Iluvatar (tree)
Encyclopedia
Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is a state park, located in Humboldt County, California, near the town of Orick and 50 miles north of Eureka...
in Northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
that has been confirmed to be at least 20.5 feet (6.2 m) in diameter at breast height
Diameter at breast height
Diameter at breast height, or DBH, is a standard method of expressing the diameter of the trunk or bole of a standing tree. DBH is one of the most common dendrometric measurements....
, and 320 feet (97.5 m) in height. Measured by Stephen C. Sillett
Stephen C. Sillett
Stephen C. Sillett is a botanist specializing in old growth forest canopies. As the first scientist to enter the redwood forest canopy, he pioneered new methods for climbing, exploring, and studying tall trees...
, it is the world's third-largest coast redwood, the largest being Lost Monarch
Lost Monarch
Lost Monarch is the name of a Coast Redwood tree in Northern California that is in diameter at breast height , and in height...
.
Iluvatar is located among a group of trees called Atlas Grove
Atlas Grove
Atlas Grove is a nickname for a grove of coast redwood trees in California at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. It contains the third largest coast redwood, Iluvatar....
. The location is unpublished. Atlas Grove, including Iluvatar, is a carefully studied area of forest. Just measuring Iluvatar required five climbers for over 20 days. Iluvatar is supposed to have up to 220 reiterated trunks—one of the most complex tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
structures known.
This redwood tree was named by Stephen C. Sillett
Stephen C. Sillett
Stephen C. Sillett is a botanist specializing in old growth forest canopies. As the first scientist to enter the redwood forest canopy, he pioneered new methods for climbing, exploring, and studying tall trees...
after Eru Ilúvatar
Eru Ilúvatar
Eru Ilúvatar is a fictional deity in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is introduced in The Silmarillion as the creator of all existence . In Tolkien's invented language of Elvish, Eru means "The One", or "He that is Alone" and Ilúvatar signifies "Father of All"...
, the creator of the universe in J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, who later became a noted fantasy writer. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R...
.
The Atlas Grove (with Iluvatar) is said by author Richard Preston to have been discovered by naturalist Michael Taylor in 1991. This claim contrasts with information an arborist who found old symbols in the grove, indicating a predating history of the grove.
This coastal redwood is surrounded by other old coastal redwoods including Atlas Tree, Gaia, Pleiades, Ballantine, Prometheus, Bell, Zeus and others. Ballantine was named after a real man. Some were named after ancient Greek gods. Neighboring species include Pseudotsuga menziesii, Picea sitchensis, Acer macrophyllum, Rhamnus purshiana
Rhamnus purshiana
Rhamnus purshiana Rhamnus purshiana Rhamnus purshiana (Cascara Buckthorn, Cascara, Bearberry, and in the Chinook Jargon, Chittam or Chitticum; syn...
, Umbellularia californica, Tsuga heterophylla, Chamaecyparis lawsoniana
Chamaecyparis lawsoniana
Chamaecyparis lawsoniana is a cypress in the genus Chamaecyparis, family Cupressaceae, known by the name Lawson's Cypress in the horticultural trade, or Port Orford-cedar in its native range . C...
and Lithocarpus densiflorus.