Tallest living tree

What to remember

Naturalists Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor came across Hyperion on 25 August 2006, in a remote part of Redwood National Park in California. This coast redwood reached 116.22 m in 2026, making it the tallest known living tree.

Its height has been followed closely. In 2006 Stephen Sillett verified it at 115.55 m, using both a laser range finder and a fibreglass tape run from the base to the crown. The tree kept growing, to 116.07 m recorded in 2019 and then 116.22 m.

Hyperion has tall company. When it was found, the second and third tallest trees were Helios, at 114.7 m, and Icarus, at 113.1 m, both in the same park, which is also home to Daedalus. Hyperion itself stood inside the park's original 1968 boundaries.