Did you know?
The world has some amazing tree species – such as the Monkey Puzzle Trees of Peru, Mangrove Trees from the tropical coastlines, the giant Sequoia Trees of California, and the Socotra Dragon Tree in Yemen.
A recent study has revealed that there are 73,300 tree species on earth and there are a staggering 9,200 species still to be discovered. The worldwide estimate is approximately 14% higher than the current number of known tree species.
Researchers took part in a three-year international project involving 150 scientists, sometimes walking for days and camping in remote places to reach them.
It is thought that around 40% of the undiscovered tree species are likely to be in South America – more than on any other continent. Hot spots of undiscovered South American tree species are likely to include the tropical and subtropical moist forests of the Amazon basin, as well as the Andean forests where trees are found at elevations between 1,000m and 3,500m.
The study shows that tropical forests are even more diverse in their trees than we had previously imagined. South America was found to have about 27,000 known tree species and 4,000 yet to be identified.
Worldwide the stats are:
- Eurasia (14,000 known species and 2,000 unknown)
- Africa (10,000 known/1,000 unknown)
- North America including Central America (9,000 known/2,000 unknown)
- Oceania including Australia (7,000 known/2,000 unknown)
In contrast, the UK is home to around 100 common tree species according to the Natural History Museum and these include the Oak, Ash, Hazel and Silver Birch.
