Determined researchers have found East Asia’s tallest known tree in a secluded valley near one of Taiwan’s longest rivers. The team named the massive fir tree “Heaven Sword of the Da’an River” — a nod to the legendary weapon from Jin Yong’s martial arts novels.
Researchers estimate the Heaven Sword — towering 84.1 meters (276 feet) tall — is about 1,000 years old. The quest to identify the Taiwania fir spanned a decade. The Indigenous Rukai people who inhabit the island’s southern mountains refer to the evergreen species, formally known as Taiwania cryptomerioides, as “the tree that hits the moon.”
For reference, the world’s tallest known living tree is Hyperion, a coast redwood in California’s Redwood National Park, that currently measures 116 meters tall (381.3 meters).
Dramatically mountainous, Taiwan is home to a rich diversity of plant life. Forests cover about 60% of the island, which has an estimated 950 million trees, according to a 2016 study.
The colossal trees that grow in many of Taiwan’s forests made searching for the Heaven Sword a formidable task.
