<P> General Sherman is a giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) tree located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, in the U.S. state of California . By volume, it is the largest known living single - stem tree on Earth . </P> <P> While the General Sherman is the largest currently living tree, it is not the largest historically - recorded tree . The Crannell Creek Giant, a coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) near Trinidad, California, is estimated to have been 15 to 25% larger than the General Sherman tree by volume . That tree was cut down in the mid-1940s . Another larger coast redwood, near 90,000 cubic feet, the Lindsey Creek tree, was reported in a 1905 Humboldt Times Standard article . </P>

What is the largest tree in the united states