As of August 23, 2016, how old was the world’s oldest known clonal tree colony?

Clonal trees grow in colonies of that spring from a common root system, which make them genetically-identical. That is one reason why scientists distinguish “individual” from “clonal” trees. The oldest known colony, “the Pando” includes more than 40,000 individual quaking (“Populus tremuloides” or “trembling giant”) trees sharing a single root system. Located in south-central Utah’s Fishlake National Forest, it is estimated to be 80,000 years old.

Discovered by accident in 2008, “Old Tjinko”, a Norway spruce, is believed to be the last living individual tree of a clonal colony. Although the individual tree itself is younger than its colony, carbon-14 dating has revealed that colony has been cloning itself for at least 9,550 years old. Old Tjinko lived in Sweden’s Fulufjället Mountains.