DNA analysis suggests Pando, a quaking aspen in Utah with thousands of stems connected by their roots, is between 16,000 and 81,000 years old
By James Woodford
1 November 2024
Some 47,000 trees in Utah’s Fishlake National Forest are in fact a single, ancient organism named Pando
George Rose/Getty Images
The world’s largest tree has been rigorously dated for the first time, confirming it is at least 16,000 years old.
Named Pando, the tree is a quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) with around 47,000 stems connected by a root system that sprawls about 43 hectares in Utah’s Fishlake National Forest. It has long been thought to be among the most ancient living things on Earth, but scientists didn’t know for certain how old it is.
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