Ancient Tree (Almost) Older Than Dirt [ 5,000 to 30,000 years old ]

Discovery ^ | Wednesday, December 23, 2009 | Michael Reilly

[SunkenCiv]

This ancient tree, which researchers named the Jurupa Oak after the mountains in which it grows, may be the oldest plant living in California. [ Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra ]

[SunkenCiv]

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·
	Gods Graves Glyphs	To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
·Dogpile · Archaeologica · ArchaeoBlog · Archaeology · Biblical Archaeology Society · · Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·

[hellbender]

Hmm. There is a large colony of blueberry bushes in N. PA which is like this. I.e. all the plants are genetically identical; they are all one big clone.,

[hellbender]

I think there’s something like this in Washington, DC. A colony of organisms which continues to grow despite changes in the party controlling the White House and Congress. They infect any organism sent to DC by the electorate, and take over their body and brain.

[fish hawk]

That's a baby. Where I come from there are Redwoods that were growing when Christ walked this earth. Some 30 to 40 feet diameter.

[Freedom4US]

Yes, but it’s not the same tree, itself. Box huckleberry does the same thing, and crustose lichens that one can see on boulders, in excess of a certain size are older ‘n hell, too.

But I think the oldest living thing, so far, would be the bristlecone pine found in Nevada and California. Right up there anyway.

[mikrofon]

Ancient Tree (Almost) Older Than Dirt

Aww, never mind....

[hellbender]

I’m not sure. The bushes in N. PA all grew by vegetative spreading, IIRC. And I’ve never been sure what the difference is between blueberries and huckleberries. although I used to pick both and knew the difference in the taste and seediness of the fruit.

[stripes1776]

"Getting a handle on how old these organisms are is hard; most estimates are based on growth rates," which can have large errors, team member Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra also of the University of California, Davis said.

Since they don't know how old the tree is, all they have to do is cut it down and count the rings.

[BIGLOOK]

Just a guess, age degraded telomeres caused sterility from the original organism but shoots from the rhizome or root system survived. They are the same plant not really clones.

[Freedom4US]

Well, a tree is non-motile? I mean by that the oldest extant thing that isn’t cloning itself? Hm.. my head hurts.

[Freedom4US]

Yup, good ole WPN-114. Up until the drill bit broke, it was the oldest tree known. So they cut it down, because swedish drill bits don’t grow on trees. Ha ha.

[FreeperFlirt]

nope ...Bible says we around 6000 years old~ believe God can’t go wrong

[hellbender]

Plants are really cool. They don’t limit themselves to sexual reproduction...”not that there’s anything wrong with that.” I’ve had fun dividing a clump of irises and transplanting the offshoots, creating a whole border from a single original plant. Daylilies are also good at this.

[Pelham]

James Ussher calculated that we are around 6,000 years old. The question is whether Bishop Ussher could go wrong.

[Inyo-Mono]

But I think the oldest living thing, so far, would be the bristlecone pine found in Nevada and California. Right up there anyway.

That is correct. Just up the hill from me.

[Misterioso]

That bristle cone pine looks like how I feel these days. OMG/WTF? (It’s on my rear bumper.) :•)

[Inyo-Mono]

LOL! I hear you!

[FreeperFlirt]

yes he can, but God can’t can he?

[Arthur McGowan]

BTW:

Don’t termites emit something like a million times as much methane as human-raised cattle?