The Methuselah Grove, in the Inyo National Forest, California, USA.

Methuselah (estimated germination 2832 BC) is a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) in the White Mountains of California, which was 4,789 years old when sampled in 1957 by Schulman and Harlan. It is one of the oldest known non-clonal living organisms still alive, at the age of about 4,839 years old.^[1][2] It is named after Methuselah, a Biblical figure reputed to have lived 969 years. Located in the "Forest of Ancients" in the Methuselah Grove at between 2,900–3,000 m above sea level, its exact location is currently undisclosed to the public as a protection against vandalism;^[3] the coordinates cited here refer to the Methuselah Grove Visitor Center. See Grove for other meanings (disambiguation) of the word grove. A grove is a small group of trees such as a sequoia grove. ... Inyo National Forest is a federally protected forest. ... 2900 BC – 2334 BC — Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period. ... Binomial name Pinus longaeva D.K.Bailey The Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) is one of the bristlecone pines, a group of three species of pine found in the higher mountains of the southwest United States. ... The White Mountains along the east side of the Owens Valley The White Mountains of California are a small mountain range that runs along the eastern side of the upper Owens Valley, just across from the Sierra Nevada. ... Domains and Kingdoms Nanobes Acytota Cytota Bacteria Neomura Archaea Eukaryota Bikonta Apusozoa Rhizaria Excavata Archaeplastida Rhodophyta Glaucophyta Plantae Heterokontophyta Haptophyta Cryptophyta Alveolata Unikonta Amoebozoa Opisthokonta Choanozoa Fungi Animalia An ericoid mycorrhizal fungus Life on Earth redirects here. ... Methuselah or Metushélach (Hebrew: / Standard  / Tiberian  /  ; Man of the dart, or alternatively when he dies/died, it will be sent/has been sent) is the oldest person whose age is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. ... For other uses, see Bible (disambiguation). ...

An older specimen, WPN-114 and nicknamed Prometheus, was more than 4,844 years old when cut down in 1964 (estimated germination date 2880 BC). Another tree, approximately 4,600 years old, is still living. A dendrochronology, based on these trees and other bristlecone pine samples, extends back to about 9000 BC, albeit with a single gap of about 500 years.^[4] Prometheus (aka WPN-114) was the nickname given to the then oldest non-clonal organism ever discovered, a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) tree at least 5,000 years old which grew at the tree line near Wheeler Peak in eastern Nevada, USA. The tree was cut down in... 2900 BC – 2334 BC — Mesopotamian wars of the Early Dynastic period. ... The growth rings of an unknown tree species, at Bristol Zoo, England Pinus taeda Cross section showing annual rings, Cheraw, South Carolina Pine stump showing growth rings Dendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the method of scientific dating based on the analysis of tree-ring growth patterns. ... Species Pinus aristata Pinus longaeva Pinus balfouriana Gnarled bristlecone pine wood The bristlecone pines are a small group of pine trees (Family Pinaceae, genus Pinus, subsection Balfourianae) that can reach an age far greater than that of any other single living organism known, up to nearly 5,000 years. ... (10th millennium BC – 9th millennium BC – 8th millennium BC – other millennia) Beginning of the Neolithic time period of the Holocene epoch. ...

Numerous claims of older plants of other species have been made, but these are all of clonal colonies, not individual plants. A clonal colony is a group of plants (or fungi) that have grown in a given location, all originating vegetatively, not sexually, from a given single ancestor. ...

In April 2008 Swedish scientists found several trees in the Western part of Sweden, on a mountain top between Sweden and Norway, of which carbon dating has determined that they are approximately 8000 years old. These trees therefore are among the first to have started growing after the Ice Age. Also numerous other trees have been found in the same county of ages 4500 to 5500 years old.

See also

• List of famous trees
• Lagarostrobos
• Oldest tree

The following is a partial list of famous trees. ... Binomial name Lagarostrobos franklinii The species Lagarostrobos franklinii, known as Huon Pine or Macquarie Pine, is a species of conifer growing mainly in the wetter southeastern corner of Tasmania, Australia. ... Oldest trees (oldest by region or species), listed by age. ...

References

Coordinates: 37°23′07″N 118°10′38″W / 37.38528, -118.17722 Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... {| style=float:right; |- | |- | |} is the 235th day of the year (236th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...

External links

• Scientists discover 8,000-year-old trees MSNBC April 11, 2008
• Swedish spruce may be world's oldest living treeReuters April 11, 2008