Taiwan Giants: the tallest tree in Asia revealed

On August 3, 2026, the research team known as "Taiwan tree seekers" released the measurement of an 84.1-meter Taiwania pine, recognized as the tallest tree in Taiwan and throughout Asia. The discovery underscores the uniqueness of the island’s forests, which host hundreds of specimens exceeding 70 meters in height.

The discovery of Asia’s tallest tree

The 84.1-meter record was obtained in January 2023, during the Lunar New Year celebrations, when climbers ascended the trunk and lowered a measuring tape to the ground. The specimen was named "Heaven Sword of the Da'an River" and was added to the "Taiwan Giant Tree Map", which lists 941 trees taller than 65 meters. By early 2026, the study had already documented ten Taiwania over 70 meters, two of which exceeded 80 meters.

How Taiwan’s topography favors giant trees

The island, covering about 36,000 km²—an area comparable to Switzerland—has 258 peaks above 3,000 meters, the highest being Mount Jade at 3,952 meters. This altitude variation supports roughly 5,000 plant species, ranging from humid tropical forests to alpine tundra. About 60 % of the territory remains forested, amounting to approximately 950 million trees. Steep and hard-to-reach terrain has preserved primary-forest areas that escaped industrial logging between 1912 and 1991.

LiDAR technology and public participation

To overcome the limitations of ground observations, the group began using LiDAR—a method that projects laser pulses from aircraft and reconstructs 3D terrain models. However, the automated algorithm overestimated heights in cliff areas, resulting in 93 % of measurements being incorrect. Starting in 2020, hundreds of Taiwanese citizens analyzed LiDAR profile images, filtering out false candidates and enabling the creation of the map that guided subsequent expeditions.

Conservation and carbon importance of the forests

Beyond their visual grandeur, these woods play a crucial role in carbon sequestration. In 2024, fifteen volunteers accompanied researchers in the "Tao Tree" valley, home to Taiwan’s third-tallest tree, and measured carbon density at 1,384.5 megagrams per hectare—a value comparable to the world’s most renowned ancient forest ecosystems.

New discoveries and future maps

Recent explorations near Mount Benya uncovered dense stands, such as a hectare with 11 trees over 65 meters, and, ten years after the first visit to the sacred Great Ghost Lake, a cluster of about 30 Taiwania pines. These “giant temples” underscore the need for ongoing monitoring, as the giant-tree map will continue to guide research and reveal the still-unknown extent of these natural monuments.

With information from ScienceDaily.