There are hundreds of amazing trees all over the world. Some are just magnificent in their size, others in their ability is grow in harsh climates or others have morphed into different shapes due to man or mother nature. All are incredible, here is a list of my favorite top 10 most amazing trees and the story behind them.

#10 Boab Prison Tree (Australia)

The massive ancient Boab Prison Tree is believed to be around 1,500 years old and sits on the outskirts of the remote northern town of Derby in Western Australia’s rugged Kimberley region. The tree is an incredible 14 metres in circumference. With its hollow centre and door cut into its side, the Boab Prison Tree was once used by early police patrols as a staging point for prisoners being walked into Derby. In recent years a fence was erected around the tree to protect it from too much human traffic, carving of initials etc., and compacting of surrounding soil by vehicles.

#9 Dragon Blood Tree (Socotra)

The dragon blood tree is the most famous and distinctive plant of the island of Socotra. It has a unique and strange appearance, described as “upturned, densely packed crown having the shape of an uprightly held umbrella”. This evergreen species is named after its dark red resin, which is known as “dragon’s blood”. The trees fruits are small fleshy berries, when they ripen the berries are eaten by birds. The berries exude a deep red resin known as “dragons blood”.

#8 The Seanator (Florida, USA)

The Senator was the biggest and oldest pond cypress tree in the world, located in Big Tree Park, Longwood, Florida. The Seminoles and other Native American Indians who lived throughout Central Florida used this tree as a landmark. In 1925, a hurricane destroyed the top of the tree, reducing its original height of 165 feet (50 m) to a height of 118 feet (36 m). In 2012, a fire was reported at the top of the Senator tree. Firefighters arrived to try to extinguish the blaze, but the tree collapsed. The charred remains of the tree now stand only 20 to 25 feet (6.1 to 7.6 m) tall. The Division of Forestry said they arrested Sara Barnes in relation to the fire of The Senator. Barnes said she regularly went to the tree site to do drugs and lit a fire that night so that she could see, but that it got out of control. Some people believe that the tree is still alive. They have spotted saplings at the base of the big tree.

#7 The Chandelier Tree (California, USA)

The Chandelier Tree is a 315-foot (96 m) tall coast redwood tree in Leggett, California with a 6-foot (1.8 m) wide by 6-foot-9-inch (2.06 m) high hole cut through its base to allow a car to drive through. Its base measures 21 ft (6.4 m) in diameter. The name “Chandelier Tree” comes from its unique limbs that resemble a chandelier. The limbs, which measure from 4 to 7 ft (1.2 to 2.1 m) in diameter, begin 100 ft (30 m) above the ground. The tree is believed to have been carved in the early 1930s by Charlie Underwood.

#6 Crooked Forest (Poland)

The Crooked Forest is a forest of approximately 400 oddly-shaped pine trees located in West Pomerania, Poland. The trees were planted around 1930, when its location was still within the German province of Pomerania. It is generally believed that some form of human tool or technique was used to make the trees grow this way, but the method and motive are not currently known. It has been speculated that the trees may have been deformed to create naturally curved timber for use in furniture or boat building Others surmise that a snowstorm could have knocked the trees like this, but to date nobody knows what really happened to these pine trees.

#5 Arbe du Tenere (Sahara Desert)

The Ténéré Tree was a solitary acacia, of either Acacia that was once considered the most isolated tree on Earth—the only one for over 400 kilometres (250 mi). It was a landmark on caravan routes through the Ténéré region of the Sahara Desert in northeast Niger. The tree had stood alone for decades. During the winter of 1938–1939 a well was dug near the tree and it was found that the roots of the tree reached the water table 33–36 meters (108 to 118 feet) below the surface. The Tree of Ténéré was knocked down by an allegedly drunk Libyan truck driver in 1973. On November 8, 1973, the dead tree was moved to the Niger National Museum in the capital Niamey. It has since been replaced by a simple metal sculpture representing the tree.

#4 General Sherman (California, USA)

The General Sherman is a giant sequoia tree located in the Sequoia National Park in the U.S. state of California. By volume, it is the largest known living single stem tree on Earth. Computing the volume of a standing tree is the practical equivalent of calculating the volume of an irregular cone. For purposes of volume comparison, only the trunk of a giant sequoia is measured, including the restored volume of basal fire scars. Using these accepted standards and actual field measurements taken in 1975, the volume of the Sherman Tree was calculated to be slightly over 52,500 cubic feet (1,486.6 cubic meters).

#3 Hiroshima Bonsai (Washington DC, USA)

During World War II, a B-29 bomber known as the “Enola Gay” dropped the first atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima, Japan, killing hundreds of thousands of people. Among the survivors was a small tree, a Bonsai. The Bonsai, now 400 years old, is still alive, and forms part of one of the most striking collections in the U.S. capital. The tree came to the U.S. in 1976, to celebrate the U.S. bi-centennial, as a gift of 53 bonsai from Japan. The bonsai can be seen at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum in Washington DC.

#2 Tree of Life (Bahrain)

The Tree of Life, a 400-year old mesquite tree in Bahrain whose survival in an area completely free of water supply has made it a legend, is currently ranked fourth in the Official New Seven Wonders of Nature campaign. It stands alone, on top of a 25-foot-high sandy hill, at the highest point in Bahrain, miles away from another natural tree and with no apparent source of water. With 32 feet in height, it has continued growing-despite the extreme temperatures, lack of fresh water, and nutrients. The tree stands on top of a 7.6 m (25 ft) high sandy tell that formed around a 500-year-old fortress. The tree is a local tourist attraction, visited by approximately 50,000 tourists every year.

#1 Arbol del Tule (Mexico)

El Árbol del Tule (Spanish for The Tree of Tule) is a tree located in the church grounds in the town center of Santa María del Tule in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. The tree is a Montezuma cypress and has the stoutest trunk of any tree in the world, the trunk has a circumference of 42.0 m (137.8 ft), equating to a diameter of 14.05 m (46.1 ft). It is so large that it was originally thought to be multiple trees, but DNA tests have proven that it is only one tree. The age is unknown, with estimates ranging between 1,200 and 3,000 year. In 2001 it was placed on a UNESCO tentative list of World Heritage Sites.