Here are some famously old plants.

[timmy]

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"Methusela" is the oldest human-assisted germination of a seed. It is a Judean date palm grown from a preserved seed found in an ancient jar in Harod the Great's palace and dated to between 155 BC to 64 AD. The date palm was previously used for all kinds of things from fertility, to aphrodisiacs, against infections, and against tumors. The few seeds were kept in storage for over 40 years before being planted in Israel in 2005. One seed sprouted weeks later, and flowered to reveal itself as male in 2011. Scientists plan on cross-breeding and studying it.

[timmy]

Quite possibly the oldest living plant in the world, "King's Holly" may very well be over 135,000 years old. The whole species of Lomatia tasmanica is just one plant, half a mile wide. With three sets of chromosomes, it is a triploid and sterile. It never produces seed - it survives by growing up, falling over, and sprouting up. And this one plant has been doing that for a very, very long time. Specimens grown from ­tissue culture have not survived longer than eight months and plants grown from ­cuttings have a high failure rate - scientists are desperately focused on successfully breeding and saving the plant from extinction. The location of this last wild patch is such a closely guarded secret, scientists and the rare journalist are helicoptered in blindfolded and sign a contract vowing not to reveal anything about its location.

[timmy]

Probably the oldest tree in Britain, the "Fortingall Yew" is over 2,000 years old. It is located in the churchyard of the village of Fortingall in Perthshire, Scotland. And although it is male, in 2015 scientists from the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh reported that one small branch on the outer part of the crown had changed sex and begun to bear a small group of berries. According to local legend, Pontius Pilate was born in its shade and played there as a child.

[timmy]

 

"Jōmon Sugi" is located 4,300ft up on the highest reaches of the mountains of Yakushima, Japan. Estimated at over 2,000 years old, the large Cryptomeria tree was discovered in 1968 and efforts to protect it gave rise to the island's tourist industry. It is the largest conifer in all of Japan, at 83ft tall with a 54ft trunk circumference. It's also located on the island's most popular hiking trail, which is a draw for hikers from all over the world.

[timmy]

 

At the Mansei-en bonsai nursery of the Kato family in Omiya, Japan there is a very old Juniper tree - over 1,000 years old. It was found in the wild and the Kati family is still working on training it. There is literally no information on this tree, but I needed twenty images to satisfy my OCD. The end.

 

[erragulabi]

Gp.