SYDNEY, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- In the forests of Tasmania, Australia's southern island state, stands one of the tallest trees in the world, a giant ash which researchers revealed on Wednesday has reached over 100 meters tall.

The only other place in the world with trees over that height is in California where the tallest of the coast redwoods extends 115.55 meters above the forest floor.

However, the tallest hardwood tree and tallest flowering tree categories belong to the Tasmanian giant ash named Centurion, which when first measured was 99.7 meters tall, and is now officially 100.5 meters.

Researchers from Giant Tree Expeditions (GTE) measured Centurion using laser technology which they said is accurate to within 4 centimeters.

"It looks like in the last three years it's cracked the 100-meter mark," GTE's Yoav Daniel Bar-Ness told local media.

In 2008, Centurion was first measured by climbers who dropped a measuring tape from the top of the tree, clocking it at 99.7 meters.

Tasmania's ash giants have a lifespan of around 500 years, which is remarkably young when compared to the 3,000 year lifespan of their Californian counterparts.

The ash trees grow much more quickly than the redwoods, able to reach 90 meters in 90 years, but consequently die much younger. Enditem

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