The olive tree is undoubtedly one of the most iconic trees in the Mediterranean basin. Olive groves have populated the fields of southern Europe and the Levant since time immemorial, but such is the longevity of this species that the history of some of these trees also dates back to, at least, antiquity.
An example of this is the Vouves olive treelocated on the Greek island of Crete.
Conservative estimates put it on this tree about 2,000 years. This would imply that in his life he could be a silent witness to events such as the division of the Roman Empire, the fall of Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire and, of course, the birth of contemporary Greece.
The most extensive estimates estimate that this tree could reach 4,000 years old. This would not only make it a contemporary of figures such as Pythagoras, Aristotle or Alexander the Great but would also imply that this plant was born in Minoan Crete and was Witness the collapse of the Late Bronze Ageone of the most intriguing events that occurred at the dawn of history as we understand it.
But perhaps the most surprising detail of all this is that the Vouves olive tree continues to bear fruit.
This has led many to ask, how is this possible? What makes this specimen and its species in general so long-lived?
The olive tree (Olea europaea) has a life expectancy that, although it does not reach millennia, does exceed several centuries. It is estimated that the life expectancy of trees of this species around five centuriesalthough there is some debate about it. In this sense, a study published in 2021 in the magazine Dendrochronologyestimated that the majority of “monumental olive trees” had maximum ages ranging between 300 and 500 years.
Estimating the age of an olive tree is difficult. We noted at the beginning that estimates of the age of this ancient tree ranged between 2,000 and 4,000 years, a very wide range precisely because of the difficulty involved in calculating the age of these trees.
Dendrochronology is based on using the growth rings of tree trunks to estimate their age: how many rings, how many years. Counting rings in a felled specimen is simple, but doing it in a living tree and doing it in an olive tree is another story. The trunks of the olive trees grow irregularly, which implies an apparently chaotic pattern in the rings inside, making counting especially difficult, as I pointed out. a study published in 2013 in the magazine PLOS One.
Its curious growth could be related to its longevity. According to Scott Travers, a biologist at Rutgers University, in an article for Forbesone of the “secrets” behind longevity of these trees is in vegetative or clonal reproduction. That is, in the fact that this tree is made up of various cuttings that start from the same root. This, adds Travers, allows this type of plants to survive extreme conditions, including fires, cuts and similar incidents.
Another survival trick Travers continues explainingis in the biochemistry of the tree, which offers mechanisms that allow it to repair damaged tissues, as well as defend itself against pathogenic organisms. The same oil that we humans use is used by the tree that gives it to us through its fruits.
The elderly around us
Spain also has ancient olive trees, although if we want to find a tree that competes in age with the Vouves olive tree, we have to go to Portugal. It would be an olive tree located in Abrantesin the center of Portugal. According to a study carried out by the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Mouchao would be the tree that would hold this record with an age that would be around 3,350 years old.
Spain also has ancient olive trees and among them all stands out. Arion’s Fargea tree that we can find in the province of Tarragona. The estimated age of this olive tree It is more than 1,700 years old. This implies that this ancient tree would have been planted in the time of Emperor Constantine I.
Olive trees are not the only ancient tree species in our environment. Cedars, sequoias and even Canarian dragon trees can also reach ages that would make the biblical Methuselah pale.
Olive trees are trees with a long life expectancy but they do not usually fill the lists of the longest living trees on the planet. The two longest-lived non-cloned trees known are two pines called Prometheus and Methuselahwhose ages are estimated to be over 4,000 years old. Both belong (or belonged in the case of Prometheus) to the species Pinus longaevathe “long-lived pine” so this fact is not entirely surprising.
When Prometheus was cut, the botanists who analyzed it counted more than 4,800 rings, so they estimated its age to be about 4,900 years. Estimates indicate that Methuselah has also surpassed by decades the 4,800 year old mark.
If we include clonal organisms we can find older trees. For example, the Pando forestconsidered the largest living organism on the planet, composed of thousands of cuttings from the same clonal tree, could have about 80,000 years old according to some estimates.
Image | Eric Nagle, CC BY-SA 4.0
This article was originally published in Xataka in April 2025.
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