World's oldest living tree discovered in Sweden 9,550 years old

Capt'n Midnight

http://www.info.umu.se/NYHETER/PressmeddelandeEng.aspx?id=3061

Scientists found four “generations” of spruce remains in the form of cones and wood produced from the highest grounds. The discovery showed trees of 375, 5,660, 9,000 and 9,550 years old and everything displayed clear signs that they have the same genetic makeup as the trees above them. Since spruce trees can multiply with root penetrating braches, they can produce exact copies, or clones. The tree now growing above the finding place and the wood pieces dating 9,550 years have the same genetic material. The actual has been tested by carbon-14 dating at a laboratory in Miami, Florida, USA. Previously, pine trees in North America have been cited as the oldest at 4,000 to 5,000 years old.

In the Swedish mountains, from Lapland in the North to Dalarna in the South, scientists have found a cluster of around 20 spruces that are over 8,000 years old. Although summers have been colder over the past 10,000 years, these trees have survived harsh weather conditions due to their ability to push out another trunk as the other one died

Tree

So does this mean that the root system is ten thousand year old and the trees just pop up off it as required?

Capt'n Midnight

Not sure it may be like the creosote bushes in the US that grow where the oldest parts of the plant have died off. But it does sound like vegetative propogation

9,550 years of dendrochronology from a single plant would be interesting alright.


Who knows how long they could live, maybe they lived even longer before the Ice Age ?

DrIndy

is it one tree though or a series of clones? Is the rootstock shared commonly?

Otherwise it may only be as old as the oldest clone. You could say the potato you are eating is 500 years old - potatoes are clones unless grown from seed!

Depends on definition.

GLaDOS

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

But it does sound like vegetative propogation

That's what I thought it was anyway, though plant biology isn't my strong point.

Any idea how the would have measured the age of it?
Re-read it, carbon-14 dating