There is something special about old trees. Born from a seed or from the growing part of another tree, they are here for a generation or more, comforting people and giving them silent inspiration.
Looking at an old tree and taking into consideration only its external features can be quite deceiving. Dendrochronology or the science of tree-rings [...]
There is something special about old trees. Born from a seed or from the growing part of another tree, they are here for a generation or more, comforting people and giving them silent inspiration.
Looking at an old tree and taking into consideration only its external features can be quite deceiving. Dendrochronology or the science of tree-rings is an accurate method of age dating based on the analysis of a trunk’s inner growth rings, without cutting the tree down. The tree rings are layers of new wood produced almost every year around the trunk, between the old wood and the bark, during a tree’s growing season. More tree rings to count, more years to add.
When talking about very old trees, there are two kinds. There are very old and yet unknown trees and there are very old and well known trees. Among the very old and well known, there is a special category: the oldest trees in the whole world.
Photo by Pim, pimgmx, via Flickr
6000 years old, Sunland Baobab, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Because baobabs don’t produce annual rings, Sunland Baobab was carbon dated.
Photo by Pictoscribe via Flickr
4841 years old, Methuselah Tree, Great Basin Bristlecone Pine, California, United States
Photo by mary hodder via Flickr
4000 years old, Sarv-e-Abarkooh, a cypress also called the Zoroastrian Sarv, Abarkuh, Iran
Photo by Ian Wilson, ianw2007, via Flickr
4000 years old, Llangernyw Yew, Llangernyw, Wales
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