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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Eva Corlett in Wellington

FORGOTTEN HISTORY: Scientists hope world s loneliest tree will help answer climate questions | History Defined

Large tree stands in a grassy valley with stream winding through it
The Sitka spruce on Campbell Island in the Southern Ocean holds the Guinness World Record for most remote tree. Photograph: Dr Jocelyn Turnbull, GNZ Science

It is regarded as the “loneliest tree in the world” but the Sitka spruce on uninhabited Campbell Island has been keeping good company of late – with a team of New Zealand researchers who believe it could help unlock climate change secrets.

The nine-metre tall spruce holds the Guinness World Record title for the “remotest tree” on the planet. It is the sole tree on the shrubby, windswept island, 700 kilometres south of New Zealand in the Southern Ocean. It’s the only tree for 222km around; its nearest neighbour grows on the Auckland Islands.

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