Archive for April, 2008
Oldest living tree turns 9,550 !
April 28th, 2008
If you think you’re getting old then spare a thought for the world’s oldest living tree. Discovered in Sweden, radiocarbon dating of the lone Norway Spruce tree shows that it has been alive for over 9,550 years.
Had it been able to move, it could would have been when the Great Pyramid of Giza was built. In fact, it was probably a sapling when humans first began to take their rudimentary tools to practice agriculture.
Spotted at National Geographic
Some also claim that Australia has the world’s oldest trees. However it is difficult to tell the exact age of the Huon Pine discovered in Tasmania. Some estimates are at over 10,000 years !
Both are classified as clonal trees. What this means is that while the tree is standing, the majority of it is actually dead, it is just the large and complex roots systems continue to grow indefinitely via a process similar to cloning.
Now that’s amazing.
The oldest known non-clonal tree, Prometheus, discovered in Nevada in the US was cut down in 1964. Methuselah is a non-clonal that is still alive in the White Mountains of California at an incredible 4,839 years of age.
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