Old Trees

[Rich]

BotSoc received a telephone inquiry today asking what the oldest tree in Georgia might be.

I offered that likley it would be one of the really old cypress  trees along one of the coastal rivers, but the specific tree might be unknown.

The questioner then said they had been told that it would be the gingko tree. This of course changes the meaning of the question from which tree is oldest to which type of tree (native or otherwise) extends the farthest back in the record.   

Anyone want to venture in on this in the next day or so?

[Curator]

Rich,

If the person inquiring is asking what tree, that grows in Georgia, has been on earth the longest, then my guess would be ginkgo or dawn redwood.