The oldest known living tree in Europe was discovered by an international team of scientists in the highlands of northern Greece. The Bosnian pine, also known as Pinus heldreichii, is living in the Alpine forests of the Pindos mountains and is believed to be more than 1,075 years old.
This type of tree is native to the mountainous areas of the Balkans and southern Italy and grows at an altitude of 1,500-2,500 meters. It is an evergreen tree, whose height reaches 35 meters and whose diameter exceeds 2 meters. The Bosnian pine is known for tolerating extreme temperatures and wind exposure.
“It is quite remarkable that this large, complex and impressive organism has survived so long in such an inhospitable environment, in a land that has been civilized for over 3000 years,” said, Paul J. Krusic, leader of the expedition that found the tree. Scientists from Stockholm University, Sweden, the University of Mainz, Germany, and the University of Arizona, USA, participated in the expedition, which was organized by the Navarino Environmental Observatory studying climate change and its effect in the Mediterranean.
The tree’s age has been determined by taking a core of wood, from the outside to the center. The scientists said the core was one meter and showed 1075 annual rings. They hope tree rings from trees like this and others, which have fallen on the ground, will provide an informative history of climatic and environmental conditions, going back thousands of years.
“I am impressed, in the context of western civilization, all the human history that has surrounded this tree; all the empires, the Byzantine, the Ottoman, all the people living in this region. So many things could have led to its demise. Fortunately, this forest has been basically untouched for over a thousand years,” Krusic added.
This Bosnian pine is one of more than a dozen trees of millennial age, living in a forest high in the Pindos mountains. Considering where the tree was found, and its venerable age, the scientists have named it Adonis after the Greek god of beauty and desire.
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