An Aspen Grove in Utah May Be 16,000 Years Old

The oldest living things are not always single trees. The U.S. National Park Service, writing about the ancient bristlecone pines of Great Basin National Park, points out that bristlecones may be the longest-living non-clonal organisms, but clonal organisms are considered to be much older. A clonal organism is a group of genetically identical plants, fungi or bacteria that clone themselves without sexual reproduction, so many stems can be one living thing. The Park Service gives an example. A quaking aspen grove known as Pando, in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, is estimated to be around 16,000 years old. The word estimated is the Park Service’s own, and we keep it. The Park Service also names the Mojave Desert creosote as another clonal organism considered to be much older than any bristlecone.