The Sisters Olive Trees of Noah are a grove of sixteen olive trees in the Lebanese town of Bcheale. [1]
According to local folklore, the trees are at least 5,000 years old, perhaps even 6,000 years old or older. [2] [3] If this is correct, they may be the oldest non-clonal living trees in the world. The age of any of The Sisters has not been determined by dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) and possibly cannot be due to deterioration of the inner tree ring structures over time.
Folk legend also ascribes The Sisters as the source of the olive branch returned to Noah's Ark at the waning of the Biblical Flood. [4] [5] The trees still produce olives, and a preservation effort was undertaken by the non-profit organization Sisters Olive Oil, which marketed oil from these olives. [5]
See also
References
- ^ Linda Pappagallo (January 8, 2013). "The World's Oldest Living Olive Trees Are Lebanese". Green Prophet. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
- ^ Ingo Helbig (February 14, 2013). "Rare variants and olive trees". Beyond the Ion Channel. EuroEPINOMICS. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
- ^ Carol Drinkwater (2011). The Olive Tree. Orion. pp. 18–. ISBN 978-0-297-85750-1. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
- ^ Dima Sharif. "Olive Oil Ice Cream & The Ultra Premium EV Olive Oil Harvested From The Oldest Living Olive Trees On Earth". Dima Sharif, Bringing Food to Life. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
- ^ a b T.K. Maloy (October 31, 2012). "Bechealeh's ancient trees still producing high-end olive oil". The Daily Star (Lebanon). Retrieved April 28, 2013.
 | This Lebanon-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |