an ancient tree

A 1200 year old Pencil Pine (Athrotaxis cupressoides) I found up in the mountains in Tasmania.

Shot with a GH2 and m.ZD 12mm

Check out my blog if you'd like to read a little about these remarkable trees :smile: http://peopleandotherstrangecreatures.wordpress.com/2013/02/17/age-and-beauty-the-pencil-pine/

 

Is that the 'Fortingall Yew? If so I hate to burst your bubble but recent research would suggest it's about 2000 years old - still mighty impressive but not quite 10,000

 

I'd be damn careful with wikipedia and trees... Having just done a heap of searching I've found various Wikipedia articles to say at least 5 different trees are the oldest on the planet  

In the same article they say there's a clump of Huon Pines in Tasmania with individual specimens believed to be 3-4000yrs old, but then none of them are listed in the individual list, despite some of the listed specimens being as young as 1500...

Wikipedia, gotta love it :smile:

 

That is a rather big trunk! From what I can gather it gets hard to get a solid age for older trees because as the heart-wood dies it becomes impossibly to get an accurate core sample for growth-rings. Apparently when they aged the Huons' I mentioned, they used a sample of pollen from the sediment layers in a nearby lake - buggered if I know how that works...

For those interested - the Pencil Pine I posted a picture of isn't actually a pine at all, it's more closely related to the sequoias of North America. The 'pine' part of the common name is just another example of early Europeans trying to create a point of reference to home.