ALJ's NALT - now a few years old mind you - says the US record is 71' in Great River, LI, NY. European cultivation record 110' in the UK. So, yes, a big one.

Zsolt Debreczy & Istvan Raczy were both present in background when I snapped the photos! They did recall seeing (1) larger specimen in Europe and exposures have been numerous! LOL

Johnny

I guess you don't mean the background of the picture itself...or they are really good at blending in with conifers LOL. You are lucky to have befriended such conifer royalty...now if only you can get them to publish their book on DVD-ROM...or at least lower the price of the paper edition. (issue being, the vast volume contains so much useful information its kind of a shame not to have a searchable version of it...I've seen the copy at Longwood and now wish I'd bought it back when it was "cheap" at $250.)

Also I guess with them present we don't have to worry about anyone challenging the ID LOL.

I'm sure both they and you were aware that Highlands is one of the best climates in the US for fast development of such a meso-temperate conifer. Summer as mild as western Europe's, though both sunnier and wetter. Winters zn 6 but generally reasonable...it's not like the zone 6 of the shores of Lake Ontario.

That's them on the left - they're wearing arborvitae costumes.

This is apparently well beyond normal height expectation for Algerian fir.

http://www.conifers.org/pi/Abies_numidica.php

I'd like to know by what method the 120' was determined. I have estimated hundreds of tree heights and often been close, going by this picture I would not think the tree shown was that tall.

Also I wonder why the needles on the trunk sprout are not thick, look instead to be flat. Juvenility?

"That's them on the left - they're wearing arborvitae costumes."

Haha. Good one!

"Also I wonder why the needles on the trunk sprout are not thick, look instead to be flat. Juvenility?"

I seem to recall reading in an article on firs somewhere that some lower sprouts off the base of the trunk can remain juvenile on older trees. OTOH, various conifers are known to get "stuck" in a juvenile foliage form, resulting in new cultivars. Isn't that what Cryptomeria 'Elegans' is? Could that have happened here? Since juvenile firs grow quite fast if that happened to a fir, you'd expect it to continue to get quite large. My still juvenile Abies firmas have grown roughly 3' in some years.

Agree w/bboy -- 120' seems exaggerated. 100' would be more reasonable, but then again, estimating from a pic alone is difficult w/o some reference.

I agree it doesn't look that tall to me either. OTOH it seems a reasonable assumption that people like Drs. Debreczy & Racz travel with one of these or equivalent...http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-Forestry-Hypsometer-Rangefinder-Spotting/dp/B001J0QJ2S

Some of the pictures on monumentaltrees.com don't look as big as listed, either. It depends a lot on the setting of a tree. BTW this one should be listed there if it really is that big. I'd seen that site a while ago but only started exploring it recently. There are some nice pictures - most of them are from western Europe.

Eastern Native Tree Society would be most interested in this specimen, even though non-native. That group contains the best tree measurers there are.

"ENTS" is very familiar with all of the huge and ancient exotics conifers located in the Highlands area. Several years ago they had measured several Abies alba there in the mid 120's range so there could possibly now be one 130' plus

I don't remember any mention of Abies numidica being encountered or mentioned in the on line bulletin. It's very likely this solitary specimen has only been identified as of late.

As to the trees height I tend to concur it would be in the 100' range!

Johnny

Johnny, you are obviously either an ENT yourself, lol, or at least well aware of that group. But your last sentence-second to last paragraph- is precisely why I posted that. That is, if they are not aware, interest would be great. I too know they've been all over that area.

I'm on that board too these days. But I make no great claim as to my being a big-time big tree measurer. And my computer still doesn't like that word-measurer.

I have emailed Will Blozan/ENTS Pres. so maybe a very well educated height estimate is at hand? Last September would have been the proper time but I suppose "we" were both in awe of the "Hungarians"! lol.......BTW, I'm not a ENTS member.

Johnny

Even if it's "only" 100', the trunk size is impressive. Seen plenty of 100' trees w/slimmer trunks, like the white pine across my lot's edge.

Here's the rapid response from Will.....7:45 am

Johnny,

"I believe my last height for that tree was 114'.

Will"

Yeah, Will's the guy-or one of the guys-who can be trusted with good measurements. Awesome tree, regardless.

Thanks, Johnny. I'll now have to recalibrate my eyes a bit.

My "eyeball" estimate of this white pine nearby in southern PA was 115-120 ft -- not so sure now, might be alittle taller:

I looked at the original photo, and compared the height of 2 story house with a +/- 10 foot roof and was thinking that if you stacked that house up a couple times it would reach the top of the tree. My very unscientific method came up with 105 to 110 feet tall. I'll even throw in an ish.

110 ish feet tall.