List of oldest trees
This is a list of the oldest-known trees, as reported in reliable sources. Definitions of what constitutes an individual tree vary. In addition, tree ages are derived from a variety of sources, including documented "tree-ring" count core samples, and from estimates. For these reasons, this article presents three lists of "oldest trees," each using varying criteria.
There are three tables of trees, which are listed by age and species. The first table includes trees for which a minimum age has been directly determined, either through counting or cross-referencing tree rings or through radiocarbon dating. Many of these trees may be even older than their listed ages, but the oldest wood in the tree has rotted away. For some old trees, so much of the centre is missing that their age cannot be directly determined. Instead, estimates are made based on the tree's size and presumed growth rate. The second table includes trees with these estimated ages. The last table lists clonal colonies in which no individual tree trunks may be remarkably old but in which the organism as a whole is thought to be very old.
The current record-holders for individual, non-clonal trees are the Great Basin bristlecone pine trees from California and Nevada, in the United States. Through tree-ring cross-referencing, they have been shown to be almost five millennia old.
A clonal colony can survive for much longer than an individual tree. A colony of 47,000 quaking aspen trees, covering in the Fishlake National Forest of Utah, is considered one of the oldest and largest organisms in the world. The colony has been estimated to be 80,000 years old, although tree ring samples date individual, above-ground, trees at only an average of about 130 years. A colony of Huon pine trees covering on Mount Read is estimated to be around 10,000 years old, as determined by DNA samples taken from pollen collected from the sediment of a nearby lake. Individual trees in this group date to no more than 4,000 years old, as determined by tree ring samples.
Individual trees with verified ages
Old trees with estimated ages
Note: The ages of the trees in this list are speculative and probably unreliable.| Name | Age | Species | Location | Country | Notes |
| ? | Great Basin bristlecone pine Pinus longaeva | White Mountains | United States | Tree cored by Edmund Schulman, age determined by Tom Harlan. However, core is missing and date is unconfirmed. | |
| Llangernyw Yew | 4,000–5,000 | Common yew Taxus baccata | Llangernyw, Conwy | Wales | Girth of 10.75 m. Situated in the churchyard of St Dygain's Church in Llangernyw village. One of the 50 Great British Trees. |
| Sarv-e Abarkuh | 4,500 | Mediterranean cypress Cupressus sempervirens | Abarkuh, Yazd | Iran | Also called "Zoroastrian Sarv". |
| Gümeli Porsuğu | 4,115 | Yew Taxus baccata | Zonguldak | Turkey | Alive, found in 2016. |
| The Ancient Yew | 4,000 | Yew Taxus baccata | Tisbury, Wiltshire | England | 37 feet in circumference. Situated in the churchyard of St John's, Tisbury. Carbon dated by David Bellamy. |
| The Senator | 3,500 | Pond cypress Taxodium ascendens | Longwood, Florida | United States | Died in January 2012 from human-caused fire. |
| Oliveira do Mouchão | 3,350 | European olive tree Olea europea L. var. europaea | Mouriscas, Abrantes | Portugal | Alive. |
| The President | Giant sequoia Sequoiadendron giganteum | Sierra Nevada, California | United States | Alive. | |
| Mongarlowe mallee | 3,000-13,000 | Mongarlowe mallee Eucalyptus recurva | Mongarlowe, New South Wales | Australia | Alive. A critically endangered species, known only from 6 wild individuals, first described in the 1980s. Based on the size and growth rate of its lignotuber, the largest single specimen is estimated to be 3,000 years old. However, it is possible that two other specimens are actually the result of a split in the original rootstock, and based on their spread of 26m would be estimated at around 13,000 years old, potentially the oldest single tree on earth. |
| Fortingall Yew | 3,000 | Common yew Taxus baccata | Fortingall, Perthshire | Scotland | Alive. Possibly the oldest tree in Britain. |
| Alishan Sacred Tree | 3,000 | Formosan cypress Chamaecyparis formosensis | Alishan National Scenic Area, Chiayi | Taiwan | Collapsed on July 1, 1997, following heavy rainstorms. |
| S’Ozzastru | 3,000–4,000 | Olive Olea europaea | Luras, Sardinia | Italy | |
| 3,020 | Jequitibá-rosa Cariniana legalis | Santa Rita do Passa Quatro, São Paulo | Brazil | Alive. Probably the oldest non-conifer in Brazil. Its name translates as "Patriarch of the Forest". Located at the Vassununga State Park. | |
| Raintree | 3,000 | Great Basin bristlecone pine | Spring Mountains, Nevada | United States | Great Basin Bristlecone Pine located near Kyle Canyon in the Spring Mountain range in Southern Nevada, USA. Estimated 3000 years old but never cored. |
| 2,850 | Olive Olea europaea | , Loures, Lisbon | Portugal | Magnificent Olive tree, probably the last one from a large olive grove. Studied by and now classified "Public interest tree" by the ; | |
| Mother of the Forest | Giant sequoia Sequoiadendron giganteum | Calaveras Big Trees State Park, California | United States | Dead. | |
| General Sherman | 2,300–2,700 | Giant sequoia Sequoiadendron giganteum | Giant Forest, Sequoia National Park, California | United States | Alive with a height of 83.8 meters, a diameter of 11 m at its base, and an estimated bole volume of 1,487 m3, it is the largest known living single-stem tree, and among the tallest, widest, and longest-lived of all trees on the planet. |
| Kayano Ōsugi | 2,300 | Japanese cedar Cryptomeria japonica | Yamanaka Onsen, Ishikawa | Japan | Girth of 9.6 m. One of the four trees believed to be sacred in the precincts in a Shinto shrine. Its name translates as "Great Sugi of Kayano". |
| Jōmon Sugi | 2,170–7,200 | Japanese cedar Cryptomeria japonica | Yakushima | Japan | Girth of 16.4 m. Exact dating is made difficult by the rotten core of the trunk. Its name is a reference to the Jōmon period of Japanese prehistory. |
| Koca Katran | Lebanon cedar Cedrus libani | Antalya | Turkey | Alive. | |
| Ballyconnell Yew | 2,000–5,000 | Yew Taxus baccata | Ballyconnell, Annagh | Ireland | Oldest tree in Ireland. |
| Elia Vouvon | 2,000–5,000 | Olive Olea europaea | Kolymvari, Crete | Greece | Its name translates as "Olive Tree of Vouves". |
| Castagnu dê Centu Cavaddi | 2,000–4,000 | Sweet chestnut Castanea sativa | Sicily | Italy | Its name translates as the "Hundred Horse Chestnut". |
| Ulleungdo Hyangnamu | 2,000–3,000 | Chinese juniper Juniperus chinensis | Ulleung-gun, Gyeongbuk | South Korea | Girth of 4.5 m. One of the main branch was broken in 1985 by typhoon "Brenda". |
| Lady Liberty | 2,000 | Bald cypress Taxodium distichum | Longwood, Florida | United States | Sometimes called the "Companion Tree" to 'Senator". |
| Tnjri | 2,000 | Oriental plane Platanus orientalis | Martuni Region | Azerbaijan | Oldest tree in Azerbaijan. Its trunk is hollow. Also known as "Sose's Tree". |
| Stara Maslina | 2,000 | Olive Olea europaea | Stari Bar, Bar | Montenegro | |
| The Pechanga Great Oak Tree | 2,000 | Coast live oak Quercus agrifolia | Temecula, California | United States | Oldest oak tree in the United States, possibly in the world. |
| ? | 2,000 | Olive Olea europaea | Tavira, Algarve | Portugal | Possibly oldest olive tree in Portugal. |
| Tejo Milenario | 2,000+ | Yew Taxus baccata | Cazorla, Jaén | Spain | Oldest tree in Spain. |
| ? | 2,000 | Olive Olea europaea | Exo Hora, Zakynthos | Greece | |
| ? | 2,000 | Yew Taxus | Sochi, Krasnodar Krai | Russia | A grove known to possess several 2,000-year-old specimens. |
| Houkisugi at Nakagawa | 2,000 | Japanese cedar Cryptomeria japonica | Nakagawa Settlement, Yamakita town, Ashigarakami District, Kanagawa Prefecture | Japan | |
| Methuselah | 1,800 | Coast redwood Sequoia sempervirens | Woodside, California | United States | |
| Araucaria Madre | 1,800 | Araucaria araucana | Araucanía | Chile | Located in Parque Nacional Conguillío. 1,800 rings account for at least 1,800 years. |
| Granit oak | 1,700 | Pedunculate oak Quercus robur | Granit | Bulgaria | |
| Kongeegen | 1,500–2,000 | Pedunculate oak Quercus robur | Jægerspris Nordskov, Zealand | Denmark | |
| Stelmužė Oak | 1,500-2,000 | Pedunculate oak Quercus robur | Stelmužė, Zarasai | Lithuania | Oldest tree in the Baltic states. Supposedly oldest oak in Europe. |
| Aubépines | 1,500 | Common hawthorn Crataegus monogyna | Saint-Mars-sur-la-Futaie, Mayenne | France | Oldest tree in France. |
| Jardine Juniper | 1,500 | Rocky Mountain juniper Juniperus scopulorum | Logan Canyon, Utah | United States | |
| Árbol del Tule | 1,433–1,600 | Montezuma cypress Taxodium mucronatum | Santa María del Tule, Oaxaca | Mexico | Stoutest tree trunk in the world. Its name translates as the "Tule Tree". |
| Te Matua Ngahere | 1,200–4,000 | Kauri Agathis australis | Waipoua Forest, Northland | New Zealand | Oldest tree in New Zealand. Its name translates as "Father of the Forest". |
Clonal trees
As with all long-lived plant and fungal species, no individual part of a clonal colony is alive for more than a very small fraction of the life of the entire clone. Some clonal colonies may be fully connected via their root systems, while most are not actually interconnected, but are genetically identical clones which populated an area through vegetative reproduction. Ages for clonal colonies, often based on current growth rates, are estimates.| Name | Age | Species | Location | Country | Notes |
| Pando | 80,000–1,000,000 | Quaking aspen Populus tremuloides | Fishlake National Forest, Utah | United States | Covers and has around 47,000 stems, which continually die and are renewed by its roots. Is also the heaviest-known organism, weighing 6,000 tonnes. |
| Jurupa Oak | 13,000 | Palmer oak Quercus palmeri | Jurupa Mountains, California | United States | Quercus palmeri Engelm. = Quercus dunnii Kellogg. |
| Old Tjikko | 9,550 | Norway spruce Picea abies | Fulufjället National Park, Dalarna | Sweden | The tree's stems live no more than 600 years, but its root system's age was established using carbon dating and genetic matching. Elsewhere in the Fulu mountains, 20 spruces have been found older than 8,000 years. |
| Old Rasmus | 9,500 | Norway spruce Picea abies | Sonfjället, Härjedalen | Sweden | |
| unknown | 3,000–10,000 | Huon pine Lagarostrobos franklinii | Mount Read, Tasmania | Australia | Several genetically identical males that have reproduced vegetatively. Although single trees in this stand may be around 3 to 4 thousand years old, the stand itself as a single organism has existed for 10,000 years. |