Flora Journal Entry

World's Oldest Tree Found in Sweden (May 5, 2008)

Researchers say they've discovered the planet's oldest living tree in the mountains of Dalama in Sweden. It's an ancient spruce estimated to be 9,550 years old. Until now, the 5000-year old Methuselah tree in Southern California was crowned the oldest.

The tree's age was confirmed by carbon-14 dating, which measures the amount of radioactive carbon remaining in the wood. It belongs to a cluster of about 20 spruces, all over 8,000 years old. The trees were the first to appear in what's now called Scandinavia as the last Ice Age melted away.

Thanks to special adaptations, the spruces survived despite periods of brutal cold. They can push out a new trunk as an old one is dying. The trees keep low to the ground when the climate turns harsh, appearing more bush-like.

There's evidence the ancient trees are now adapting to global warming. Since the 1940s, their trunks have straightened to a more upright position as the weather has grown milder.