What is the oldest living non-clonal tree in the world?

Pinus longaeva Methuselah in the White Mountains of California was thought to be the world’s oldest tree at 4,845 years old until 2013. Then a neighboring Pinus longaeva, unnamed was discovered to be 5,062 years old. Runners up to the title include a Mediterranean cypress tree (Cupressus sempervirens), about 4,000 years old in Iran; the Llangernyw Yew (Taxus baccata) also about 4,000 years old in North Wales; and the Patagonian cypress (Fitzroya cupressoides) 3,642 years old in Chile. The oldest living colonial organism (genetically identical trees connected by a single root system) at 80,000 years old is Pando in Utah.

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38 Comments

Skip Hayden

The tree is named "Methuselah ", even in the answer. This is a POOR question

mkrash

Funny the google search gave the answer of Methuselah Tree as I had to check after recieving the wrong answer as this dont happen often and this was in the News Papers not long ago this year .

linda luna

your answer is wrong.

Howard Groopman

As so often happens, I chose the longest answer and lucked out. Otherwise, I'd have taken Methuselah.

JRW

Those claiming it is Methuselah at 4,845 years, don't have the attention span to read past the first line! A neighboring Pinus longaeva, unnamed was discovered to be 5,062 years old. 5,000+ beats less than 4,900 every day.

earlepg

teacherchicky, Actually, I think that Kay Newton Gray was very deliberate in writing this question. I can't say with certainty of course, but, but the way that the question and the optional answers are written, seems to have a "surprise" answer at heart. She must have come across an article about the bristlecone tree; a site/article that I cannot locate. There is a site called livescience.com, however I couldn't find the article at this site. Not being satisfied with the answer, or the article used as the basis, I searched online for substantiation, without satisfaction. It seems that the claim is based upon figures provided by the Rocky Mountain Tree-Ring Research Group located in Fort Collins, Colorado. They list a bristlecone tree named Prometheus at 4,900 years old as the oldest non-clonal tree with Methuselah at 4,850 years the second oldest. It seems that some estimates ar based upon actual core samples, which I know by doing it, is done with difficulty. Other ages are simply estimated. Additionally, it seems that some samples have been misplaced, or otherwise no longer available.

Diana DeLisle

Two correct answers, but you only count one. Methuselah is the name of the tree in question, but you're only accepting its scientific name. Well done.