World's Oldest Clonal Colonies

World's Oldest Clonal Colonies

By: nobert bermosa

Clonal colonies are organisms that either fully connected or not actually interconnected through their root systems but are genetically identical clones which populated an area through vegetative reproduction. The ages of clonal colonies are determined by their current growth rates through estimates.

7. Amillaria Ostoyae: Oregon, USA

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An individual of the fungus species Armillaria ostoyae in the Malheur National Park is thought to be between 2,000 and 8,500 years old. It is thought to be the world's largest organism by area, at 2,384 acres or equivalent to 965 hectares. The Malheur National Forest contains the largest fungal organism (by area) known in the world.

6. Creosote Bush: California, USA

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This is a clonal colony called the Ring of Creosote Bush, scientifically known as Larrea tridentate. Scientists discovered this very ancient clone of the creosote bush in Mojave Desert in California. They estimated it to be between 11,000 and 12,000 years old.

5. Eucalyptus Recurva or Mongarlowe Mallee: Australia

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Eucalyptus recurva also known as "Mongarlowe Mallee" or "Ice Age Gum" is the rarest Eucalyptus and endemic to Australia. It is known from only 5 individual specimens. Scientists in Australia are undertaking analyses to determine the exact age of one specimen that is estimated to be 13,000 years old.

4. Huckleberry (Gaylussacia brachycera): Pennsylvania, USA

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Researchers in Pennsylvania have discovered a living plant that is a remnant of the last Ice Age. Using the known rate of growth if this self-sterile plant, they estimated that this 1/4-acre colony is over 13,000 years old.

3. King's Lomatia: Tasmania

The sole surviving clonal colony of this species is estimated to be at least 43,600 years old.

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King's Lomatia (Lomatia tasmanica) is a Tasmanian shrub. It is unusual because all of the remaining plants are genetically identical. When a branch falls, that branch grows new roots, establishing a new plant that is genetically identical to its parent. Although all the plants are technically separate in that each has its own root system, they are collectively considered to be one of the oldest living plant clones. Each plant's life span is approximately 300 years, but the plant has been cloning itself for at least 43,600 years and possibly up to 135,000 years. This estimate is based on the radiocarbon dating of fossilized leaf fragments that were found 8.5 km away. The fossilized fragments are identical to the contemporary plant in cell structure and shape, which indicates that both plants are triploid and therefore clones due to the extreme rarity of the occurrence of triploidy.

2. Pando or the Trembling Giant: Utah, USA

This clonal colony of populous tremuloides has been estimated at 80,000 years old, although some claims place it as being as old as one million years.

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Pando or The Trembling Giant is a clonal colony of a single male Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) tree located in the U.S state of Utah, all determined to be part of a single living organism by identical genetic markers and one massive underground root system. The plant is estimated to weigh collectively 6,000 tonnes (6,615 tons), making it the heaviest known organism. The root system of Pando is claimed by some to be among the oldest known living organisms in existence at 80,000 years of age.

1. Posidonia Oceanica: South Coast of Australia and Mediterranean Sea

A huge colony of the sea grass Posidonia oceanica in the Mediterranean Sea could be up to 100,000 years old.

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Posidonia is a genus of flowering plants. It contains two to nine species of marine plants ("seagrass"), found in the seas of the Mediterranean and around the south coast of Australia.