Oldest Living Tree

Posted by Miss Cellania in Science & Tech on April 16, 2008 at 11:05 am


150_oldest-treeA Norway spruce growing in Sweden has a root system that has been growing for 9,550 years! The tree is only about 13 feet tall, but the trunk is not the first first one grown from the roots. Leif Kullman, professor at Umeå University led the team that discovered the tree’s age.

The spruce’s stems or trunks have a lifespan of around 600 years, “but as soon as a stem dies, a new one emerges from the same root stock,” Kullman explained. “So the tree has a very long life expectancy.”

The age of the root system was determined by radiocarbon dating.

Trees much older than 9,550 years would be impossible in Sweden, because ice sheets covered the country until the end of the last Ice Age around 11,000 years ago, Kullman noted.

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COMMENT

11 comments to "Oldest Living Tree"

  1. L
    April 16th, 2008 at 1:08 pm

    If trees could talk, imagine the stories that one could tell!

  2. Larry Sheldon
    April 16th, 2008 at 1:51 pm

    Please, can we deviate from current practice and NOT kill it?

  3. jessleigh
    April 16th, 2008 at 1:55 pm

    Trees with old root systems fascinate me. I can't believe they can grow so many times out of one root system. In fact, a root system here in the US is actually the largest organism in the world (thank neatorama for my education :)

  4. MrPumpernickel
    April 16th, 2008 at 2:10 pm

    "If trees could talk, imagine the stories that one could tell!"

    Holy crap, someone kill me already! I've been out here in the middle of nothing for tousands of years and nothing has happened. The most exciting thing was when a squirrel took a poop on a branch some two tousand years ago.

    ...but yeah, I bet now that it's common knowledge someone will kill it. Shortly thereafter it'll end up on eBay.

  5. Anonmouse
    April 16th, 2008 at 2:11 pm

    Flickr says: "You must be signed in to see this content."

    Why do so many Neatorama linked images give that? It's super-annoying, whatever the cause is.

  6. Miss Cellania
    April 16th, 2008 at 2:19 pm

    Anonmouse, the content isn't at Flickr, it's a National Geographic. Click where it say "LInk". If you click the picture, it should just take you to the Flickr page where I stored the photo, which won't tell you anything new. I don't know why you have to be signed up for Flickr, though.

  7. PancakeMan
    April 16th, 2008 at 2:19 pm

    Make sure to keep drunk Libyan truck drivers away from it!!

  8. CheeseDuck
    April 16th, 2008 at 2:36 pm

    Ima sell it on eBay!

  9. Edward
    April 16th, 2008 at 6:34 pm

    Don't worry about anyone killing it. All that can be reached is the trunk and, as the article says, if one dies, another one will take its place.

  10. NiteWhite
    April 16th, 2008 at 9:53 pm

    Creation scientists would probably say Satan planted that tree to test your faith, because after all, the Earth is only a little over 6k years old.

  11. phoenix
    April 17th, 2008 at 9:30 pm

    Given some of the comments on the previous post, there are people with their chain saws and bulldozers ready to kill off the ancient thing. :(


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