The source for many of the Did You Know facts below is the Irish Tree Trivia booklet produced by the Irish Tree Council.
Did you Know?
How much carbon does a tree absorbs each year? How many trees does Coillte plant annually? Everything you wanted to know about forests – it’s here.
Did you Know?
That an average tree fixes about 25kg of carbon (a greenhouse gas) per annum over its lifetime.
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The tree with the largest girth is a Monterey cypress growing at Killyleigh, Co. Down. It is over 12 metres in diameter.
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The tallest native tree in Ireland is an Ash tree near Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. This tree measures 40 metres in height.
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The tallest tree in Ireland is a Douglas fir at the Powerscourt Estate in Co. Wicklow. This tree measures 56 metres in height.
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Coillte manages 15% of its estate for biodiversity and nature conservation - that's over 66,000 ha.
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Trees feature prominently in the naming of counties, towns and villages in Ireland. The most prominent are Oak (Durrow, Coolderry, Dunderry); Yew (Terenure, Newry, Youghall); Alder (Ferns); and Birch (Kilbehenny).
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Six counties in Ireland have names associated with trees: Monaghan (Muineachan, 'place of thicket'), Roscommon (Ros Comain, 'St Coman's Wood'), Mayo (Maigh Eo, 'plain of the yews'), Derry (Doire, oak), Antrim (Aon Trim, Elder), Kildare (Cill Dara, or 'Church of the oaks).
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The oldest tree in Ireland is thought to be a Yew tree in Co. Wexford which is over 1,000 years old. The Brian Boru Oak in Co. Clare is also said to be over 1,00 years old.
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Over 70 million trees are planted in Ireland each year.
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An Irish law of the 8th century set out penalties for damaging privately owned trees.. Penalties included the payment of two cows for cutting down an oak tree or the payment of a sheep for cutting the branch of a hawthorn tree!
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Hurley making in Ireland is a Cottage industry making 350,000 Hurleys for Hurling every year and employs 300 people. Coillte is central in the supply and support of this industry.
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Before people arrived in Ireland some 9,000 years ago, most of the Island was covered in woods.
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Modern Irish forestry began in 1904 at Avondale in Co. Wicklow, the home of Charles Stewart Parnell. Many different tree species from all over the world were planted within the estate, to see which would grow the best in Irish conditions.
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Only 10% of Ireland is forested, compared to the EU average which is 36%. The current plan is to increase the percentage of Irish forests to 17% by 2035.
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Coillte, the state forestry company, owns and manages over 400,000 ha (1,000,000 acres) of forest.
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Forestry in Ireland now employs around 16,000 people. A further 14,000 farmers have also planted an average of 10 hectares each in recent years.
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Forestry is now a major Irish industry worth €700million per annum, and is set to grow at 10% per annum. This should climb to over €1billion by 2015, which will then make the industry as important as the beef or dairy industry is today.
Did you Know?
Forests grow really well in Ireland because of our mild winters and high rainfall.
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Trees take in carbon dioxide from the air and convert much of it into wood. They also produce oxygen. Every year each hectare of Ireland's forests takes in 3.4 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere which helps in the battle against climate change.
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One third of our foreign visitors visit a forest park during their stay here.
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Every year, there are almost 18 million visits by Irish residents to Irish forests.
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Annually two out of every five Irish families visit a forest.
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The tallest tree in the world is a coast redwood in California. At 112 metres in height it is almost as tall as Dublin's Spire which is 120 metres high.
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The largest tree in the world is a giant sequoia, found in the Sequoia National Park in California. It is only 83m tall, but its volume is estimated at 1,490 cubic metres, making it a huge tree!
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About one-third of the world's land surface is covered with forest. Brazil and Russia together account for a large portion of this.
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Tropical forests are very important ecosystems, providing a habitat for more than half of all of the world's wild plants and animals.
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Forests provide fuel, wood products, fodder, food, medicines, fibre, rubber, gums and resins.
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Forests protect soil, prevent flooding, and store and recycle nutrients.
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Trees and forests protect soil, slow down the speed at which the rain hits the ground, and act like giant sponges that soak up heavy rain.
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Trees are generally regarded as being the largest land living organisms on earth.
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We can tell the age of a tree by counting the rings in a cross section of a tree. Each ring represents one year's growth.
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Larch is a conifer grown in Ireland that sheds all its leaves (or needles) in the winter, making it a deciduous conifer.
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Through a process called photosynthesis trees capture carbon from the air and using the energy from sunlight convert it into food and tissue. Trees capture more carbon from the air than any other single organism on earth.
Did you Know?
As part of photosynthesis trees release oxygen back out into the air. In fact trees produce more oxygen than any other single living organism.
Did you Know?
While most timber can float in water, ebony wood, used for making black piano keys, will sink.
