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The World’s Oldest Tree Lives in Sweden

swedesinthestates.com

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Re: The World’s Oldest Tree Lives in Sweden

#11

Post by samirillian »

altec3 wrote: post #3

I'd always thought that the Methuselah Tree in California was the oldest living tree. Apparently there's some disagreement, as Old Tjikko is a clonal tree, meaning the trunks come and go but the roots stay living underneath [1]. So if you're counting non-clone trees, Methuselah is the oldest. If you're counting clonal trees, some Quaking Aspens are believed to be between 80,000 and 1,000,000 years old [2]. [1] https:…

There's also Prometheus, which was older than Methusaleh but was cut down by people looking for the old trees. [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus_(tree)

Re: The World’s Oldest Tree Lives in Sweden

#14

Post by gregoriol »

neuralzen wrote: post #9

Would have been fun to see this tree in the film Midsommar, but it would have been terrible if it was damaged somehow (film makers aren't always they best at keeping nature intact, just look at the Maltese beach ecosystem which was destroyed during the filming of the GoT Dothraki wedding scenes).

Not only film makers, but you can be sure a lot of instagramers will want to go if it becomes famous...

Re: The World’s Oldest Tree Lives in Sweden

#15

Post by tomerico »

tito wrote: post #2

Surprised it's such a small tree, more like a Bonzai tree. Though as mentioned in the article, "Big trees cannot get this old". "The world’s oldest tree, Old Tjikko, is a 9,500-year-old Norwegian Spruce tree that was discovered in 2004 by Professor Leif Kullman, and to this day remains the world’s oldest tree."

The trunk itself is estimated to be only a few hundred years old. When the trunk dies but the root system is still alive, it may sprout a new trunk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tjikko

Re: The World’s Oldest Tree Lives in Sweden

#16

Post by zV62drdTw6CM »

There is a research project [1] and book [2] by Rachel Sussman and Hans Ulrich Obrist called »The Oldest Living Things«, which features this and many more fascinating trees, moss, and other plants.

[1] http://www.rachelsussman.com/oltw

[2] http://www.oldestlivingthings.com/

Re: The World’s Oldest Tree Lives in Sweden

#18

Post by neuralzen »

ripperdoc wrote: post #10
neuralzen wrote: post #9

Would have been fun to see this tree in the film Midsommar, but it would have been terrible if it was damaged somehow (film makers aren't always they best at keeping nature intact, just look at the Maltese beach ecosystem which was destroyed during the filming of the GoT Dothraki wedding scenes).

Midsommar was recorded in Hungary in any case.

Oh! TIL

Re: The World’s Oldest Tree Lives in Sweden

#19

Post by uoaei »

ALittleLight wrote: post #17

I wonder what percentage of the world's trees have been carbon dated. I'd bet that effectively 0% of the world's trees have been carbon dated and that there remain older ones out there.

~0% of sampled trees does not necessarily mean ~0% certainty that we have found the oldest tree, since tree ages are correlated strongly with each other in local neighborhoods. We know where to look to find "oldish" trees and then narrow our search there. No need to sample trees from a new growth forest to be reasonably certain how old they are.

Re: The World’s Oldest Tree Lives in Sweden

#20

Post by mmanfrin »

samirillian wrote: post #11
altec3 wrote: post #3

I'd always thought that the Methuselah Tree in California was the oldest living tree. Apparently there's some disagreement, as Old Tjikko is a clonal tree, meaning the trunks come and go but the roots stay living underneath [1]. So if you're counting non-clone trees, Methuselah is the oldest. If you're counting clonal trees, some Quaking Aspens are believed to be between 80,000 and 1,000,000 years old [2]. [1] https:…

There's also Prometheus, which was older than Methusaleh but was cut down by people looking for the old trees. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus_(tree)

When I had ambitions for general interest blogging, I had an article kicking around in my head on the dangers of being a superlative tree.

Prometheus was the oldest tree, killed by a core sample.

Tree of Ténéré, the most isolated tree in the world, felled by a drunk driver. [1]

The Senator, the biggest cypress in the world was lit afire by an arsonist. [2]

Kiidk'yaas, a rare golden spruce, was felled by someone protesting logging. [3]

I also remember reading about the 2nd (largest, tallest, widest?) tree in the world being lit alight by someone smoking meth in its branches, but I can't find the source or name.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_T%C3%A9n%C3%A9r%C3%A9

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Senator_(tree)

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiidk%27yaas

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