian University of Life Sciences started to measure also the pines growing next to it," Tiganik said. In this way Estonia got a new tallest pine and a new tallest spruce in a single day.

 

Scientists say the highest spruce of Estonia is at least 202 years old.

 

That the pine growing in the Ootsipalu valley is the world's tallest became clear when scientist Hendrik Relve entered it in the Monumentaltrees.com database of the world's tallest trees.

Scots pine is the most common tree species in Estonian forests and the only variety of pine growing wildly here.

 

Foresters and scientists agree that the concentration of trees of record height at Ootsipalu can be ascribed to their growing in a bowl-shaped valley, which offers trees protection against strong winds and ensures a sufficient supply of moisture and nutritients that are conveyed down the slopes of the valley.

 

Both threes grow on state land.





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