Possibly the oldest tree

[Tom Dunlap]

Ancient cypress in Chile may be the world’s oldest tree, new study suggests

The tree, in Chile’s Alerce Costero national park, is known as the Great-Grandfather and could be more than 5,000 years old

www.theguardian.com

 

[evo]

Ancient cypress in Chile may be the world’s oldest tree, new study suggests

The tree, in Chile’s Alerce Costero national park, is known as the Great-Grandfather and could be more than 5,000 years old

www.theguardian.com

Best not get your increment borer stuck and cut down the tree to retrieve it.:
That’s how the oldest bristle cone was ‘discovered’

 

[flushcut]

I may be wrong but I thought there was/is a bristlecone that is 9000 or so years old. Humm.. I’ll have to check that.

 

[Treezybreez]

That's interesting, I thought it was that Montezuma Cypress in Oaxaca, Mexico.

 

[flushcut]

I may be wrong but I thought there was/is a bristlecone that is 9000 or so years old. Humm.. I’ll have to check that.

Nope I’m wrong.

 

[KTSmith]

The Chilean Cypress "might be the oldest". OK, I'd emphasize the "might". Without a published, peer-reviewed ring count, preferably a cross-dated one, well, it's just wishful thinking.
"Mights" don't count much in the dendrochronology research world.

 

[Dan Cobb]

386 million year old trees have been found in New York state. Fossilized, of course.

World's oldest fossil trees uncovered in New York

Fossil trees, dating back 386 million years, have been found at an abandoned quarry in New York.

www.bbc.com

 

[evo]

I may be wrong but I thought there was/is a bristlecone that is 9000 or so years old. Humm.. I’ll have to check that.

I once read something about a shrubby spruce way up in the tundra that was thought to be one of the oldest. Climate change was affecting the shrub to grow into tree form.

 

[evo]

The Chilean Cypress "might be the oldest". OK, I'd emphasize the "might". Without a published, peer-reviewed ring count, preferably a cross-dated one, well, it's just wishful thinking.
"Mights" don't count much in the dendrochronology research world.

And then there are clones and root grafts. Perhaps we need to rethink the word organism

 

[KTSmith]

Here in northern Yankee-land, we were under a mile of ice 15,000 years or so ago. But yes, the nature of what constitutes an individual is far broader in type than our direct personal experience. Not trying to be woo-woo here, but earthly existence has more than one model habit or lifestyle! Indeed, the Fitzroya in the OP may well be the oldest determinate individual, which is how I usually think about these things. Didn't want to sound snarky in my comment above, but respectful of my discipline!