Conifers are the longest-lived plants in the world, but there is one specimen that seems to want to challenge even its own nature. Is called Old tjikko and it is a plant that we can find in the Fulufjället National Park, in the Dalama Province, in Sweden.
Your age? It is known that it has, at least, 9550 years, far more than Methuselah, a Pinus longaeva that grows in California and whose age is about 4847 years.
Plants as they age must develop new strategies to stay, in some way, alive if they do not want to die. One of them is by asexual multiplication, that is, by cuttings that fall to the ground and take root, or by root cuttings from which a new stem will sprout. And this is precisely what Old Tjikko has done.
For thousands of years the tree was nothing more than a bush because the conditions were too cold for it to grow more; Nevertheless, as the planet warms it can have a normal development, so much so that right now it is 5 meters tall.
In about 600 years the visible part of Old Tjikko will die, but it will not be the end of the plant. As your root system remains intact, it is more than likely that a new stem will emerge again. Interesting, right? But there is still more you have to know: the name was given by its discoverer, Leif Kullman, professor of physiography at the University of Umea (Sweden) in honor of his dog.
It is therefore the oldest cloned conifer in the world. A jewel that should be protected and cared for so that it can certainly continue to live for many thousands of years to come.
Have you heard of this plant? What do you think?
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