From the pictures, the adage ‘can’t see the forest for the trees’ needs to be modified just a little. The definition of forest is roughly a large area covered with trees and undergrowth. The pictures are not of a forest at all, but of one single tree, in loose terms.
Once thought of as the world’s largest single organism, this enormous grove of quaking aspens stretches 107 acres in the Fishlake National Forest of Utah. Each 47,000ish trees in the grove are identical genetically with a single root system. Aspens reproduce by sprouting new trees from their roots.
The collective estimated age of the grove is about older than dirt with some single trees over 130 years old. But it is dying out because it needs new growth to replace the old. There are always problems with drought and pests but some of the blame for no new stems goes to the overgrazing by deer and elk.
What is the world’s largest living organism? Why it is right here in Oregon and can be found in the Malheur National forest spanning some 2,400 acres and colloquially called the Humongous fungus (large mushrooms).
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