The oldest plant on the planet is at the moment is the common spruce - Old Tikko, it is 9550 years old.
The oldest non-coniferous tree grows in Brazil - the Patriarch of the Forest, it is already more than 3000 years old.
In the USA in California national park The “Mammoth Tree” is growing - General Sherman, which is more than 2500 years old, moreover, the mass of the plant is 2000 tons, and the height is 85 meters. This tree is recognized as the largest on Earth.
Blue-green algae. These representatives flora for many billions of years. They usually live in fresh water bodies, but can live on land and in salt water and even in hot springs. These plants were the first to photosynthesize and produce oxygen. It was thanks to these representatives of the flora, according to scientists, that the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere once changed.
Selaginella. This plant belongs to the oldest group - mosses. Outwardly it resembles a fern. Now there are several about 300 species of Selaginella, and some of them can be grown at home.
Ginkgo. This plant is found on city streets in Japan and China. A special feature of this tree is the interesting shape of the leaves - in the form of a small fan. According to scientists, these trees existed approximately 250 million years ago.
Metasequoia glyptostroboides. The oldest coniferous tree. Until recently, this species was considered extinct, but in 1943 living tree was found in China. Analysis of the wood showed that the appearance of trees of this species has not changed at all since the time of dinosaurs.
Giant sequoiadendron. The tree reaches 100 meters in height and lives for about 4,000 years. There are only about 500 living trees left in the world. These giants grow in the United States.
Wollemia. A small tree similar to a Christmas tree. However, these trees grew on our planet about 200 million years ago. Interestingly, the plant itself was discovered only 20 years ago.
Magnolia. One of the oldest plants on Earth, which boasts its most beautiful flowers. Scientists believe that this species is at least 150 million years old. Magnolias are very whimsical. There are about 120 species in total, of which only 25 species tolerate frost and can be grown in temperate climates.
Actinidia. Plants known to us for their fruits are kiwi. This plant is approximately 65 million years old. It appeared on Earth at the same time as chestnuts, plane trees and ficus trees.
The first creatures on our planet were indeed plants. These were blue-green algae, which, as scientists say, created the first atmosphere of the planet, saturated it with oxygen, and created the conditions for the existence of subsequent evolutionary experiments. They remain in our world today, if desired, blue-green algae, or rather, their modern descendants, can be grown and observed.
But they are far from the only plants that can be grown today. There are other types that are worth paying attention to.
The most ancient contemporaries
The most ancient plants were discovered in China during excavations. Their age may be more than 635 million years. Scientists determined this fact by the depth of the layers. But there are also living modern plants, which have reached our days from distant eras. First of all, this is Antarctic moss, which is 5,500 years old, and the age of its ancestors is 43,600 years, and even more - according to other tests, the age of similar plants was more than 100,000 years. At that time, humanity had just begun to leave the African continent in search of new lands.
Mosses are not the only ancient plants that have survived to this day. Poplars are also worth keeping in mind. Unique plants of this species can still be found today - in the USA there is a colony of poplars, which makes up an entire organism of 50 thousand plants. They have in common root system, which allows them to constantly reproduce, and this fact makes the plants within the colony immortal, because the stepchildren have the same genetic data. The small forest is believed to be around 800,000 years old and all these plants descended from a single ancestor.
Other ancient but modern plants
It is believed that the oldest cedar on our planet is cryptomeria. One of the greatest plants of this species grows in Japan, on Mount Yakushima, and has a height of about 25 meters. The girth of the plant's trunk is 16 meters. This plant is 7 thousand years old, although some argue that the cedar could have grown like this in just a couple of thousand years. But still, which tree can be considered the most ancient on the planet?
In relatively recent times, experts discovered an old Canadian spruce in Sweden. This relatively young-looking tree turned out to be a shoot of an older plant that grew here in the past and was at least 9,550 thousand years old. Since the young plant has the same genetic code, it can be considered not a descendant, but a continuation of the same plant, and therefore it has the status of the oldest single spruce in the world. Next to it, but at some distance, there are other similar clones with an age of 5-9 thousand years.
Ancient trees that are not clones
In the 60s, the life of a unique pine tree named Prometheus, whose age was about 5 thousand years, was cut short. But there is a tree named Methuselah, which is almost 3 thousand years old, and this pine is the oldest on the planet today. At least that's what it seems. In terms of the antiquity of its origin, the exceptional tree is followed by Firzoya cypress, whose age will soon reach 3700 years. This plant lives among a group of equally ancient individuals with an age of more than 2 thousand years, in a reserve located in the southern part of Chile.
And in Atacama, one of the deserts of the planet, yaret grows - a bush that is more than 2 thousand years old. The plant is a close relative of parsley. In Wales there is a yew tree that is about 4 thousand years old.
Why do some plants live in groups?
In addition to such a phenomenon as symbiosis, plants can be forced into group “living” by their origin from a single shoot. Accordingly, those plants that do not reproduce from one shoot or rhizome do not live in groups. If plants tend to drop seeds in clusters, their offspring may also live in clusters. So there is no mystery in this.
Thus, very ancient plants live on the planet, clones of old trees, or they themselves. Modern methods allow us to date the time of their appearance. Plants appeared on the planet first, before other creatures. And the group existence of some species is associated with their method of reproduction.
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Plants are an important and ancient link in the history of our planet. The first plants witnessed significant climate changes; they existed long before the appearance of man himself.
Plants are unique; they carry many functions to support life on Earth:
- accumulate huge reserves of valuable organic matter and chemical energy,
- release oxygen, protect against ultraviolet radiation,
- reduce the amount of carbon dioxide,
- take part in the cycle of minerals and organic matter,
- plants directly influence climate and temperature,
- vegetation participates in soil formation, prevents erosion,
- maintain water regime.
The primary source of oxygen on our planet is blue-green algae. These are bacteria that, along with higher plants, have the ability to photosynthesize; they outlived all their ancestors and existed when no one else existed. They are found everywhere: in fresh water bodies, in salty seas, on land, and feel great even in the most extreme conditions.
The most ancient foliage plants on earth, Selaginella is recognized, the history of which dates back about hundreds of millions of years. The "carpet fern" reproduces by spores and is the only representative of the club mosses, an ancient group of plants common before our era. These plants are up to 10 cm in height and resemble ferns and mosses in appearance. They are widely used in home floriculture for their interesting appearance.
Ginkgo is a relict plant, many call it a “living fossil.” This ancient type of gymnosperm has been preserved since the Ice Age. In their natural habitat, these trees grow up to 40 meters with a trunk diameter of up to 4 m. The life period is about 2000 thousand years. This plant has unique healing properties: the leaves contain many biologically active compounds (acids, vitamins, oils, minerals). They actively influence the human body and have a healing effect.
The oldest living plant on Earth is the “old Tikko” tree. According to scientists, the age of the tree is more than 9550 thousand years. “Old Tikko” is a common spruce, it has the status of the oldest existing tree. A spruce tree grows in the province of Dalarna in Fulufjellet National Park, Sweden. Scientists have determined that the tree was preserved thanks to the process of “cloning”, with an old root system, the tree trunk is only 600 years old.
Another ancient spruce grows in Härjedalen, Sweden and is called “Old Rasmus”. The age of this plant is about 9500 thousand years.
The oldest coniferous tree considered the "Patriarch of the Forest" that grows in Brazil. Its approximate age is about 3000 thousand years. Now it is under protection, because... grows in an area of active felling.
The oldest ficus grows in Sri Lanka. Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi was planted in 288 BC. For all Buddhists of the world, this tree is sacred and is a place of pilgrimage, because. the tree is believed to have been grown from a cutting planted by the Buddha.
The oldest olive "tree of Cormac" grows on the island of Sardinia in Italy. The age of this plant is about 3000 years.
A plant that has been listed in the Guinness Book for its trunk circumference of more than 60 meters, the “Hundred Horse Chestnut” is 3,000 years old. It grows in Sicily.
Fitzroya cypress is an ancient representative of the Fitzroy genus, whose age is 2600 thousand years. Previously, this species was distributed in South America and Patagonia. The current representative of the genus grows on the territory of the Argentine National Park. The tree is 55 meters high and has a trunk diameter of 2.5 meters. Its age is 2600 thousand years.
The most tall plant is a General Sherman tree, 85 meters high, living in a California national park. Its age is more than 2,500 years, and its mass is about 2,000 thousand tons.
Unfortunately, many ancient plants have not survived to the present day; many did not survive due to natural reasons. Some of them were cut down for safety reasons, and many were poached.
But thanks to the surviving centenarians, we can learn the history of the development of the Earth, trace how living conditions on our planet changed.
Almost any person perceives the events of centuries ago as a fascinating fairy tale, not believing in the reality of what happened thousands of years ago. Judging existence ancient world can be found in different corners planets evidence. One of them is the most ancient plants on Earth, some specimens of which have successfully survived to this day, having witnessed the birth and decline of civilizations, having survived more than one historical era.
Modern representatives of ancient times
The most ancient plants on Earth are algae discovered during excavations in China. Their approximate age, according to scientists, ranges from 580 to 635 million years. Great minds were able to identify it by the depth of the rock layers with the found brown remains resembling branches and plates.
Almost every continent has preserved the most ancient plants on Earth - silent witnesses of bygone eras. These are the Antarctic moss, which is 5,500 years old, the plant Lomatia tasmanica, which has an estimated age of 43,600 years, and the Mediterranean grass Posidonia oceanica, which is 100,000 years old. By the way, it was back in those days when ancestors from Africa began to explore other lands.
The most ancient plants on the planet are a colony of poplars in the USA, Utah.
50 thousand genetically similar trees with a common root system constitute an integral organism that constantly reproduces and in this way ensures its own immortality. The approximate age of this society is more than 800,000 years.
Cryptomeria - the oldest cedar on the planet
On the highest mountain Japanese island Yakushima grows a huge cedar - cryptomeria, the height of which reaches 25 meters, and the girth is 16 meters. This ancient giant is 7000 years old. Some scientists claim that the age of the handsome green man is 2.5 times less. Tourists rarely visit such remote and remote places, allowing the coniferous old-timer to humbly observe the passage of time.
And yet: what plant is now the oldest on our earth? Not long ago, a group of specialists discovered a growing plant in Sweden.
The slender and young-looking tree turned out to be a new shoot of an ancient ancestor that grew in the same place and was about 9550 years old. Today it is the oldest free-standing spruce on the planet. Rising nearby are other clones of trees whose roots are between 5,000 and 9,000 years old.
Famous old-timer pine trees
The fate of a pine tree named Prometheus, an old-timer among non-cloned trees, cut down in the 60s of the last century with light hand a certain American student. After its death, the age of the tree was accurately determined to be 5,000 years. The pine tree was a historical landmark of the National Park
Another was discovered in California in the Inyo National Forest. In a study conducted in 1957, it was found that pine appeared on earth in 2832, that is, at that time the age of the tree was 4789 years. It was named Methuselah - in honor of one of the biblical characters who lived 969 years. Today, after the death of Prometheus, this pine is the oldest plant on Earth. Its location is securely hidden among other trees, which are also about 2000 years old. The tree is carefully protected to avoid attempts of vandalism.
The oldest plant on Earth (after the long-lived Methuselah) is Fitzroya cypress.
Its age was determined in 1993 by counting annual rings and was 3622 years. It grows in a coastal reserve in southern Chile. In the Atacama Desert of the same country, the yareta bush, a relative of modern parsley, has been growing for more than 2000 years.
Historical pride of Great Britain
In the courtyard of the parish church of the village of Llangernew in Wales you can admire a huge yew tree, dating back 4,000 years. So long life he was able to survive thanks to new shoots growing even at the moment the main trunk died. In June 2002, during the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, this historical monument was recognized as a national heritage of Great Britain.
Baobab is a bright representative of ancient plants
The most ancient plants on Earth are baobabs. A striking representative of this type of tree is a giant tree growing in Africa, which consists of two parts with large cavities inside each. The diameter of the baobab is 10.6 meters with a trunk circumference of 47 meters and a height of 22 meters.
The age of the tree identified is 6,000 years; that is, the tree is older Egyptian pyramids. The giant hollow discovered inside it has been successfully inhabited for many generations. There have been fires there more than once. Capable of accommodating 20-30 people inside different times it was used by people as a temple, bus stop, prison, water storage and public toilet. Its modern purpose is a cozy bar-pub. Being such a loved and sought after tree, the baobab continues to grow vigorously; a huge number of different birds live in its crown.
Human negligence towards nature
The relationship “man - nature” is far from ideal, and the initiator of the negativity is mostly the first party, whose irresponsible and conniving attitude dooms the most ancient plants of the Earth to extinction. Thus, for the purpose of building roads and organizing fields, the Underground Forest, located in South Africa. Representing a massive root system that draws nutrients and water deep underground, it was a guaranteed protection against possible forest fires.
In Florida, a unique cypress tree, whose age reached 3,500 years, burned down due to the light hand of man.
One of the oldest trees in the world, it was named Senator in honor of Moses Overstreet, a senator in the Florida Legislature who donated land with cypress trees to Seminole County for the creation of a natural park. Initially, the height of the Senator was 50 meters; in 1925, due to a hurricane, the tree lost its top and decreased to 38 meters.
Plants play an important role on the planet. It's no secret that trees are the lungs of the planet, and flowers are best decoration parks and the globe. The first plants existed long before the appearance of man himself - geologists still find their fossilized remains today. But which modern plants can be considered the most ancient? And have those rare ancient specimens survived to this day?
1 The oldest plant in the world - Old Tikko
He is 9550 years old. This is Norway spruce, officially recognized as the oldest clonal tree on earth. It grows in the Swedish national park in the province of Dalarna.
2
One of the most ancient plants on earth is a tree with interesting name"Metasequoia glyptostroboides." It was thought to have died long ago, but in 1943 a living representative of this genus was discovered in China. After examining the remains and materials taken from a living tree, it was found that their ages are not that different.
3
Brazil boasts the oldest non-coniferous tree. This is the Patriarch of the forest, which is already more than 3000 years old. Unfortunately, the Patriarch grows in the very center of the deforestation zone, which means it risks being destroyed every day.
4
In Taiwan, until 1998, there was a tree with an age of 3,000 years: Alishan Sacred Tree from the cypress genus, in other words - red cypress. Today, a fence is installed around its trunk, testifying to the sanctity and value of the plant.
5In 1968, the Suga Jamon tree was discovered in Japan on the island of Yakushima. Its age is estimated to range from 2,500 to 7,200 years. It is impossible to determine the exact date because the interior of the wood has completely rotted away - this often happens with old plants. The plant belongs to the species “Cryptomeria japonica”. Its circumference is 16.2 m, height - 25.3 m.
6
The Cormac Tree grows in Italy - it is oldest tree, which is also called European olive. It is about 3,000 years old and “lives” in Sardinia. Well, if you think about it, it is not surprising that the oldest olive tree is located in Italy.
7
Hundred horse chestnut is a tree of the “sowing chestnut” species. It got its name because of the legend according to which one hundred knights were once able to shelter from the rain under its crown. Its representatives today are also in Russia - in the south of the Krasnodar Territory. The main plant, which is more than 3,000 years old, grows in Sicily. According to official data from the Guinness Book of Records, this tree is the thickest: its circumference is almost 60 meters.
8
Fitzroya cypress is the oldest representative of the Fitzroy genus. Now he is on the verge of extinction. Under natural conditions, these trees grow in South America and Patagonia. The Sochi climate is also well suited for them. The oldest representative, 58 m high and 2.4 meters in diameter, can be seen in the Argentine National Park. Its age is more than 2600 years.
9
A very interesting specimen grows in the California National Park. This is the "mammoth tree" named General Sherman. Its age exceeds 2,500 years. The total mass of the plant is almost 2,000 tons, and the height reaches 85 meters. It is not only one of the oldest, but also the largest tree on Earth.
10
Sri Maha Bodia from the ficus genus is a sacred tree of Buddhists. They believe that it was under him that Buddha achieved enlightenment. The height of the tree does not exceed 30 meters, and its age is more than 2,300 years.
The list of the oldest plants on the planet goes on. Some of them were cut down due to safety precautions, many were destroyed by poachers, but most of the earth's centenarians have survived to this day and can tell us about the past of the Earth.
