Interesting, Non Political News

Scientists documenting the ages of bald cypress along the Black River in southeastern North Carolina have discovered an ancient tree whose annual growth rings show it to be at least 2,624 years old. That means the cypress was alive centuries before the advent of Christianity, the Roman Empire and the English language. The new research finding released Thursday also means bald cypress ranks fifth among all tree species on Earth for tree longevity. The study says a nearby cypress in the same river swamp is at least 2,088 years old. Scientists believe other, unsampled 2,000-plus-year-old trees exist along the 66-mile-long stream.

The study said the 2,624-year-old tree indicates that bald cypress comes in fifth on the worldwide list of tree species with the oldest individual, sexually reproducing, non-clonal trees. The oldest is a Great Basin bristlecone pine in Nevada dated at 4,900 years, based on a list compiled by Rocky Mountain Tree-Ring Research in Fort Collins, Colo. Stahle said that means only four other tree species on Earth are known to include individual trees capable of living longer than the cypress at Black River.

In South Carolina, Stahle said, the oldest-documented tree is a bald cypress in The Audubon Society’s Francis Beidler Four Holes Swamp that he cored in 1992, now nearing 1,300 years. The research by Stahle and his colleagues has been supported by National Science Foundation grants.

The senescent Black River trees have survived deluges and droughts, hail and hurricanes. They also have escaped logging over the years, likely because many are partly hollow and wouldn’t have made good lumber, Stahle said.

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