The Oldest Soul

Plant and tree enthusiasts around the globe have long debated which tree is the oldest on Earth. Like anyone with passion they state the case for their favoured botanic beauty.

In my home state of Tasmania, Australia, there are some real contenders, with locals pointing to the Huon Pine (Lagarostrobos franklinii) as the elder statesman of the Tasmanian rainforests. With individual specimens living to over 2,500 years, the Huon is indeed a very old tree. Complicating the case, a stand of Huon Pines that has replicated itself as male clones from a single specimen dates back over 10,500 years. Is that a 'tree' or is that a forest?

The reverence these trees deserve isn't reflected in how they are protected. A case in point is in the Tarkine region of Tasmania, where thousand-year-old Huon Pines grow in areas with mining exploration leases slapped across them.

However, if clone ages are taken into account there is another extremely rare species that has been replicating itself in an isolated Tasmanian river valley for well over 43,000 years. Now that is extremely old! Kings Lomatia (Lomatia tasmanica) is so rare that its location in an isolated wilderness valley is a carefully hidden secret.

But, botanists and horticulturalists specialising in rare species are working hard to breed insurance populations.

But if we are talking trees and not strange shrubs, there are several old and spectacular specimens around the world, and it's the ones that survive in the wild that engender the most awe and wonder for those that visit them.

It was with this in mind that I travelled to the Great Basin National Park in Nevada, home of the Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva).

Here are some of the images I took, with some trees exceeding 3000 years of age.

But the oldest of the oldest Bristlecones live in the White Mountains of California. 'Methuselah' has been aged at over 4,850 years old - just contemplate that for a living organism... It's exact location is a closely guarded secret, and long may it remain so ... some things aren't meant for human eyes.

An even older specimen was accidentally cut down and can sadly only be viewed at the Great Basin Visitor Centre, in cross section. 'Prometheus' was over 4900 years old when it met its maker.

But all this boasting over age is a little pointless (and contentious). At the end of the day, each and every tree plays a critical role for all the species that rely on it for shelter, breeding and feeding.

If you are curious to find out more about very old trees, the Oldlist is a database of the oldest trees on Earth and details how their age is measured.