El Grande was a massive Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...

(Eucalyptus regnans

Eucalyptus regnans

Eucalyptus regnans, known variously by the common names Mountain Ash, Victorian Ash, Swamp Gum, Tasmanian Oak or Stringy Gum, is a species of Eucalyptus native to southeastern Australia, in Tasmania and Victoria...

) in Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

 and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

's largest tree. It was located on a ridge in the upper Derwent valley

Derwent River (Tasmania)

The Derwent is a river in Tasmania, Australia. It was named after the River Derwent, Cumbria by British Commodore John Hayes who explored it in 1793. The name is Brythonic Celtic for "valley thick with oaks"....

, adjacent to the World Heritage Area of the Florentine Valley, approximately 100 kilometres (62.1 mi) from Hobart

Hobart

Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...

. The tree stood 79 metres (259.2 ft) in height, had a girth of 19 metres (62.3 ft), and a volume of 439 cubic metres. While it was not the tallest tree in Australia, it was considered to be the largest in terms of volume, and the world's biggest flowering plant.

Approximately 350 years old, it was discovered in June 2002 by Wally Hermann, Tasmanian geologist and Tall Trees Specialist. It was burned in April 2003, and died in December 2003 by accident in a regeneration

Regeneration

-In biology:* Regeneration , the ability to recreate lost or damaged tissues, organs and limbs* Bush regeneration, an ecological technique practiced in Australia-In music:* Regeneration , a 1977 album by Roy Orbison...

 burn after clear-felling of old growth forest. Australian forestry officials admitted killing the tree by mistake, its hollow trunk acting like a furnace so that it was cooked from the inside.

While its discovery was used as a symbol for cooperation between Forestry Tasmania and the Wilderness Society

The Wilderness Society (Australia)

The Wilderness Society is an Australian, community-based, not-for-profit non-governmental environmental advocacy organisation. Its purpose is to protect, promote and restore wilderness and natural processes across Australia for the survival and ongoing evolution of life on Earth.It is a...

, the tree's death brought national and international media attention, El Grande becoming a symbol for the destruction of Tasmanian forests. Scrutiny intensified over the burning of Tasmania's forests for wood chip exportation. In the later half of 2003, Forestry Tasmania decided to remove individual names from the state's giant trees. However, other giant trees in the area of El Grande which are also protected by Forestry Tasmania’s Giant Trees Policy, and have retained their names, include Centurion

Centurion (tree)

The Centurion is the tallest Swamp Gum tree in the world, thus making Eucalyptus regnans the second highest tree species in the world after Coast Redwood and the highest angiosperm in world...

, which was discovered in 2008, and Triarius

Triarius (tree)

The Triarius is an enormous Swamp Gum in southern Tasmania, Australia. The tree is 86.5 metres tall, its diameter is 3.90 metres, volume of the trunk is 219 cubic metres....

.