Editing Larrea tridentata (section)

==Oldest plants==
[[File:King Clone.jpg|thumb|King Clone, the 11,700-year-old creosote bush ring in the [[Mojave Desert]]]]

As the creosote bush grows older, its oldest branches eventually die and its crown splits into separate crowns. This normally happens when the plant is 30 to 90 years old. Eventually, the old crown dies and the new ones become a [[clonal colony]] from the previous plant, composed of many separate stems all from the same seed. The cloned individuals sometimes form a "ring" around the original plant, which may no longer be visible.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.nps.gov/jotr/naturescience/creosote.htm | title = Creosote Bush | publisher = US National Park Service | access-date = 30 December 2011 }}</ref>

===King Clone===
{{Main|King Clone}}
The "King Clone" creosote ring is one of the [[List of longest-living organisms|oldest living organisms on Earth]]. It has been alive an estimated 11,700 years, in the central Mojave Desert near present-day [[Lucerne Valley, California]]. This single [[clonal colony]] plant of ''L. tridentata'' reaches up to {{convert|67|ft|m|abbr=on|order=flip}} in diameter, with an average diameter of {{convert|45|ft|m|abbr=on|order=flip}}.<ref>{{cite journal | title = Creosote Bush: Long-Lived Clones in the Mojave Desert | author = Vasek, F. C. | journal = American Journal of Botany | volume = 67 | issue = 2 |date=February 1980 | pages = 246–255 | jstor = 2442649 | doi=10.2307/2442649}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=11165 | title = The oldest living thing is a quiet survivor | author = Weiser, M. | publisher = High Country News | access-date = 11 September 2010 | archive-date = 25 May 2006 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060525181908/http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=11165 | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref name="creosote">{{cite web | author = Rodrigue, F. | url = http://www.lucernevalley.net/creosote/index.htm | title = Creosote Rings Preserve - ''Larrea tridentata'' - Creosote bush | publisher = Lucerne Valley Community Website | access-date = 30 December 2011 }}</ref>

King Clone was identified and its age estimated by Frank Vasek, a professor at the [[University of California, Riverside]]. Measurements of the plant, as well as [[radiocarbon dating]] of wood fragments, were used to determine the plant's mean annual growth rate outward from the center of the ring.  By measuring the diameter of the ring, its total age could be estimated.<ref name="creosote"/><ref>{{cite book | title = A Natural History of California | page = [https://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryof00scho/page/14 14] | author = Schoenherr, A. A. | publisher = University of California Press | location = Berkeley, CA | isbn = 978-0-520-06922-0 | year = 1995 | title-link = A Natural History of California }}</ref> It is within the [[Creosote Rings Preserve]] of the Lucerne Valley and Johnson Valley.<ref name="creosote"/>

[[Image:Creosote-bush Larrea tridentata.jpg|thumb|right|Large creosote bush, Death Valley]]