OLD TJIKKO TREE

Old Tjikko is a 9,550-year-old Norway spruce tree, located on Fulufjället Mountain of Dalarna province in Sweden. Old Tjikko is the world's oldest known living individual clone tree. However, there are many examples of much older clone colonies multiple trees connected by a common root system, such as Pando, estimated to be over 80,000 years old.The age of the tree was determined by carbon dating of the root system under the tree, not by dendrochronology, or counting tree rings.

 The trunk itself is estimated to be only a few hundred years old, but the tree as a whole may have survived for much longer due to a process known as layering when a branch comes in contact with the ground, it sprouts a new root, or vegetative cloning when the trunk dies but the root system is still alive, it may sprout a new trunk.The oldest living non-clone tree, verified by dendrochronology, is 5064 years old as of 2014 the former record was held by Methuselah (4847). Both trees are Great Basin Bristlecone Pine located in California. Vegetative cloning and reproduction is common in many plants, such as the creosote bush see King Clone, estimated from growth rate to be almost 12,000 years old.

 Many other plants also may take advantage of this process either exclusively or in tandem with sexual reproduction, but dating or estimating the age of these organisms may not be possible without evidence e.g., old roots, ancient remains, consistent growth rates.Discovery and detailsOld Tjikko is estimated to be at least 9,550 years old, making it the world's oldest known individual vegetative cloned tree.

 It stands 5 metres (16 ft) tall and is located on Fulufjället Mountain of Dalarna province in Sweden For thousands of years, the tree appeared in a stunted shrub formation also known as a krummholz formation due to the harsh extremes of the environment in which it lives. During the warming of the last century, the tree has sprouted into a normal tree formation. The man who discovered the tree, Leif Cullman Professor of Physical Geography at Umea University, has attributed this growth spurt to global warming, and given the tree its nickname Old Tjikko after his late dog.