活过时间的非克隆树——2624岁，还在

There's a specific stand of bald cypress trees along the Black River in North Carolina that are some of the oldest trees in the country. Locally known as the Three Sisters Swamp, there are several trees in the group known to be more than 1,000 years old.

在北卡罗莱纳州的黑河沿岸有一片特别的秃柏树林，它们是美国最古老的树木。当地人称之位“三姐妹沼泽”，在这片树林中，有几棵树已知树龄超过1000年。

But researchers recently discovered a bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) in the swamp that's at least 2,624 years old. According to their study, published in the journal Environmental Research Communications, the discovery revealed bald cypress as "the oldest-known wetland tree species, the oldest living trees in eastern North America, and the fifth oldest known non-clonal tree species on earth."

但研究人员最近在沼泽中发现了一种至少有2624年历史的秃柏(Taxodium distichum)。根据他们发表在《环境研究通讯》杂志上的研究，这一发现揭示出柏树是“已知最古老的湿地树种，是北美洲东部现存最古老的树种，也是地球上已知的第五个最古老的非克隆树种地球上已知第五古老的非克隆树种”。

(Non-clonal trees mean the trunk is the same age as the roots. Clonal trees originate from the same ancestor and often live for tens of thousands of years.)

(非克隆树的意思是树干与根的年龄相同。克隆树来自同一个祖先，经常存活数万年。)

According to the researchers, only individual trees of Sierra juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) at 2,675 years, giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) at 3,266 years, alerce (Fitzroya cuppressoides) at 3,622 years, and Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) at 5,066 years old are known to live longer than the Black River bald cypress.

据研究人员称，只有2675年的刺柏、3266年的巨型红杉、3622年的艾力士和5066年的大盆地刚毛松比黑河秃柏寿命长。

How old is old?

2624年是什么概念?

To understand how old this tree really is, Smithsonian explains it was alive "when Nebuchadnezzar II built the Hanging Gardens in Babylon, when the Normans invaded England, and when Shakespeare first set quill to paper."

为了让人更形象的了解，史密森尼打比方说，“当尼布甲尼撒二世在巴比伦建造空中花园时，诺曼人入侵英国时，以及莎士比亚第一次用羽毛笔写字时，它还活着。”

Lead author David W. Stahle, a University of Arkansas scientist, says, "It was like walking back into the Cretaceous. It was essentially a virgin forest, an uncut old-growth forest of 1,000 to over 2,000-year-old trees cheek to jowl across this flooded land."

该研究的主要作者、阿肯色大学的科学家David W. Stahle说：“这就像回到了白垩纪。它本质上是一片原始森林，是一片未经砍伐的原始森林，有1000到2000年的树龄，在这片被淹没的土地上密密麻麻地生长着。”

Although the bald cypress trees are in a protected area owned by The Nature Conservancy, they are still imperiled by continued logging and water pollution, as well as sea level rise.

尽管这些光秃秃的柏树在自然保护协会的保护区内，但仍然受到持续砍伐、水污染和海平面上升的威胁。

The researchers conclude: "To counter these threats, the discovery of the oldest known living trees in eastern North America, which are in fact some of the oldest living trees on earth, provides powerful incentive for private, state, and federal conservation of this remarkable waterway."

研究人员得出结论：“为了应对这些威胁，发现北美东部最古老的已知非克隆树木，实际上是地球上最古老的活落羽杉，为科学家个人，以及州和联邦环境保护者们提供了强大的动力。”