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At 1,075 years old, this might be the oldest living tree in Europe
It was 750 when Isaac Newton came up with his laws of motion.
by Josh Hrala
Researchers might have just identified the oldest living tree in Europe: a Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii) that has been growing in the highlands of northern Greece since 941 AD, making it at least 1,075 years old.
While the find is just plain awesome in itself, the team says the tree – which they’ve named Adonis – might offer a unique glimpse into the region’s climate history, allowing them to better understand how the environment around it has changed over the past millennium.
“Many years ago I read a thesis about this very interesting forest in Greece. In our research, we try to build long chronologies to construct climate histories, so finding living trees of old age is one of our motivations,” said team leader Paul Krusic from Stockholm University in Sweden.
The tree was discovered during a research expedition aimed at examining the effects of climate change in a forest near Greece’s Pindos Mountains. It’s been dated using dendrochronology – a method that involves counting the rings inside a sample of the tree’s trunk.
Oliver Konter
“To age the tree, we needed to take a core of wood, from the outside to the centre. The core is 1 metre (3.2 feet) and has 1,075 annual rings,” Krusic explained.
He also said the sample used to count the rings wasn’t taken from the base of the tree, meaning that it might be even older, though he can’t say for sure how much.
The cool thing is Adonis isn’t alone. The team reports that there are about a dozen other trees nearby that are also over 1,000 years old, with Adonis being the most ancient.
Philosophers stone – selected views from the boat http://philosophers-stone.co.uk
Source: http://www.phoenixisrisen.co.uk/?p=11350
