A giant tree, resembling an Ent from The Lord of the Rings, has won the title of New Zealand’s Tree of the Year. This strange tree, nicknamed the “Walking Tree,” due to its resemblance to a figure strolling across a field, is a northern rātā.
This tree species, known as Metrosideros robusta, stands tall among New Zealand’s flowering trees and can live for a thousand years. Its roots and lengthy, arm-like branches give it the appearance of an Ent—those fictional forest guardians from Middle-earth.
105 feet tall tree standing alone in an open space
The tree stands tall in a wide open space, surrounded by a paddock near a cemetery close to Karamea on the western coast of South Island.
It reaches approximately 105 feet (32 meters) in height, equivalent to the height of a seven-story building, as reported by The New Zealand Tree Register.
The walking tree easily clinched the top spot in the 2024 New Zealand Arboricultural Association’s (NZ Arb) Tree of the Year competition. It garnered 42 percent of the public vote, surpassing five other finalists, as stated in an email to Live Science.
The walking tree in Karamea ,New Zealand pic.twitter.com/hZNeQ9M22z
— Domenico (@AvatarDomy) January 23, 2024
According to competition organizer Brad Cadwallader speaking to Radio New Zealand, the walking tree surged ahead right from the beginning.
NZ Arb president Richie Hill, in a statement, described the walking tree as an “exceptional feature” and a “prime example of the remarkable trees that we, as New Zealanders, are fortunate to experience.”
The exact age of the walking tree remains uncertain. However, organizers of the award highlighted it is the only tree left standing from a forest that was cleared approximately 150 years ago. Brad Cadwallader said, “The farming family back then clearly thought it was special because they left it.”
Starting life on the surface of a host tree
Northern rātā trees are a type of epiphyte, meaning they start growing on the surface of another tree before developing aerial roots that eventually reach the ground.
The walking tree probably began its life high up in the canopy of its host tree, surviving on air and rainwater before its roots reached the ground. Its unique root structure likely formed as it grew around its host tree. The host tree probably died off many centuries ago.
“That host tree has now gone,” Cadwallader said. “Maybe the tree was either very, very big, or there may have been another tree that fell and lent against the host tree, and that’s why the roots have split near the ground and given it that walking appearance.”
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