Nature amazes us every day with astonishing wonders. No matter how hard we humans try, we often fall short of matching the marvels it offers. And so, almost out of the blue, two stories emerge that lead us to rewrite — once again — the books of science and botany.

“An international research team, led by the University of Padua, has recently discovered the oldest woody plant on the European continent” [1]

And immediately, our minds turn to majestic trees — forest giants, natural monuments in all their grandeur. But no, nothing of the sort. Because what was discovered (or rather, rediscovered — since it never really left the spot where it grows) is nothing more than a small, twisted juniper shrub.

Its ID card?

Scientific name: Juniperus communis

Residence: Finnish Lapland

Height: 10 cm

Age: 1,647 years

And it’s no coincidence that a juniper shrub holds this remarkable record. It is, in fact, the most widespread woody species in the world, capable of adapting to extreme and highly diverse climatic and environmental conditions. It grows everywhere — from desert dunes to alpine glaciers, from the Apennine hills to the Arctic tundra.

And it is precisely in the Arctic tundra, under conditions barely suitable for vegetation, that this specimen was discovered. In addition, at these latitudes and temperatures the actual trees decline, leaving room for a multiplicity of shrubs. Juniper turned out to be the perfect candidate for age analysis because it has clear growth rings, albeit in shrub form, on par with trees.

The researchers behind the discovery explain: “Determining the exact age of these individuals is not easy. Each growth ring must be measured precisely and the measurements compared with those from other specimens collected in the same area. In the end, however, we arrive at a definitive value — one that is much more accurate than those provided by the better-known Carbon-14 method” [1].

These extremely old individuals, found within forests that are themselves on average quite ancient, are hallmarks of what are known as old-growth forests. Forests with high scientific and biological value, and providers of countless ecosystem services. The same applies to forests characterized by the presence of similar types of shrubs.

In this context, these ecosystems are often threatened by land-use changes, human activities, and deforestation. However, in the case of the Arctic tundra, these threats are replaced by a more pressing issue: climate change, which endangers these extreme environments. Warming at high latitudes and the increasing frequency of natural disturbances put the survival of tundra shrub communities at risk — communities that urgently require research, protection, and conservation efforts [2].

Figure 1: Growth rings in Pinus nigra carrots extracted in Schlanders/Silandro (Bozen/Bolzano, Italy) on 18.11.2021. Edited by the Author using MtreeRing software.