The tallest trees known to man take us to a similar setting as the forest moon of Endor, the sequoia sempervirens. Sequoia sempervirens is probably better known for one of its three common names: Coast Redwood, Coastal Redwood, and California Redwood. Coast Redwood is the only living species of the Sequoia genus and it was labeled as “Endangered” in 2011 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature or IUCN.
The tallest Coast Redwood is Hyperion which is 380.3 feet (115.92 meters) tall. Hyperion is estimated to be 600 years old and is believed to have only stopped growing because of woodpecker damage (curse you, Woody!). Its volume is estimated at 18,600 cubic feet (530 cubic meters) and I would not be surprised to find the largest section to have a diameter of 29.2 feet (8.9 meters). Hyperion lives in Redwood National and State Parks in California, but its exact location is being kept secret for protection. It is comforted though by having the second and third tallest trees, Helios and Icarus respectively, located in the same park.
Sequoia sempervirens is part of the Sequoia genus in the Cupressaceae family of the Pinales order in the Pinopsida class of the division Pinophyta and the Plantae kingdom.
