Pando is the name of Utah’s enormous quaking aspen clone, one of the world’s oldest organisms.
Pando is a clonal colony of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) in Fishlake National Forest. Its thousands of slender trunks are genetically identical and connected by one underground root system, so scientists classify the colony as a single organism rather than a conventional stand of separate trees.
The colony covers about 43 hectares and has been estimated to weigh roughly 6,000 metric tonnes. Its root system may be at least 14,000 years old, although individual trunks usually live for only around 100 to 150 years before being replaced by new shoots.
Pando is sometimes called the world’s largest organism by mass, but that description depends on how “largest” is measured. It is also threatened by browsing animals, drought and reduced regeneration. Pando should not be confused with Old Tjikko, an ancient clonal Norway spruce in Sweden.