Further research alerted me to a different tallest tree in NSW, which is located in the Cunnawarra Flora Reserve on the Northern Tablelands of NSW, west of Coffs Harbour and 400 odd kilometres north of Sydney (http://www.forest.nsw.gov.au/bush/aug97/stories/9.asp).  The Giant White Gum (Eucalyptus nobilis) was measured at 79m with no trunk diameter provided.

The interest and intrigue in tall trees got me thinking about exactly how much carbon is stored in these forest giants and how this might be calculated, given the impending release by the Australian Government of a carbon emission trading scheme and the current interest in carbon sequestration.

A simple and rough approach is to calculate the dry weight of the tree using an algorithm and to multiply this result by 45%, which is a rough estimate of total carbon as a percentage of dry tree weight.  The root mass of a tree is roughly 20% of the above ground tree mass (varies for species and conditions), which needs to be added to the total weight.  On this basis ‘The Grandis’ has approximately 76 metric tonnes of carbon stored within its total mass of 233 tonnes.  If the tree is 400 years old, this misleadingly equates to an average of 190kg of carbon being sequestered per year.  This is misleading because carbon sequestration by trees seems to correlate with growth rates.  Young and semi-mature trees that are vigorous will lock up more carbon than more mature or old declining trees.  All very impressive nevertheless.

What is the tallest tree for other states? We now know that Tasmania has the tallest tree in Australia and Victoria has the tallest mainland tree but what about our northern and western states. Can anyone fill in the gaps?

List of tallest trees by state or territory