Image: Barry Forbes

Image: Malgorzata Tomkowicz

Image: L. Reyns

Image: Luis Manual Guaida

Image: Kool Pix

Image: Vai_boy

Image: Scott Thompson

Image: J. Wadele

Image: Lida Rose

Image: Kristin Lee

Source: 1, 2, 3

10. P.J. Clarke’s
Established in 1868.
915 Third Avenue New York, NY 10022. (212) 317-1616
www.pjclarkes.com

Red, checkered table cloths and bartenders in shirt and tie are indicative of the style of this New York staple. The bar has been around as long as the building, roughly 125 years, though the exact building date is still disputed. The bar menu features the best burger in town, served with a pickle and a slice of raw onion. Classic.

It was recently renovated, but close attention to detail was paid, returning all the signature features (the “out of order” payphone, the chalkboard, jukebox and the broken cigarette machine) to their proper places. To show that they are as loyal to their patrons as their patrons are to them, the ash remains of an old regular are still behind the bar for safekeeping.

9. White Horse Tavern
Established in 1880.
567 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014. (212) 989-3956.

www.new-pony.com

Originally a hangout for longshoremen, it became popular in the bohemian scene of the 50’s and 60’s. The likes of Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison have grabbed a drink at this spot and it was also known to be frequented by a number of famous writers during that period, including Dylan Thomas, Norman Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson and Jack Kerouac.

The words “JACK GO HOME!” are still written on the bathroom wall for his tendency to be bounced from the bar.

8. Ear Inn
Established in 1874.
326 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. (212) 226-9060.
www.earinn.com

Built in 1817 as a home for James Brown, an aide to George Washington during the time of the Revolution, Ear Inn has gone through many transformations to become what it is today.

It was used as a brewery, bar and restaurant beginning sometime in the mid 19th century and went on to become a speakeasy during Prohibition. The apartment upstairs has been used as a boarding house, smuggler’s den and brothel over the years and is rumored to be home to “Mickey” the ghost of a sailor still waiting for his clipper ship.

The name “EAR” was informally given to the bar as a reference to the musical Ear Magazine that was published upstairs. Part of the “BAR” sign was strategically painted over to avoid the hassle of seeking city approval for new signage.

7. The Little Shamrock
Established in 1863.
807 Lincoln Way, San Francisco, CA 94122. (415) 661-0060.

Belly up to the bar solo in this place and you are guaranteed to leave with some new friends. Or you can settle into the dirty old décor for a game night with friends.

“The Sham” has board games on site and beer cheap enough to make them into drinking games. The spacious and friendly atmosphere makes this a great place to hang out for hours and feel like you are right at home.

6. The Saloon
Established in 1861.
1232 Grant Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133. (415) 989-7666.

San Fran’s oldest watering hole boasts live blues bands playing nightly along with the cheapest and stiffest drinks in town. One of the only establishments to survive the earthquake and fire of 1906, it is rumored that the firemen who were loyal patrons diverted water from other sources to hose this place down.

Be sure to bring cash though…this bar made it through the Depression, I wouldn’t expect them to take kindly to the practice of buying on the margin.

5. McGillin’s Olde Ale House
Established in 1860.
1310 Drury Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. (215) 735-5562

www.mcgillins.com

Originally opened as the “Bell in Hand” in 1860, McGillin’s is the oldest continuously operated bar in the City of Brotherly Love. William McGillin, who lived upstairs with his wife and thirteen children until his death in August of 1901, founded this bar. The bar was then run by his wife, “Ma” who prohibited a long list of area citizens from entering, including her own father), until she passed in 1938.

The bar then passed through children’s hands until it was eventually sold by daughter Mercedes in 1958 to two brothers who spell their names differently (Henry Spaniak and Joe Shepaniak), who’s family still manage the bar to this day.

This award winning Irish pub boasts the unique claim of being the only bar in Philly that was established before town hall, and is also perennially listed among America’s leading night clubs. If you are in the area, be sure to stop in an order a Cheesesteak and a Yuengling, in order to take in the full experience.

4. Old Ebbitt Grill
Established in 1856.
675 Fifteenth Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20005. (202) 347-4801.
www.ebbitt.com

Founded by William E. Ebbitt, the guest list has included Presidents McKinley, Grant, Johnson, Cleveland, Roosevelt, and Harding. The bar fell into hard times leading up to 1970, when it was purchased by Clyde’s Restaurant Co. (Clyde’s of Georgetown).

Ebbitt’s has had many homes throughout the years, moving and expanding over the generations, but it wasn’t until 1983 that the bar found its current home. Through the years the bar has amassed a rich history and a wealth of antiques from our Nation’s Capital.

Still a haunt of the world’s most powerful profiles, as well as area tourists, Ebbitt’s remains active in many regional events including hosting the World Famous Oyster Riot each year. If you ever visit this bar, you’ll find yourself sitting in the same booth that many famous statesmen, military heroes, and lawmakers have used in years past.

Chances are, if you drink too much, someone more important than you has done the same in just that very seat. Think of “Frank the Tank” in Old School?

3. McSorley’s Old Ale House
Established in 1854.
15 East 7th Street, New York, NY 10003. (212) 473-9148.
www.mcsorleysnewyork.com

McSorley’s Old Ale House has been a community gathering place as well as the subject of art, literature and even a Supreme Court controversy. Established in 1854, McSorley’s can boast of being New York City’s oldest continuously operated saloon.

Everyone from Abe Lincoln to John Lennon has passed thru Mcsorley’s swinging doors. Interestingly, women were finally allowed access in 1970, so if you were looking for a place to pick up chicks, this was not high on the list. Also, don’t venture into the bar wanting a girly drink because they only serve two types of beer: light and dark. And you have to order two at a time.

While there are older bars in the US, McSorley’s has remained in its original location. It is widely acknowledged that they also served as a speakeasy during Prohibition, and should you request a tour, maybe you’ll be lucky enough to visit the back room, which serves as a gallery of sorts. Bring cash, and exact change if you are able because McSorley’s has never had a cash register and never plans to.

2. Bell In Hand
Established in 1795.
45 Union Street, Boston, MA 02108. (617) 227-2098.
www.bellinhand.com

This bar claims to be America’s oldest tavern. What more can you expect from Boston? More specifically, this is the bar in America with the longest continuous operation. The Bell In Hand has only shut its doors once temporarily: Prohibition.

This bar was established by Jimmy Wilson, Boston’s last known town crier (so it’s not just a clever name), who was among the first to report on such Colonial American milestones as the Boston Tea Party. In the Bar’s early days it was a favorite among politicians, lawyers and students, with a long list of patrons that included such notables as: Paul Revere, Daniel Webster and William McKinley.

Located on Union Street (Boston’s oldest operating street), The Bell In Hand now plays a trendy host to the young crowd of 20 and 30-somethings.

1. Jean Lafittes Blacksmith Shop
Established in 1772.
941 Bourbon Street, New Orleans, LA 70116. (504) 593-9761.

This tavern is the only known watering hole that pre-dates our nation’s independence. Founded originally (as its name suggests) as part the Lafitte brothers’ Blacksmith Shop, this bar survived a disastrous fire in 1794 that left most New Orleans, specifically the French Quarter, in ruins. Interestingly, much of the bar’s authenticity has been kept in tact, and the bar remains to be mostly lit by candle.

Most nights you can still go in and get a well-priced drink and enjoy the old-world charm and the musings of the century-old piano bar. There has also been a jukebox installed in recent years. Definitely worth a visit if you are ever in or around the Chocolate City.

This Jesus is watching you masturbate.

10. When you sign a player that’s notoriously injury prone, you can have little complaint when they’re out of action. Still, West Ham’s manager Alan Curbishley could be forgiven for feeling a little aggravated when new signing Kieron Dyer broke his leg in 2 places in only his second game for the club.

Over a year later, Dyer has still yet to play again for West Ham.

9. Sometimes injuries can be picked up in the most seemingly innocent of circumstances. Manchester United’s Alan Smith managed to break his leg and dislocate his ankle whilst merely attempting to block a free kick.

As Smith blocked the free kick with his left foot, his ankle twisted underneath him. Smith commented “When I looked down, the leg was lying one way and my ankle was pointing towards Hong Kong, so I knew I was in serious trouble.”

8. Celtic legend Henrik Larsson was out of the game for 8 months, after breaking his leg in two places having caught his studs in the turf.

Larsson returned as good as ever and at the age of 37, is still playing for Helsingborg and the Swedish national team.

7. Djibril Cisse had been at Liverpool for just 3 months when he broke his leg against Blackburn Rovers in 2004.

The French international appeared to catch his foot in the turf as he chased the ball, breaking his shin in two places. His tibia had to be pinned back together and Cisse claimed that if it were not for the prompt attention of Liverpool’s medics, he would have lost his leg.

The striker made a miraculous recovery from the injury and was back playing before the end of the season.

6. The German midfielder Ewald Lienen suffered an injury in 1981 which proves that it’s not just broken bones that can be horrific.

A sliding tackle from a Werder Bremen defender slices open Lienen’s thigh, to reveal the tissue and bone of the player’s leg.

So incensed was Lienen that he hobbled over to the Bremen bench and shouted “Happy now?”

5. Richard Pryor once remarked that the moment that you really panic when you’re on fire, is when you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror.

The same is true of sporting injuries. Sometimes it’s only when you look down that you realise how much your injury actually hurt.

This is the case here, when the Danish striker Jacob Olesen dislocated his ankle to such an extent that his foot points in entirely the wrong direction. Oleson made a full recovery and now plays for Viborg FF.

4. Arsenal’s Eduardo da Silva suffered a broken left fibula and dislocation of his left ankle, after a clumsy challenge from Birmingham City’s Martin Taylor.

Eduardo was treated for 8 minutes on the pitch, before being taken to hospital where suregery took place.

The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said claimed Taylor should never play football again.

It was feared that Eduardo’s career may be over, but it now looks like his recovery is imminent.

3. Djibril Cisse is a really unlucky man. Cisse broke his leg for a second time in 2006 when on international duty for France, missing the World Cup.

Cisse was knocked off balance by a defender and as he fell, his right leg twisted underneath him, breaking above the ankle. This resulted in an open fracture of the tibia, though happily he made a full recovery and now plays for Sunderland.

Of all the images of soccer injuries, this may be the most disturbing.

2. The Belgian striker Luc Nilis‘ Aston Villa career got off to a great start when he scored this great goal against Chelsea, but in only his third match for the Villians, Nilis suffered a double fracture of his right leg after a collision with the Ipswich goalkeeper Richard Wright.

Nilis retired just four months after the incident and is now a coach at his former club PSV Eindhoven.

Notice how Richard Wright looks in considerably more pain than Nilis, despite it not being his leg that is bent in half.

1. When you think of horrific soccer injuries, the immediate name that springs to mind is David Busst.

In 1996, the Coventry City defender was injured in a match against Manchester United, resulting in compound fractures of his tibia and fibula.

It took 12 minutes for the blood to be cleared off the Old Trafford surface and the scenes caused the legendary United keeper Peter Schmeichel to vomit on the pitch.

Whilse in the hospital, Busst contracted MRSA which caused further damage to the muscle and tissue in his injured leg.

Busst had a total of 26 operations, more in an effort to prevent amputation than because of any realistic notion that he might play again.

The incredible story of a lion cub bought over the counter at Harrods in London, reared as a pet in a furniture store by two young Australians, who was then freed into the wild in Kenya, has become an internet sensation. Paul Eccleston reports.

And film footage more than 30 years old of Christian the lion emerging from the wild and being movingly reunited with his former owners has been seen by millions of people.

Christian, born to a pair of captive lions at Ilfracombe Zoo, was sold to the Knighsbridge store at a time when exotic pets could easily be bought.

The 35lbs cub was bought in 1969 for 250 guineas by two young Australians - John Rendall and his friend Ace Bourke - who were living in west London.

For a year he was at the heart of ’swinging’ London in Chelsea’s Kings Road living in a furniture store and lavished with care and attention by his two owners who spent £30 per week providing him with four meals per day together with vitamin supplements.

A kindly local vicar allowed Christian to exercise in a graveyard, he was taken to fashionable local restaurants, travelled in a Bentley and even featured in an advertising campaign for iconic ’60s fashion store Biba.
Christian, placid and loving to everyone he met, became a local celebrity and was often on show lying in the front window of the shop. In 1970, when local side Chelsea beat Leeds in the FA Cup Final replay, the store received a call from a policeman who said: ‘The football fans are going to be boisterous, so you’d better get your bloody lion out of the window or they’ll smash it in.”

John Rendall, who has now written a book telling Christian’s story, said the lion had his own living quarters in the basement complete with a litter tray which he unfailingly used: “He had a beautiful musky smell that was very distinct,” he said. “But he was clean.

“He was a lot of work. It took all four of us - me, my then girlfriend Jennifer Mary, Ace Bourke and an actress called Unity Jones - to look after him.”

The pet lion grew quickly and within a year weighed 185lbs and was developing his distinctive mane.

His owners knew that something had to be done about Christian’s future when Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna - stars of the hit 1966 film Born Free - walked into the shop. The film told the story of a lioness who was successfully reintroduced to the wild in Kenya.

The two stars suggested that pioneering wildlife conservationist George Adamson and his wife Joy - whose work formed the basis of the Born Free film - could help Christian begin a new life in the wild in the Kenyan bush.

Within a year, in 1972, Christian - accompanied by owners John and Ace - was flown in a specially designed crate from London to Nairobi and then by light plane close to Adamson’s camp at Kora.

Adamson, a controversial and often aloof figure, warned that Christian was unlikely to survive the transition but warmed to the two young men when they demonstrated the understanding that had developed with their boisterous pet.

“I think George Adamson got quite a shock when he met us,” said Rendall. “Straight from the King’s Road, in all our gear - flares from Granny Takes A Trip, and with hair everywhere.

“We looked rather different from everyone else in Nairobi. But then so did Christian. He’d come from winter in England, so had a very thick coat - he was almost as hairy as we were.”

Adamson was won over when during the Land Rover journey to Kora he was persuaded to stop - against his better judgement - to allow Christian to answer a call of nature. The lion hopped out warily for the first time onto the hot and dusty Kenya soil, did what he had to do, and then obediently jumped back into the vehicle.

“I got back in the car, too, shut the door and George Adamson turned round and said to me, ‘That is quite remarkable. You may call me George’.”

At the makeshift camp where Adamson carried out his pioneering work with lions Christian was quickly integrated with two other animals, a male called Boy and a female, Katania. The three would walk out into the Kora Reserve with the rifle-carrying Adamson gradually learning about their environment.

The biggest threat Christian and Boy - who became inseparable once Christian had accepted that Boy was boss - would face was from wild lions as they attempted to set up their own territory. Tragically Boy had to be shot by Adamson after he mauled and killed an African chef called Stanley who had left the safety of the compound. When he stumbled on Boy the chef fled in panic - the worst thing he could have done - and was instinctively chased and brought down by the lion.

As Christian settled into his new surroundings Rendall and Ace Berg returned to London but continued to visit Kenya to check on their former pet’s progress.

In 1974 Adamson wrote to them to say Christian had carved out his own territory and established his own pride and the two replied to say they would make one last visit to say goodbye to Christian.

Adamson said they would probably be wasting their time as Christian had not been seen for nine months but uncannily - the day before they arrived back at Kora - the now full-grown lion suddenly reappeared accompanied by his females and cubs.

And the moment when the two young men were reunited with the lion was captured on film. They call to the lion who immediately stands up and begins walking towards them? Would he remember them? Would he be friendly? Was he now a dangerous wild animal?

The outcome never seems to be in doubt. The lion is clearly deliriously happy to see them both again, bounds towards them and standing on his hind legs and throws his giant paws around their shoulders.

Rendall remembers the touching scene: “He ran towards us, threw himself on to us, knocked us over, knocked George over and hugged us, like he used to, with his paws on our shoulders.

“Everyone was crying. We were crying, George was crying, even the lion was nearly crying.”

“The lionesses were far from pleased. There was a lot of growling and spitting.

George said: ‘This isn’t safe - we’d better go.’ So we each put a hand on Christian’s back and he walked with us back to camp.”

After spending the night with his unlikely former owners, the male lion returned to his pride.

“We watched him go back to the two lionesses, who were not at all happy with this man, smelling of nicotine, whisky and humans,” said Rendall.

“He just walloped the two of them with his paw, then collapsed.”

That was the last time Christian was seen.

Adamson - like his wife Joy - was eventually murdered in the bush by poachers. But the film of the encounter has now been revived and is being used by the Born Free Foundation to raise funds for the work they continue to do with lions.

Born Free Foundation Founder and Trustee Virginia McKenna said: “Millions of people have been moved by the amazing affection between Christian the lion and his human friends, John and Ace.

“As Elsa the lioness, all those years ago, awoke a respect and fascination for lions so, I believe, Christian can be another ambassador for these wonderful animals. Now so critically reduced in numbers, across Africa.

“If you can help us to help them - join us, adopt a lion, buy the “Christian the Lion” DVD, made by my husband Bill Travers, we would be so grateful.”

Videos of the meeting and details of the book can be found at http://www.bornfree.org.uk/

via telegraph.co.uk

All photos are linked to their original authors. There are a few that just link to DeviantArt’s homepage as I could not find out who the original author was.

(Image credit: bdinphoenix [flickr])

10. Lone Cypress in Monterey

(Image credit: mikemac29 [flickr])

Buffeted by the cold Pacific Ocean wind, the scraggly Lone Cypress [wiki] (Cupressus macrocarpa) in Pebble Beach, Monterey Peninsula, California, isn’t a particularly large tree. It makes up for its small size, however, with its iconic status as a stunningly beautiful tree in splendid isolation, framed by an even more beautiful background of the Pacific Ocean.
9. Circus Trees
As a hobby, bean farmer Axel Erlandson [wiki] shaped trees - he pruned, bent, and grafted trees into fantastic shapes and called them “Circus Trees.” For example, to make this “Basket Tree” arborsculpture, Erlandson planted six sycamore trees in a circle and then grafted them together to form the diamond patterns.

Basket Tree (Image credit: jpeepz [flickr])

The two-legged tree (Image credit: Vladi22, Wikipedia)

Ladder tree (Image credit: Arborsmith)

Axel Erlandson underneath one of his arborsculpture (Image credit: Wilma Erlandson, Cabinet Magazine)

Erlandson was very secretive and refused to reveal his methods on how to grow the Circus Trees (he even carried out his graftings behind screens to protect against spies!) and carried the secrets to his grave.

The trees were later bought by millionaire Michael Bonfante, who transplanted them to his amusement park Bonfante Gardens in Gilroy in 1985.
8. Giant Sequoias: General Sherman

(Image credit: Humpalumpa [flickr])

Giant Sequoias [wiki] (Sequoiadendron giganteum), which only grow in Sierra Nevada, California, are the world’s biggest trees (in terms of volume). The biggest is General Sherman [wiki] in the Sequoia National Park - one behemoth of a tree at 275 feet (83.8 m), over 52,500 cubic feet of volume (1,486 m³), and over 6000 tons in weight.

General Sherman is approximately 2,200 years old - and each year, the tree adds enough wood to make a regular 60-foot tall tree. It’s no wonder that naturalist John Muir said “The Big Tree is Nature’s forest masterpiece, and so far as I know, the greatest of living things.”

For over a century there was a fierce competition for the title of the largest tree: besides General Sherman, there is General Grant [wiki] at King’s Canyon National Park, which actually has a
larger circumference (107.5 feet / 32.77 m vs. Sherman’s 102.6 feet / 31.27 m).

In 1921, a team of surveyors carefully measured the two
giants - with their data, and according to the complex American Forestry Association system of judging a tree, General Grant should have been award the title of largest tree - however, to simplify the matter, it was later determined that in this case, volume, not point system, should be the determining factor.

7. Coast Redwood: Hyperion and Drive-Thru Trees
There is another sequoia species (not to be confused with Giant Sequoia) that is quite remarkable: the Coast Redwood [wiki] (Sequoia sempervirens), the tallest trees in the world.

The reigning champion is a tree called Hyperion in the Redwood National Park, identified by researcher Chris Atkins and amateur naturalist Michael Taylor in 2006. Measuring over 379 feet (155.6 115 m) tall, Hyperion beat out the previous record holder Stratosphere Giant [wiki] in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park (at 370 feet / 112.8 m).

The scientists aren’t talking about the exact location of Hyperion: the terrain is difficult, and they don’t want a rush of visitors to come and trample the tree’s root system.

[Image: The Stratosphere Giant - still an impressive specimen, previously the world's tallest tree until dethroned by Hyperion in 2006.]

That’s not all that’s amazing about the Coast Redwood: there are four giant California redwoods big enough that you can drive your car through them!

The most famous of the drive-through trees is the Chandelier Tree [wiki] in Leggett, California. It’s a 315 foot tall redwood tree, with a 6 foot wide by 9 foot tall hole cut through its base in the 1930s.

Chandelier Tree. (Image credit: hlh-abg [flickr])

6. Chapel-Oak of Allouville-Bellefosse

Chapel-Oak of Allouville-Bellefosse (Image credit: Old trees in Netherlands & Europe)

(Image credit: dm1795 [flickr])

(Image credit: Luc Doudet)

The Chêne-Chapelle (Chapel-Oak) of Allouville-Bellefosse is the most famous tree in France - actually, it’s more than just a tree: it’s a building and a religious monument all in one.

In 1669, l’Abbe du Detroit and du Cerceau decided to build a chapel in (at that time) a 500 years old or so oak (Quercus robur) tree made hollow by a lightning bolt. The priests built a small altar to the Virgin Mary. Later on, a second chapel and a staircase were added.

Now, parts of the tree are dead, the crown keeps becoming smaller and smaller every year, and parts of the tree’s bark, which fell off due to old age, are covered by protective oak shingles. Poles and cables support the aging tree, which in fact, may not live much longer. As a symbol, however, it seems that the Chapel-Oak of Allouville-Bellefosse may live on forever.
5. Quaking Aspen: Pando (The Trembling Giant)

Quaking Aspen (Image: Wikipedia)

Aspen grove (Image credit: scottks1 [flickr])

Quaking Aspen in winter (Image credit: darkmatter [flickr])

Pando [wiki] or the Trembling Giant in Utah is actually a colony of a single Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) tree. All of the trees (technically, “stems”) in this colony are genetically identical (meaning, they’re exact clones of one another). In fact, they are all a part of a single living organism with an enormous underground root system.

Pando, which is Latin for “I Spread,” is composed of about 47,000 stems spread throughout 107 acres of land. It estimated to weigh 6,600 tons, making it the heaviest known organism. Although the average age of the individual stems are 130 years, the entire organism is estimated to be about 80,000 years old!

4. Montezuma Cypress: The Tule Tree

The Tule Tree Towers over a church next to it (Image credit: jubilohaku [flickr])

Full width of the Tule Tree (Image credit: Gengiskanhg, Wikipedia)

Close-up of the tree’s gnarled trunk. Local legends say that you can make out animals like jaguars and elephants in the trunk, giving the tree the nickname of “the Tree of Life” (Image credit: jvcluis [flickr])

El Árbol del Tule [wiki] (”The Tule Tree”) is an especially large Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum) near the city of Oaxaca, Mexico. This tree has the largest trunk girth at 190 feet (58 m) and trunk diameter at 37 feet (11.3 m). The Tule tree is so thick that people say you don’t hug this tree, it hugs you instead!

For a while, detractors argued that it was actually three trees masquerading as one - however, careful DNA analysis confirmed that it is indeed one magnificent tree.

In 1994, the tree (and Mexican pride) were in jeopardy: the leaves were sickly yellow and there were dead branches everywhere- the tree appeared to be dying. When tree “doctors” were called in, they diagnosed the problem as dying of thirst. The prescription? Give it water. Sure enough, the tree soon recovered after a careful watering program was followed.
3. Banyan Tree: Sri Maha Bodhi Tree
The Banyan tree is named after “banians” or Hindu traders who carry out their business under the tree. Even if you have never heard of a Banyan tree (it was the tree used by Robinson Crusoe for his treehouse), you’d still recognize it. The shape of the giant tree is unmistakable: it has a majestic canopy with aerial roots running from the branches to the ground.

Banyan tree (Image credit: Diorama Sky [flickr])

Closer view of the Banyan aerial root structure (Image credit: BillyCrafton [flickr])

If you were thinking that the Banyan tree looks like the trees whose roots snake through the ruins of the Ta Prohm temple like tentacles of the jungle (Lara Croft, anyone?) at Ankor, Cambodia , you’d be right!

Banyan tree (or is it silk-cotton tree?) in the ruins of Ta Prohm, Ankor, Cambodia
(Image Credit: Casual Chin [flickr])

One of the most famous species of Banyan, called the Sacred Fig [wiki] or Bo tree, is the Sri Maha Bodhi [wiki] tree in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. It is said that the tree was grown from a cutting from the original tree under which Buddha became enlightened in the 6th century BC.

Planted in 288 BC, it is the oldest living human-planted tree in the world, with a definitive planting date!

(Image credit: Images of Ceylon)

(Image credit: Wikipedia)

2. Bristlecone Pine: Methuselah and Prometheus, the Oldest Trees in the World.

Methuselah Grove (Image Credit: NOVA Online)

Bristlecone pine grove in which Prometheus grew (Image credit: James R. Bouldin, Wikipedia)

The oldest living tree in the world is a White Mountains, California, bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) named Methuselah [wiki], after the Biblical figure who lived to 969 years old. The Methuselah tree, found at 11,000 feet above sea level, is 4,838 years old - it is not only the oldest tree but also the oldest living non-clonal organism in the world.

Before Methuselah was identified as the world’s oldest tree by Edmund Schulman in 1957, people thought that the Giant Sequoias were the world’s oldest trees at about 2,000 years old. Schulman used a borer to obtain a core sample to count the growth rings of various bristlecone pines, and found over a dozen trees over 4,000 years old.

The story of Prometheus [wiki] is even more interesting: in 1964, Donald R. Currey [wiki], then a graduate student, was taking core samples from a tree named Prometheus. His boring tool broke inside the tree, so he asked for permission from the US Forest Service to cut it down and examine the full cross section of the wood. Surprisingly the Forest Service agreed! When they examined the tree, Prometheus turned out to be about 5,000 years old, which would have made it the world’s oldest tree when the scientist unwittingly killed it!

Stump of the Prometheus Tree. (Image Credit: James R. Bouldin, Wikipedia)

Today, to protect the trees from the inquisitive traveler, the authorities are keeping their location secret (indeed, there are no photos identifying Methuselah for fear of vandalism).

1. Baobab
The amazing baobab [wiki] (Adansonia) or monkey bread tree can grow up to nearly 100 feet (30 m) tall and 35 feet (11 m) wide. Their defining characteristic: their swollen trunk are actually water storage - the baobab tree can store as much as 31,700 gallon (120,000 l) of water to endure harsh drought conditions.

Baobab trees are native to Madagascar (it’s the country’s national tree!), mainland Africa, and Australia. A cluster of “the grandest of all” baobab trees (Adansonia grandidieri) can be found in the Baobab Avenue, near Morondava, in Madagascar:

(Image credit: Fox-Talbot, Wikipedia)

(Image credit: plizzba [flickr])

(Image credit: Daniel Montesino [flickr])

In Ifaty, southwestern Madagascar, other baobabs take the form of bottles, skulls, and even teapots:

Teapot baobab (Image credit: Gilles Croissant)

The baobab trees in Africa are amazing as well:

Baobab in Tanzania (Image credit: telethon [flickr])

Baobab near Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (Image credit: ironmanix [flickr])

There are many practical uses of baobab trees, like for a toilet:

A toilet built inside a baobab tree in the Kayila Lodge, Zambia
(Image credit: Steve Makin [flickr])

… and even for a prison:

A “Prison Baob” tree in Western Australia (Image credit: yewenyi [flickr])

Bonus: Tree That Owns Itself

Son of the Tree That Owns Itself (Image Credit: Bloodofox, Wikipedia)

Legend has it that the Tree That Owns Itself [wiki], a white oak in Athens, Georgia was given ownership of itself and the surrounding land by Dr. William Henry Jackson in 1820! The original tree had died long ago, but a new tree (Son of The Tree That Owns Itself) was planted at the same location from one of its acorns.

Bonus 2: The Lonely Tree of Ténéré

The Tree of Ténéré in the 1970s, before a truck crashed into it (Image credit: Peter Krohn)

The Tree of Ténéré or L’Abre du Ténéré was the world’s most isolated tree - the solitary acacia, which grew in the Sahara desert in Niger, Africa, was the only tree within more than 250 miles (400 km) around.

The tree was the last surviving member of a group of acacias that grew when the desert wasn’t as dry. When scientists dug a hole near the tree, they found its roots went down as deep as 120 feet (36 m) below to the water table!

Apparently, being the only tree in that part of the wide-open desert (remember: there wasn’t another tree for 250 miles around), wasn’t enough to stop a drunk Libyan truck driver from driving his truck into it, knocking it down and killing it!

Now, a metal sculpture was placed in its spot to commemorate the Lonely Tree of Ténéré:

(Image credit: Nomad’s Land, main website)

I’ll be the first to acknowledge that this list is far from complete: there are many more magnificent trees in the world (for instance, see the List of Famous Trees [wiki]). If you have any addition of noteworthy tree (and stories about trees), please leave it in the comment section.

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