Tremendous trees

It may be un-tree-leaf-able, but trees are actually some of the oldest organisms on earth. Step aside giant tortoises and blue whales, the humble tree wins for longevity. Check out some of the oldest (and weirdest) trees below.

It's the oldest Christmas tree in the world! The scientist who discovered its age named the plant after his favourite dog. Old Tjikko is over 9,550 years old, but the visible tree is much younger than that. Its root system has survived almost ten millennia and was no sapling when Britain was separated from mainland Europe by the North Sea!

Legend has it that Giovanna, Queen of Naples, took shelter under this tree during a rainstorm. It was so wide, her entourage of one hundred knights could fit under it to escape the rain too! The tree could be up to 4,000 years old but no one can say how old it is exactly.

The myth of the Llangernyw yew is enough to send a shiver down your spine! Some say it's 5,000 years old and that on Halloween the churchyard is haunted by the Angelystor, a spirit which tells locals of deaths for the year to come. The tree has been fragmented and looks like two separate trees, but the root system below the ground remains connected.

This tree is named after a long-lived chap in the bible, who supposedly lived to be 969 years old. As the name would suggest, this tree is pretty old, but beats its biblical namesake by almost 4,000 years! It's such an important tree that its location in California is top secret. It used to be the oldest tree in the region until scientists discovered another Great Basin bristlecone pine nearby that was over 5,000 years old.

Buddhists revere this sacred fig tree as they believe it is a cutting from the Bodhi Tree. They say that Prince Siddhartha Guatama, while meditating beneath the Bodhi Tree, attained enlightenment and thus became the Buddha. As it is a human-planted tree, we know it was planted around 249 BC, so this tree is about 2,236 years old! Amazing!

The Pando is a group of interconnected quaking aspen in Fishlake National Forest in Utah. It's a huge colony with a connected root system, spanning 106 acres, weighing 6,000 metric tons and is thought to be 80,000 years old!

So there you have it, trees are ancient! With all that history, it's no wonder they're so important. Next time you pass a tree in the park or on the way to school, just think it may have a fantastical story of its own... or you could make one up yourself!

Comment below if you know of any tremendous trees near you!