List of largest plants
This is a list of the largest plants by clade. Measurements are based on height, volume, length, diameter, and weight, depending on the most appropriate way of measurement for the clade.
[Gymnosperm]s (Gymnospermae)
Conifers (Pinopsida)
The conifer division of plants includes the tallest organism, and the largest single-stemmed plants by wood volume, wood mass, and main stem circumference. The largest by wood volume and mass is the giant sequoia, native to Sierra Nevada and California; it grows to an average height of and in diameter. Specimens have been recorded up to in height and in diameter; the largest individual still standing is the General Sherman Tree, with a volume of.Although typically not so large in volume, the closely related coast redwood of the Pacific coast in North America is taller, reaching a maximum height of ; the Hyperion Tree, which ranks it as the world's tallest known living tree and organism. The largest historical specimen was the Lindsay Creek Tree, a coast redwood with a minimum trunk volume of over and a mass of over. It fell during a storm in 1905.
The conifers also include the largest tree by circumference in the world, the Montezuma cypress. The thickest recorded tree, found in Mexico, is called Árbol del Tule, with a circumference of at its base and a diameter of at above ground level; its height is over. See list of superlative trees for other tree records.
Cycads (Cycadophyta)
The largest single-stemmed species of cycad is Hope's cycad, endemic to the Australian state of Queensland. The largest examples of this species have been over tall and have had a circumference of.However the multi-stemmed Encephalartos laurentianus of Bandundu Province in Congo (Kinshasa) and in adjoining parts of Angola is much more massive. The stems, which can be upright when young, but sprawling when mature, are up to long, and up to diameter. Assuming a density of 1.0, an old much-branched specimen could weigh up to 45 tonnes.
Flowering plants (Angiospermae)
This is the most diverse and numerous division of plants, with upwards of 400,000 species.Clonal colonies
For two-dimensional area, the largest known clonal flowering plant, and indeed largest plant and organism, is a grove of male Aspen in Utah, nicknamed Pando. The grove is connected by a single root system, and each stem above the ground is genetically identical. It is estimated to weigh approximately, and covers.A form of flowering plant that far exceeds Pando as the largest organism on earth in breadth, is the giant marine plant, Posidonia australis, living in Shark Bay, Australia. Its length is about and it covers an area of. It is estimated to be over 4,500 years old. Believed to have sprouted from a single seed, it grows at about the same rate as a lawn, up to a year.
Another form of flowering plant Posidonia oceanica discovered in the Mediterranean may be the oldest living organism in the world, with an estimated age of 100,000 years.
"Individual" plants
By a stricter definition of individuality, and using contending measures of size, Ficus benghalensis, the giant banyan trees of India are the largest trees in the world. In these trees, a network of interconnected stems and branches has grown entirely by vegetative, "branching" propagation. One individual, Thimmamma Marrimanu, in Andhra Pradesh, covers 19,107 square metres, making it the largest single tree by two-dimensional canopy coverage area. This tree is also the world's largest known tree by a related measure, perimeter length, with a distance of 846 metres required to walk around the edge of the canopy. Thimmama Marrimanu is likely also the world's largest tree by three-dimensional canopy volume.The tallest flowering plant species known is Eucalyptus regnans, of which a living specimen has been measured at in Southern Tasmania. The longest vine to be accurately measured is "Rattan Manau" of the palm family and native to the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Java. One unbranched stem at Buitenzorg Botanic Garden, Java was carefully measured to a length of.
Of herbaceous plants, plants without persistent woody growth above ground, Musa ingens is the largest. It can reach about 15 m tall with a pseudostem diameter of around a meter. It also holds the record for the longest petioles or leaf stalks of any plant.
Bamboos are a subfamily of flowering perennial plants in the grass family Poaceae, comprising three tribes: Arundinarieae, Bambuseae, and Olyreae. Dendrocalamus is a tropical genus of giant clumping bamboo found throughout Southeast Asia. It includes Dendrocalamus giganteus, which can reach heights up to 30 m.
List of [world records held by plants|Other records] among flowering plants include, the title of largest flower, which belongs to the species Rafflesia arnoldii. One of these flowers can reach a diameter of and weigh up to. The largest unbranched inflorescence, resembling a giant flower, belongs to the titan arum, reaching almost in height. The absolute largest inflorescence, at up to long, is borne by the talipot palm of India. The largest leaves belong to either Gunnera manicata, Raphia regalis, Manicaria saccifera, Marojejya darianii, Johannesteijsmannia altifrons, or Victoria boliviana, depending on criteria.