Old Tjikko

Old Tjikko is an approximately 9,567-year old <a href="/facts/Picea_abies/bkoBYHHv">Norway spruce</a>, located in the <a href="/facts/Dalarna/3Fv6KAAe">Dalarna</a> province in <a href="/facts/Sweden/u3qC7lyj">Sweden</a>. Old Tjikko originally gained fame as the "world's oldest tree". Old Tjikko is, however, a <a href="/facts/Clonal_colony/SDblHCVk">clonal</a> tree that has regenerated new trunks, branches and roots over millennia rather than an <a href="/facts/List_of_oldest_trees/KEBc52vm">individual tree</a> of great age. Old Tjikko is recognized as the oldest living <a href="/facts/Picea_abies/bkoBYHHv">Picea abies</a> and the fourth-oldest known <a href="/facts/List_of_oldest_trees/KEBc52vm">clonal tree</a>.
The age of the tree was determined by <a href="/facts/Carbon_dating/qjNglhKP">carbon dating</a> of genetically matched plant material collected from under the tree, as <a href="/facts/Dendrochronology/bXK8Km2M">dendrochronology</a> does not work for clonal trees. The trunk itself is estimated to be only a few centuries old, but the plant has survived for much longer due to a process known as layering (when a branch comes in contact with the ground, it sprouts a new root), or <a href="/facts/Vegetative_cloning/Y6xlN48g">vegetative cloning</a> (when the trunk dies but the root system is still alive, it may sprout a new trunk).

Old Tjikko open-in-new

Old Tjikko