Something to bark about
SA’s biggest tree, the karri gum – a native to Australia – can be seen at Boschendal
THERE is a “big” one, a “fat” one and a “tall” one, but only recently has it been established which one is the biggest of them all. And it’s Australian. The biggest tree in South Africa is a karri gum, native to Western Australia, which is on Boschendal in the Franschhoek Valley.
It is one of the oldest wine estates in the country.
Arborist Leon Visser and Professor Brian Bredenkamp, who serve on the minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries’ advisory panel for the National Champion Tree Project, measured the tree about three weeks ago.
Believed to be about 225 years old, the tree is the largest of 40 in an avenue which has been declared a National Champion Grove, and will shortly be proclaimed in the Government Gazette.
Bredenkamp, emeritus professor of forest management at the University of Stellenbosch, said Visser climbed the huge tree, while he measured it.
“Leon is a tree climber by profession, while I keep my feet on the ground.”
The tree has a girth of 8.7m and the height is 50.4m.
Bredenkamp said together with a substantial crown width, the resultant size index was an enormous 483, by far the largest ever recorded in South Africa.
Height, circumference and crown diameter are three of the measurements that are used to calculate the tree index.
“The tree may not be the fattest nor the tallest, but it is unquestionably the biggest.”
Bredenkamp said the tree, which was in great shape, would be accessible to the public, but only once measures had been put in place to protect it from people trampling on the root zone and from those who would be keen to carve their names into it. “This is, after all, a national treasure.” Other significant trees are the “Big Tree” between Knysna and Plettenberg Bay, a large yellowwood alongside the N2 which is visited by about 92 000 people annually.
Bredenkamp said the name was a misnomer because the tree was not the largest yellowwood in the Knysna Forest.
He said the largest known tree in South Africa in terms of girth was the Sagole baobabin Limpopo, while the tallest was one of the Magoebaskloof Triplets, some exceptional trees in a stand of Eucalyptus saligna planted on Woodbush State Forest, near Haenertsburg in Limpopo, in 1906, which was 81.5m in height.
Other champion trees include the camphors at Vergelegen and a 300-year-old oak tree at Solms-Delta Estate.
Spekkies van Breda, Boschendal’s viticulturist, said it was great news for the estate and a privilege to host the biggest avenue of trees.
He said they knew the trees, which served as a windbreak for the orchards, were old, but hadn’t expected this.