Re: Largest living organism
Hi Gary,
Thanks for this. I once came across BEN when browsing and spent ages
reading the interesting papers there. Do you have the URL?
Diane
----- Original Message -----
From: Gary Shearman <shearman@victoria.tc.ca>
To: Medit-Plants <Medit-Plants@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Monday, May 03, 1999 4:54 PM
Subject: RE: Largest living organism
> 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.
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> Dr. A. Ceska, P.O.Box 8546, Victoria, B.C. Canada V8W 3S2
> -----------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
>
