Everything about Rbol Del Tule totally explained
El Árbol del Tule (
Spanish for "the Tule Tree") is a tree located in the church grounds in the town center of
Santa María del Tule in the
Mexican state of
Oaxaca, approximately 9 km east of the city of
Oaxaca on the road to
Mitla. It is a
Montezuma Cypress (
Taxodium mucronatum), or
Ahuehuete in the
Nahuatl language. It has the stoutest
trunk of any tree in the world.
Dimensions and age
In
2005, its trunk had a
circumference of 36.2 m, equating to
diameter of 11.62 m, a slight increase from a measurement of 11.42 m in 1982. However, the trunk is heavily buttressed, giving a higher diameter reading than the true cross-sectional of the trunk represents; when this is taken into account, the diameter of the 'smoothed out' trunk is 9.38 m.
The height is difficult to measure due to the very broad crown; the 2005 measurement, made by laser, is 35.4 m, This doesn't rule out another hypothesis, which states that it comprises multiple trunks from a single individual.
The age is unknown, with estimates ranging between 1,200 and 3,000 years, and even one claim of 6,000 years; the best scientific estimate based on growth rates is 1,433-1,600 years. Local
Zapotec legend holds that it was planted about 1,400 years ago by Pechocha, a priest of
Ehecatl, the
Aztec storm-god, in broad agreement with the scientific estimate; its location on a sacred site (later taken over by the
Roman Catholic Church) would also support this.
[
]Trivia
The tree is occasionally nicknamed the "Tree of Life" from all the images of animals that are reputedly visible in the tree's gnarled trunk. As part of an official project local schoolchildren give tourists a tour of the tree and show all manners of creatures that the tree trunk's features form including jaguars and elephants.
Image:Árbol-del-Tule-Oaxaca-Mexico.jpg|Full view of the Árbol del Tule
Image:12-05oaxaca093.jpg|Full width of trunk
Image:Datos-Árbol-del-Tule-Oaxaca-Mexico.jpg|Signboard with (unverified) statistics
Image:12-05oaxaca094.jpg|Trunk detail
Further Information
Get more info on 'Rbol Del Tule'.
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