UMEA, Sweden (UPI) -- The world's oldest living tree -- a 9,550-year-old spruce -- has been discovered in Sweden's Dalarna province, a university professor said.
Umea University Professor Leif Kullman said the discovery was made under the crown of a spruce on Fulu Mountain in central Sweden where scientists found four "generations" of spruce remains in the form of cones and wood produced from higher ground.
Researchers said the old tree survived cooler summer conditions during the past 10,000 years and, more recently, a gradual warming, by its ability to push out another trunk as older ones die.
Other very old trees, including three 375-, 5,660- and 9,000-years-old were also discovered.
Since spruce trees can multiply with root penetrating braches, they can produce exact copies, or clones, researchers said.
The trees' ages were determined in a process called carbon-14 dating at a U.S. laboratory.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
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