RE: Largest living organism
- To: "Medit-Plants" <M*@ucdavis.edu>
- Subject: RE: Largest living organism
- From: s*@victoria.tc.ca (Gary Shearman)
- Date: Mon, 3 May 1999 16:54:02 -0700
This discussion reminded me of that Lomatia in Tasmania - I quote from an
issue of Adolf Ceska's BEN (Botanical Electronic News) of a couple of years
ago:
BBBBB EEEEEE NN N ISSN 1188-603X
BB B EE NNN N
BBBBB EEEEE NN N N BOTANICAL
BB B EE NN NN ELECTRONIC
BBBBB EEEEEE NN N NEWS
No. 149 November 8, 1996
aceska@victoria.tc.ca Victoria, B.C.
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Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2
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THE OLDEST LIVING PLANT INDIVIDUAL
From: Rene Vaillancourt <R.Vaillancourt@plant.utas.edu.au>
[Several people forwarded me a Reuter article "Australian
Shrub Could be Oldest Life" and asked me to post it on
BEN. I found that this newspaper article was based on a
presentation given by Dr. Rene Vaillancourt et al. (1996)
at the Proteaceae Symposium in Melbourne, Australia. Dr.
Vaillancourt kindly sent me the following note for posting
on BEN. - AC]
A team of scientist working at the Plant Science Department,
University of Tasmania and Parks and Wildlife Service, Depart-
ment of Environment and Land Management, Tasmania (Jasmyn Lynch,
Jayne Balmer, Dr. Greg Jordan, Dr. Jocelyne Cambecedes, Richard
Barnes, and Dr. Rene Vaillancourt) have discovered the oldest
living plant individual known to date.
Lomatia tasmanica (common name King's Holly), which is a member
of the Proteaceae family, is known by only one population which
is located in the World Heritage area of South west Tasmania,
Australia. It grows along creek gullies in remnant rain-forest.
An isozyme analysis found that it possessed zero genetic diver-
sity (all living plants of the species are exactly the same). On
the other hand, a closely related species (Lomatia tinctoria)
which also propagates vegetatively had a normal level of genetic
diversity. Chromosome counts revealed that Lomatia tasmanica had
a triploid chromosome number and this genetic information ex-
plains the observations that L. tasmanica appears to be sterile
(it flowers but never forms mature fruits), and shows little
morphological variability. This evidence strongly suggests that
the entire species is a single clone that propagates vegeta-
tively.
The L. tasmanica clone (spanning 1.2 km) is the second longest
in the world after the box-huckleberry clone (Gaylussacia
brachycera) in North America (Pennsylvania) which is reported to
be 2 km in length. A clone of this size must be very old.
Indeed, under the cold climate of South-west Tasmania, vegeta-
tive propagation is likely to be very slow.
Fortunately, fossil leaf fragments, identical to living L.
tasmanica were found in a fossil deposit 8.5 km of the extant
population. These permit a more precise age estimate. These
fossils have a 14C age of 43,600 years. The oldest reported
plant clone is the box-huckleberry which was aged at 13,000
years (Wherry 1972). The oldest living tree is believed to be a
bristlecone pine (Pinus aristata) in Arizona which has been
dated using dendrochronology at 4,700 years. Lomatia tasmanica
appears to be the oldest living plant individual known to date.
A manuscript that details all the analysis has been submitted to
the Australian Journal of Botany.
Literature cited and further reading:
Cook, R. E. (1983). Clonal plant populations. American Scientist
71, 244-253.
Vaillancourt, R.E., G. Jordan, J. Cambacedes and A. J. J. Lynch.
1996. Is Lomatia tasmanica a 43,000 year old clone? Presented
at the Royal Botanical Gardens Commemorative Conference,
Proteaceae Symposium, Sept. 29-Oct. 5. Melbourne, Vic.
Wherry, E. T. (1972). Box-huckleberry as the oldest living
protoplasm. Castanea 37, 94-95.
At 9:55 AM 5/3/99, Diane wrote:
>Yes, you folks are right! I posed the question in relation to
>discussion on mycorrhizae so thought that was a hint. In my research\
[material deleted]
>
>Diane Pertson
>Otter Point Haven otterpt@macn.bc.ca
>Nature Notes from Vancouver Island
>http://zapbc.com/nature.htm at
>Parksville & Qualicum Beach Online http://zapbc.com
