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A flaky , giant tree with a span of leg - comparable trunks look like an Ent from " The Lord of the Rings " — and it has just been crown New Zealand ’s Tree of the Year after strolling past the rest of the competition .
The unknown tree , which has been nicknamed the " walking Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree " because it wait like it ’s striding across a landing field , is a northerly rātā ( Metrosideros robusta ) — one of New Zealand ’s tallest flowering Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree mintage that can live for up to 1,000 eld . It ’s roots and retentive , arm - corresponding outgrowth make the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree look like an Ent — a fancied race of tree - similar creatures that defend the forest of halfway - earth .
The “walking tree” is a northern rātā (Metrosideros robusta). It is more than 100 feet tall and at least 150 years old.
The tree stands alone in the middle of a great paddock next to a memorial park near Karamea on the west coast of South Island . It is around 105 feet ( 32 meters ) tall — around the same height as a seven - account building , according toThe New Zealand Tree Register .
The walking Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree was the readable victor of the 2024 edition of the New Zealand Arboricultural Association ’s ( NZ Arb ) Tree of the Year award , walking out with 42 % of the public ballot , which include five other finalists , according to a statement emailed to survive Science .
" It just stride out into the principal right from the very start , " competition organizer Brad Cadwallader toldRadio New Zealand .
Northern rātā trees bloom bright red flowers between November and January.
The walk tree is an " exceptional feature of speech " and a " prime example of the singular trees that we , as New Zealanders , are rosy to experience , " NZ Arb president Richie Hill say in the argument .
relate : The oldest Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree in the world ( and the 7 runner - ups )
It is unclear exactly how sometime the take the air tree is , but award organiser mark it is the solitary survivor of a timberland that was cleared around 150 years ago . " The farming family unit back then clearly thought it was special because they left it , " Cadwallader said .
Northern rātā trees bloom bright red flowers between November and January.
Northern rātā trees are epiphytes — a character of tree that starts life growing on the surface of a host tree before develop ethereal roots that eventually reach the ground . The walk Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree likely get down lifetime in high spirits up in the canopy of its boniface , living off air and rainwater before reaching the ground . Its strange tooth root layout was likely triggered by how it grew around its host tree diagram , which probably died off centuries ago .
" That legion tree has now blend in , " Cadwallader say . " perhaps the tree was either very , very bounteous , or there may have been another tree diagram that fell and lent against the host tree , and that ’s why the roots have split near the background and pass it that walking appearance . "
Northern rātā trees are autochthonal to New Zealand and were once one of the most common metal money in the land ’s woodland . However , their reach has decreased over the last few decades and they are now listed as nationally vulnerable , consort to theNew Zealand Plant Conservation internet .
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In addition to deforestation , the master threats to northern rātā are the invasive rough-cut brushtail possums ( Trichosurus vulpecula ) , which demolish the trees by rust their leaf and gnawing at their roots .
The tree are also endanger by hybridizing with the nearly related pōhutukawa tree ( Metrosideros excelsa ) and are susceptible to myrtle rust ( Austropuccinia psidii ) — a pathogenic fungi native to South America that was detect in New Zealand for the first sentence in 2017 .
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