The most ancient plants on earth that have survived to this day

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:54

Practically 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. It is possible to judge the existence of the ancient world by the evidence found in different parts of the planet. 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, is from 580 to 635 million years. Great minds were able to determine its depth by the depth of the rock layers with the brown remains found, resembling branches and plates.

Almost every continent has the most ancient plants onEarth - silent witnesses of past 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, the Mediterranean grass, Posidonia oceanic, which is 100,000 years old. By the way, it was back in those days when the ancestors from Africa began to explore other lands.

The most ancient plants on the planet - a colony of poplars in the US, Utah.

50 thousand genetically similar trees with a common root system make up an integral organism that constantly reproduces and in this way ensures its own immortality. The approximate age of this society is over 800,000 years.

Cryptomeria is the oldest cedar of the planet

On the highest mountain of the Japanese island of Yakushima grows a huge cedar - cryptomeria, whose height reaches 25 meters, and the girth is 16 meters. This ancient giant is 7000 years old. Some scientists claim that the age of the green handsome man is 2.5 times less. Tourists rarely visit such remote and deaf places, allowing the coniferous old-timer to humbly watch the passage of time.

And yet: what plant is now the most ancient on our earth? Not so long ago, a group of specialists discovered a Canadian spruce growing in Sweden.

Slender and young-looking tree turned out to be a new shoot of an ancient progenitor that grew in the same place and numbered about 9550 years. Today it is the oldest free-standing spruce on the planet. Nearother tree clones rise, with roots between 5,000 and 9,000 years old.

Famous old-timer pines

The fate of a pine named Prometheus, an old-timer from non-cloned trees, cut down in the 60s of the last century with the light hand of an American student, ended dramatically. After the death, the age of the tree was accurately determined, which amounted to 5000 years. The pine tree was a historical landmark in Nevada National Park.

Another old-timer conifer has been discovered in California's Inyo National Forest. In a study conducted in 1957, it was found that the pine appeared on earth in 2832 BC, 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 most ancient plant on Earth. Its location is securely hidden among the rest of the trees, which are also about 2000 years old. The tree is carefully guarded against vandalism.

The oldest plant on Earth (after the long-lived Methuselah) is cypress fitzroya.

Her age was determined in 1993 by counting annual rings and amounted to 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 the UK

In the courtyard of the parish church of the village of Llangerny in Wales, you canadmire the huge yew, numbering 4000 years. He was able to live such a long life thanks to new shoots growing even at the time of the death of the main trunk. 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, the trunk of which consists of two parts with large cavities inside each. The diameter of the baobab is 10.6 meters with a girth of the trunk of 47 meters and a height of 22 meters.

The tree has been radiocarbon dated to be 6,000 years old; that is, the tree is older than the Egyptian pyramids. The giant hollow found inside it has been successfully settled down for many generations. There have been several fires there. Capable of accommodating 20-30 people inside, it has been used by people at various times as a temple, bus stop, prison, water storage and public toilet. Its modern purpose is a cozy bar-pub. Being such a beloved and sought after tree, the baobab continues to grow rapidly; a huge number of different birds live in its crown.

Human negligence towards nature

Relationships "man - nature" are far from ideal, and the initiator of the negative is mostly the first side, irresponsible and conniving attitude dooming the ancientEarth's plants are on the verge of extinction. So, for the purpose of building roads and organizing fields, the Underground Forest, located in South Africa, was cold-bloodedly treated with chemicals. As a massive root system drawing nutrients and water deep underground, it was a guaranteed protection against possible forest fires.

In Florida, with the light hand of a man, a unique cypress tree, whose age reached 3500 years, burned down.

One of the oldest trees in the world, it was named Senator in honor of Moses Overstreet, the senator in the Florida legislature who donated land with cypress to Seminole County to create a natural park. Initially, the height of the Senator was 50 meters; in 1925, due to a hurricane that hit, the tree lost its top and decreased to 38 meters.