How Long Do Trees Live?
Trees, like all other living organisms, have a natural life cycle and a finite life span.
Their lifespan is influenced by a variety of natural events, including:
- The availability of water
- The presence or absence of wind
- Diseases & disorders
Additionally human activity can dramatically extend or shorten their lifespan.
The Lifespan of Trees in Britain
The list below gives the estimated or likely ages for some of the trees in Britain. The ages given are those which appear most frequently when collected from numerous sources.
Trees regularly exceed their average or typical lifespan and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of examples of this throughout the country.
|Type of Tree||Age||Type of Tree||Age|
|Cedar of Lebanon||350||Red Oak||200|
|Cider Gum Eucalyptus||120||Robinia||250|
|Common Lime||400||Scarlet Oak||150|
|Common Oak||350||Scots Pine||300|
|Crack Willow||100||Silver Birch in Southern England||80|
|English Elm||300||Silver Birch in Northern England||150|
|European Larch||350||Silver Birch in Scotland||220|
|Field Maple||200||Silver Maple||150|
|Horse Chestnut||350||Tree of Heaven||200|
|Indian Beam Tree||150||Walnut||200|
|Lombardy Popular||150||Wild Cherry||150|
|London Plane||400||Wych Elm||250|