The world's oldest tree....

[j d worthington]

This has been a rich week for science stories, it would seem:

Earth's oldest tree had fronds, not leaves - Yahoo! News

Title: "Earth's oldest tree had fronds, not leaves", from Reuters, by Julie Steenhuysen, datelined Wed., Apr. 18, 2007.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The branches of Earth's oldest tree probably waved in the breeze like a modern palm, scientists said on Wednesday, based on two intact tree fossils that help explain the evolution of forests and their influence on climate.

The 385-million-year-old fossils, which scientists believe are evidence of Earth's earliest forest trees, put to rest speculation about fossilized tree stumps discovered more than a century ago in Gilboa, New York.

Scientists believe these early forests absorbed carbon dioxide, cooling the Earth's surface.

The forests were flourishing at an important juncture in the history of life of Earth, coming shortly before the appearance of the first vertebrates -- four-legged amphibians -- that could live on dry land.

Here's another story on this, with a bit more detail on some things:

World's First Tree Reconstructed - Yahoo! News

This is from LiveScience, by Ker Than, and is titled "World's First Tree Reconstructed", datelined Wed., Apr. 18, 2007.

Workers uncovered hundreds of upright stumps of the 385 million-year-old tree more than a century ago, after a flash flood in Gilboa, New York uncovered them, but little else was known about the tree’s appearance.


Then, in 2004, scientists unearthed a 400-pound fossilized top—or crown—of the same genus a few miles away. The following summer, the same team discovered fragments of a 28-foot trunk. Piecing together stump, trunk and crown now reveals what the full tree looked like for the first time.

There's also a drawing of the reconstruction:

Image Display

As I said... it's been a good week for science stories.....

 

[The Ace]

So it was probably related to the tree-ferns ?

 

[Pyan]

Basically, this is a cycad with a long trunk -

but I don't understand why it's suddenly news - it's long been known that these species date back, practically unchanged, to the Permian, nearly 300 million years ago.
Fascinating plant - very slow-growing, though.

Cycad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[HardScienceFan]

Dunno if it's paleobotanically correct to call every arborescent growth a tree,though.Ace is nearer to the truth.What the article mentions about the Devonian,I'm not too happy about either.

 

[Talysia]

Absolutely fascinating. Thanks, JD

 

[littlemissattitude]

Very interesting, j. d. I love ferns and fern-like trees. Don't know what it is about them, but they're just neat.

On the other hand, when I saw the title of your thread I kind of expected it to be about Methuselah, the oldest known living tree, which is located here in California. Oh, well.

 

[j d worthington]

Errr... they cut down a 5,000-year-old tree? If it's not too impertinent to ask: wtf??!

 

[HoopyFrood]

The reason why it was cut down: Prometheus (tree - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

 

[j d worthington]

Hoops -- for some reason, that link doesn't work. However, this one should:

Prometheus (tree) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

EDIT: Ah, I think I see the problem -- it's the parentheses....

 

[HoopyFrood]

Ah! Damnit! Stupid links (stupid parentheses, interrupting all the time...) *kicks*.