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Gallery: Oldest Living Things in the World

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An amazing system

12,000 year old Mojave Yucca

(Image credit: ©Rachel Sussman, from "The Oldest Living Things in the World" by Rachel Sussman. (One-Time use).)

Mojave Yucca #0311-1233 (12,000 years old, Mojave Desert, California)

The approximately 12,000-year-old creosote bush and Mojave yucca both have remarkable circular structures, pushing slowly outward from a central originating stem. New stems replace old ones, but they are all connected by the same clonal root structure.

The cover

Cover for The Oldest Living Things in the World

(Image credit: ©Rachel Sussman, from "The Oldest Living Things in the World" by Rachel Sussman. (One-Time use).)

The cover for "The Oldest Living Things in the World" by Rachel Sussman

Paulette Beete
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)