THE MAGNIFICENT BEAUTY OF EARTH'S OLDEST LIVING TREES - Many survived due to their isolation from humans

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Beth Moon spent 14 years travelling the world to collect the photos for this magnificent series

Most of the trees she has photographed only survived thanks to their isolation from humankind

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Wakehurst Yews: These yews at Kew's country estate, Wakehurst Place, were a few years ago found to be more than 600 years old

In the man-made world there is nothing like the vast, wizened majesty of an ancient tree. They are living links to the distant past whose very existence mocks the transience of our own mortality.

 

The Sentinels of St Edwards These yews framing the door of a church in Stow-on-the-Wood, Gloucestershire, inspired JRR Tolkien

 

American photographer Beth Moon has spent the past 14 years travelling the world in a quest to document the world's biggest, rarest and oldest trees. Most have only survived thanks to their isolation on remote mountainsides, private estates, or nature preserves, but just a few maintain a proud, though often precarious, existence in the midst of civilization.
 

See more images of ancient trees

 

Bristlecone pine: This tree could be one of several particularly old specimens in the U.S., which are believed to be up to 5,000 years old

 

'Standing as the earth’s largest and oldest living monuments, I believe these symbolic trees will take on a greater significance, especially at a time when our focus is directed at finding better ways to live with the environment, celebrating the wonders of nature that have survived throughout the centuries,' she writes on her website.  'By feeling a larger sense of time, developing a relationship with the natural world, we carry that awareness with us as it becomes a part of who we are.'

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Croft chestnut: This ancient tree in the grounds of Croft Castle in the Welsh Marches is between 400 and 500 years old

 

Buffelsdrift Baobab: This massive tree near Lephalale, Limpopo, is one of South Africa's five biggest baobab trees

 

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Rilke's Bayon: This massive tree is growing from ruins in Cambodia

 

Off To Market: This picture shows women walking past the baobab trees of Madagascar on their way shopping


Quiver Trees At Dusk: These South African trees, a type of aloe, are named for the practise of hollowing out their branches to make quivers


Kings Canyon Sequoias: The giant sequoia is the world's most massive tree, and arguably the largest living organism on Earth


General Sherman: This tree in California's Sequoia National Park is by volume the largest known living single stem tree on Earth

The Nantglyn Pulpit Yew: This yew, rumoured to be 5,000 years old, can be found outside St James Parish Church in Nantglyn, Denbighshire

 Ifaty teapot: This particularly stout, almost bottle-shaped baobab tree specimen grows near the west coast of Madagascar 

Source
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2898842/Earth-s-largest-living-monuments-Photographer-documents-beauty-majesty-planet-s-oldest-trees.html

Read more:

• www.bethmoon.com
• Abbeville Press books | Ancient Trees

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