Oldest Living Tree

A 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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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 :)
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"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.
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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.
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