I think aspen are the same way - they clone themselves, so there is always much
discussion when it comes to these "guiness book" type of claims about what is the
oldest or the largest organisms.  I think there is a grove of aspens (or some
similar plant) somewhere that claims to be the largest single organism even
though it looks like many separate plants.  Actually the aspen (or whatever)
isn't claiming anything, it doesn't care, but some people seem to care.
Sorry, I can't think of a single shell-related comment to make - no wait here's a
question - does anyone know what extant species has the longest fossil record?  I
bet it would be a type of abalone.

Nora
Calgary, Alberta

Kay Lavalier wrote:

> Andrew Vik
> [log in to unmask]
>
> John:
>
> Several years ago, I read about a species of desert shrub in the southwest US
> that had been dated at around 14,000 years old. This plant starts out as a
> normal looking bush. As it grows outward, the original mass in the middle
> dies. This process eventually leads to a large ring of scrub with bare earth
> in the middle. The researchers dug up the semi fossilized original stumps at
> the center of the rings and did carbon dating to arrive at the 14,000 year
> mark. While it is true that the original plant had died long before, the
> entire ring came from just one seed sprouting a very long time ago.
>
> Andrew
>
> Cramer, John wrote:
>
> > True, the oldest living bristlecone pine is about 4700 years old.  The
> > 20,000 figure Mark used is about right for the length of the tree ring
> > record.  That is, current living trees plus dead but still extant trees
> > combine to give a much longer record than that available just from living
> > trees.  This record has been critical in calibrating the carbon 14 dating
> > technique.