The ten tree species with the tallest individual ever reliably measured, from the 116-meter coast redwood down to the towering firs of the Pacific Northwest.
Quick answer: 1. Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), 2. South Tibetan cypress (Cupressus austrotibetica), 3. Yellow meranti (Shorea faguetiana), 4. Mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans), 5. Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), 6. Coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii), 7. Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), 8. Southern blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus), 9. Manna gum (Eucalyptus viminalis), 10. Noble fir (Abies procera).
Height is the one superlative in the tree world that can be measured to the centimeter, and the record-holders cluster in just a handful of families and forests. This list ranks tree species by the maximum verified height of their tallest documented individual — the single tallest specimen ever put on record for each species — so a champion redwood in California competes head-to-head with a giant eucalypt in Tasmania and a newly surveyed cypress in the Tibetan Himalaya. The result is a portrait of where extreme height happens: the fog-fed conifer forests of coastal California and Oregon, the deep river gorge of southeastern Tibet, the tropical dipterocarp canopy of Borneo, and the wet mountain forests of Tasmania. A few of these giants have since lost height to fire or storms, or have died since their peak measurement; where that has happened, the peak recorded figure is used for ranking and the current status is noted.
Hyperion, a coast redwood in Redwood National Park, is the tallest known living tree on Earth — verified at 115.55 m in 2006 and remeasured at 116.07 m in 2019. No other species has ever been reliably measured taller.
Announced in May 2023 by a Peking University-led team using drone and backpack LiDAR, this 102.3 m cypress in the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon is the tallest tree in Asia and the tallest ever recorded on the Chinese mainland.
Menara, measured by climber-deployed tape at 100.8 m in a 2019 study, is the tallest known tropical tree and one of the tallest flowering plants (angiosperms) on record, rising from the rainforest of Malaysian Borneo.
Centurion, in southern Tasmania near the Tahune Airwalk, was remeasured to a peak 100.5 m by ground laser in 2018 — the tallest hardwood and tallest flowering tree in the world. Fire in 2019 has since reduced it to about 96 m.
The tallest measured Sitka spruce stands 100.2 m; four specimens between 97.7 and 100.2 m were surveyed by Steve Sillett and colleagues in 2021, all within the California redwood parks.
The Doerner (Brummit) Fir in Oregon stood 99.7 m (327 ft), long the tallest known Douglas-fir. An August 2025 internal fire cut it to roughly 84 m; the pre-fire figure is its maximum recorded height.
The tallest measured giant sequoia reaches 96.37 m. Though it is the most massive tree species by volume, it ranks below the coast redwood and several others in sheer height.
The tallest recorded southern blue gum, Neeminah Loggerale Meena, stands about 92.0 m in Tasmania, placing it among the tallest of the many giant eucalyptus species.
The White Knight, the tallest recorded manna gum, reaches about 91.3 m — among the tallest specimens in one of Tasmania's stands of giant eucalypts.
The Goat Marsh Giant, recorded at about 89.9 m, is the tallest documented noble fir and the tallest known true fir (genus Abies). This champion has since died and fallen; the tallest living noble firs measured by LiDAR now stand around 84 m, but its peak recorded height is used for ranking.
| # | Name | tallestIndividual | location | family |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) | Hyperion | Redwood National Park, California, USA | Cupressaceae |
| 2 | South Tibetan cypress (Cupressus austrotibetica) | South Tibetan Cypress No. 1 | Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon, Nyingchi, Tibet, China | Cupressaceae |
| 3 | Yellow meranti (Shorea faguetiana) | Menara | Danum Valley Conservation Area, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo | Dipterocarpaceae |
| 4 | Mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans) | Centurion | Arve Valley, Tasmania, Australia | Myrtaceae |
| 5 | Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) | Unnamed | Redwood National and State Parks, California, USA | Pinaceae |
| 6 | Coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii) | Doerner Fir | Coos County, Oregon, USA | Pinaceae |
| 7 | Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) | Unnamed | Sequoia National Park, California, USA | Cupressaceae |
| 8 | Southern blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) | Neeminah Loggerale Meena (Bantry) | Tasmania, Australia | Myrtaceae |
| 9 | Manna gum (Eucalyptus viminalis) | White Knight | Evercreech Forest Reserve, Tasmania, Australia | Myrtaceae |
| 10 | Noble fir (Abies procera) | Goat Marsh Giant | Washington, USA | Pinaceae |
Species are ranked by the maximum recorded height, in meters, of the tallest documented individual tree of each species — the single highest verified figure on record for a named or unnamed champion specimen. Where a specimen has since lost height to fire or storm (for example the Doerner Fir and Tasmania's Centurion), or has since died or fallen (for example the noble fir champion in Goat Marsh), the peak recorded height while it stood is used for ranking and its reduced height or current status is noted in the item's blurb. Inclusion requires a height measured by an accepted method — climber-deployed tape drop, ground-based laser or LiDAR, or a comparably rigorous survey — and reported by an authoritative primary record-keeper (peer-reviewed publications, Guinness World Records, the Gymnosperm Database, or the consolidated species records compiled in Wikipedia's List of Tallest Trees, which cites those primary sources). Historical logging-era claims that were never independently verified are excluded. Rank 1 is the species with the tallest recorded individual.
The coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) is the tallest. Its champion, Hyperion, was remeasured at 116.07 m in 2019 in Redwood National Park, California — the tallest reliably measured living tree of any species on Earth.
Most of the tallest trees are conifers, but two flowering species crack the top of this list: the tropical yellow meranti (Menara, 100.8 m in Borneo) and the mountain ash (Centurion, a peak 100.5 m in Tasmania), which is the tallest hardwood in the world.
The most rigorous figures come from a climber dropping a weighted tape from the treetop to the base, or from ground-based laser and drone/backpack LiDAR surveys. This list uses each species' highest verified figure from those methods as reported by primary record-keepers.
A few champions have lost height to fire or storms, or have died, since their peak measurement — including Tasmania's Centurion (now about 96 m), Oregon's Doerner Fir (about 84 m after a 2025 fire), and the Goat Marsh noble fir (since fallen). The ranking uses each specimen's maximum recorded height, with the current status noted.