In article ,
[David Hershey] wrote...
"Routerider" wrote in message
...
Does anyone know how old this bush is? The article states that the bush
will be dated but it only states the approximated age.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/s...ientshrub.html
Thanks for any help!
Probably they tested it and found that it didn't break the record so
there was no reason to publish a followup. Even ring counting of trees
might underestimate the age of some trees. Redwoods (Sequoia
sempervirens) can sprout from the stump so a particular redwood clone
could be older than the ring count would indicate.
A single quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) clone can spread via root
suckers to cover 100 acres or more. One quaking aspen clone in Utah
named 'Pando' has been estimated to be 80,000 years old.
http://www.nps.gov/brca/quaking_aspen.html
That remarkable age seems perhaps a bit excessive, but if
true it may be the record holder.
Mitton and Grant (1996) stated that a quaking aspen clone can exceed a
million years in age.
That seems surprising. How did they reach that conclusion? Can
they really document the age of any such million-plus year old
clones? I guess I'll go look it up. [Checked, and that article
really doesn't back it up with more than a few citations likely
to be of similar age estimates in the literature. I'm unconvinced,
so far, but haven't checked the citations.]
'Pando' has been considered the most massive
living organism. It might be the oldest plant as well.
Reference
Mitton, J.B. and Grant, M.C. 1996. Genetic variation and natural
history of quaking aspen. BioScience 46:25-31.
Another good candidate for an "oldest plant" clone is _Lomatia
tasmanica_ in the Proteaceae. Reportedly it's all one clone [a single
sterile triploid hybrid], but this genetic individual reportedly has
an identified fossil record dated to be over 40,000 years old. [it's
rather neat that a still-living organism could have a fossil record]
http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/ben149.html
http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.ns...AN-54A7XU?open
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/...0tasmanian.htm
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/s...ientshrub.html
cheers