The Last of Its Kind
In a remote, undisclosed corner of the Southwest National Park in Tasmania lives a single organism that has persisted for tens of thousands of years. Known as King's Lomatia, or Lomatia tasmanica, this unassuming shrub is a genetic individual, a lone survivor from the Pleistocene epoch. The entire wild population, comprising around 500-600 stems across a 1.2-kilometer area, is one plant. This organism is a clone, and it has been copying itself for at least 43,600 years.
This minimum age was determined through radiocarbon dating of fossilized leaf fragments found 8.5 kilometers from the living colony. The fossil leaves were structurally identical to those of the modern plant, suggesting they belonged to the same clonal individual that has been continuously regenerating in the area since the last ice age. Some estimates propose the plant could be as old as 135,000 years.
The plant was first noted by tin miner and naturalist Charles "Deny" King in 1934. It was not formally described as a new species by botanist Winifred Mary Curtis until 1967. The common name, King's Holly, is a misnomer, as it is not a holly but a member of the Proteaceae family, related to Grevillea and Banksia.
A Sterile Survivor
The secret to King's Lomatia's immense longevity is its greatest weakness: its method of reproduction. The plant is a triploid, meaning it has three sets of chromosomes instead of the usual two. This genetic anomaly makes it sterile, so it cannot produce fruit or viable seeds. Its sole means of survival is vegetative cloning. When a branch falls, it can sprout new roots. The plant also sends out root suckers, creating new stems that are genetically identical to the parent. Each individual stem lives for about 300 years, but the organism as a whole continues.
Physically, King's Lomatia is a straggly shrub or small tree that can reach up to 8 meters in height. It has shiny, green, pinnate leaves and occasionally produces crimson flowers in the summer, though these flowers never lead to seeds.
This lack of sexual reproduction means there is zero genetic diversity within the entire population. This makes the ancient clone extremely vulnerable. A single disease could wipe out every last stem. The plant is considered critically endangered, with significant threats from bushfires and the root rot pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi, which has been detected just 20 meters from the colony. Because of these dangers, the exact location of the wild population is a closely guarded secret.