Top 10 Oldest Individual Trees by Verified Age in the World
Prometheus, a bristlecone pine cut down in 1964, had at least 4,862 rings. Methuselah, at 4,669 years, is the oldest known living non-clonal tree.
Updated October 18, 202610 ranked3 sources
Quick answer
Prometheus (WPN-114), a Great Basin bristlecone pine cut down in Nevada in 1964, is the oldest non-clonal tree with a cross-dated age: at least 4,862 years. Methuselah, also a bristlecone pine, is the oldest living one at 4,669 years in 2026. Chile's Alerce Milenario (3,655 years) is third. Ages come from Wikipedia's List of oldest trees (cross-dated table).
These are the ten oldest individual, non-clonal trees whose ages have been fixed by dendrochronological cross-dating: matching ring patterns between trees to date each ring to the exact year. Ages are minimums, since the oldest wood at a tree's centre has often rotted away.
Great Basin bristlecone pines hold the top two places, followed by a Chilean Patagonian cypress. Four of the ten are dead giant sequoias from California's Sierra Nevada. Trees with only estimated ages, such as ancient yews with hollow trunks, are not included, and neither are clonal colonies such as Pando, where the root system is far older than any trunk.
Age (years)
Age (years)
Prometheus (WPN-114)
4862 years
Methuselah
4669 years
Alerce Milenario (Gran Abuelo)
3655 years
CBR26
3266 years
D-21
3220 years
D-23
3075 years
CMC 3
3033 years
Scofield Juniper
2675 years
BLK227
2651 years
CB-90-11
2469 years
The ranking
1
Prometheus (WPN-114)
A Great Basin bristlecone pine on Wheeler Peak, Nevada, cut down in 1964 for research. A cross-section showed at least 4,862 annual rings (Donald Graybill's recount of Donald Currey's original 4,844), making it the oldest non-clonal tree with a cross-dated age. Because the count was taken about 2.5 m above ground, its true age was probably around 5,000 years.
Germinated: c. 2900 BCE (sources differ)Species: Great Basin bristlecone pineScientific name: Pinus longaevaLocation: Wheeler Peak, Nevada, United StatesStatus: Dead (cut down 1964)
2
Methuselah
The oldest known living non-clonal tree, a Great Basin bristlecone pine in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest of California's White Mountains. The 4,669-year figure is Matthew Salzer's reproducible estimate (germination about 2644 BCE). Edmund Schulman's 1957 count implied an age near 4,850, but his core is missing and the count cannot be reproduced.
Germinated: 2644 BCESpecies: Great Basin bristlecone pineScientific name: Pinus longaevaLocation: White Mountains, California, United StatesStatus: Alive
3
Alerce Milenario (Gran Abuelo)
A Patagonian cypress in Chile's Alerce Costero National Park, the oldest tree on this list outside the United States. Its cross-dated minimum age was 3,622 years in 1993, which comes to 3,655 in 2026. An unconfirmed 2022 estimate of about 5,484 years would make it the oldest of all, but it has not been verified.
Germinated: c. 1630 BCESpecies: Patagonian cypressScientific name: Fitzroya cupressoidesLocation: Cordillera Pelada, Los Rios, ChileStatus: Alive
4
CBR26
A dead giant sequoia in the Sierra Nevada with 3,266 cross-dated rings, the oldest giant sequoia in the cross-dated record.
Germinated: c. 1374 BCESpecies: Giant sequoiaScientific name: Sequoiadendron giganteumLocation: Sierra Nevada, California, United StatesStatus: Dead
5
D-21
A dead giant sequoia in the Sierra Nevada with a cross-dated age of 3,220 years.
Germinated: c. 1305 BCESpecies: Giant sequoiaScientific name: Sequoiadendron giganteumLocation: Sierra Nevada, California, United StatesStatus: Dead
6
D-23
A dead giant sequoia in the Sierra Nevada with a cross-dated age of 3,075 years, the third giant sequoia on this list to exceed 3,000 years.
Germinated: c. 1122 BCESpecies: Giant sequoiaScientific name: Sequoiadendron giganteumLocation: Sierra Nevada, California, United StatesStatus: Dead
7
CMC 3
A dead giant sequoia in the Sierra Nevada with a cross-dated age of 3,033 years.
Germinated: c. 1240 BCESpecies: Giant sequoiaScientific name: Sequoiadendron giganteumLocation: Sierra Nevada, California, United StatesStatus: Dead
8
Scofield Juniper
A dead Sierra juniper in California's Sierra Nevada with a cross-dated age of 2,675 years, the oldest juniper in the cross-dated record.
Germinated: c. 1510 BCESpecies: Sierra juniperScientific name: Juniperus grandisLocation: Sierra Nevada, California, United StatesStatus: Dead
9
BLK227
A bald cypress in the swamp forest of North Carolina's Black River. It was cross-dated to at least 2,624 years old in 1999, which comes to 2,651 in 2026.
Germinated: 626 BCESpecies: Bald cypressScientific name: Taxodium distichumLocation: Three Sisters Cove, Black River, North Carolina, United StatesStatus: Alive
10
CB-90-11
A Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine in central Colorado, cross-dated at 2,435 years in 1992. Counting forward from its germination year (444 BCE) gives 2,469 years in 2026.
Germinated: 444 BCESpecies: Rocky Mountain bristlecone pineScientific name: Pinus aristataLocation: Central Colorado, United StatesStatus: Not stated in source
Full comparison
#
Name
Germinated
Species
Scientific name
Location
Status
1
Prometheus (WPN-114)
c. 2900 BCE (sources differ)
Great Basin bristlecone pine
Pinus longaeva
Wheeler Peak, Nevada, United States
Dead (cut down 1964)
2
Methuselah
2644 BCE
Great Basin bristlecone pine
Pinus longaeva
White Mountains, California, United States
Alive
3
Alerce Milenario (Gran Abuelo)
c. 1630 BCE
Patagonian cypress
Fitzroya cupressoides
Cordillera Pelada, Los Rios, Chile
Alive
4
CBR26
c. 1374 BCE
Giant sequoia
Sequoiadendron giganteum
Sierra Nevada, California, United States
Dead
5
D-21
c. 1305 BCE
Giant sequoia
Sequoiadendron giganteum
Sierra Nevada, California, United States
Dead
6
D-23
c. 1122 BCE
Giant sequoia
Sequoiadendron giganteum
Sierra Nevada, California, United States
Dead
7
CMC 3
c. 1240 BCE
Giant sequoia
Sequoiadendron giganteum
Sierra Nevada, California, United States
Dead
8
Scofield Juniper
c. 1510 BCE
Sierra juniper
Juniperus grandis
Sierra Nevada, California, United States
Dead
9
BLK227
626 BCE
Bald cypress
Taxodium distichum
Three Sisters Cove, Black River, North Carolina, United States
Alive
10
CB-90-11
444 BCE
Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine
Pinus aristata
Central Colorado, United States
Not stated in source
How we ranked this
Trees are ranked by minimum cross-dated age in years, from the 'Non-clonal trees with ages from cross-dating' table of Wikipedia's List of oldest trees (as read on 18 October 2026). Where cross-dated ages disagree, that table shows the lowest verified age, and so do we. For living trees (and trees whose status is not given), the table counts years from the cross-dated germination year to 2026. For dead trees it gives the ring count at death. Prometheus is the exception: the table counts its age forward to 2026 as if it were still alive, so we use instead the 4,862-ring count at felling given in Wikipedia's Prometheus article. Excluded: trees with only estimated ages (for example the Llangernyw and Fortingall yews, Harlan's unlocated 5,062-year bristlecone, and the unconfirmed 5,484-year Alerce Milenario estimate) and clonal trees (Pando, Old Tjikko). The next trees below the top 10 are a Qilian juniper in Qinghai, China (2,247 years) and the Bennett Juniper in California (2,164).
FAQ
What is the oldest living tree in the world?
Among individual, non-clonal trees with cross-dated ages, Methuselah, a Great Basin bristlecone pine in California's White Mountains, is the oldest known living tree at 4,669 years in 2026. Higher ages have been claimed for other trees but not verified.
What is the oldest tree that ever lived?
Of trees with cross-dated ages, Prometheus (WPN-114), a Great Basin bristlecone pine on Wheeler Peak, Nevada. It had at least 4,862 rings when it was cut down in 1964, and was probably about 5,000 years old.
Why are the Llangernyw Yew and Old Tjikko not on the list?
Yews such as the Llangernyw Yew have hollow trunks, so their ages are only estimates and cannot be cross-dated. Old Tjikko is a clonal Norway spruce: its root system has been radiocarbon-dated to thousands of years, but no single trunk is that old.
Is Pando the oldest tree?
Pando is a clonal colony of quaking aspen in Utah. Recent estimates put the colony at about 16,000 to 37,000 years old, but its individual stems are rarely more than 130 years old, so it is not an individual tree.
How do scientists determine the age of a tree?
The most exact method is cross-dating: matching patterns of wide and narrow rings across many trees from the same area, which dates each ring to a single year. When the centre of a trunk is missing, ages must be estimated from size and growth rate, and are much less certain.
The ten tree species with the tallest individual ever reliably measured, from the 116-meter coast redwood down to the towering firs of the Pacific Northwest.