King’s holly, or King’s lomatia (Lomatia tasmanica), is a rare Tasmanian plant whose living population is a sterile clone. A fossil leaf identified as the species was dated to about 43,600 years ago, which researchers have proposed as a possible minimum age for the clone. That evidence does not establish that an individual stem—or the plant itself—has been measured as 100,000 years old.
What is King’s holly?
King’s holly is the common name for King’s lomatia, Lomatia tasmanica, a member of the Proteaceae family endemic to Tasmania. It is a woody shrub, not a holly in the genus Ilex. The Tasmanian recovery plan and the Australian Government’s species assessment describe its unusual persistence through vegetative growth rather than seed.
What does the age claim actually mean?
The often-repeated great-age claim concerns a clonal lineage, not one stem surviving unchanged for millennia. The Tasmanian recovery plan reports that a fossil leaf identified as Lomatia tasmanica dates to approximately 43,600 years ago. Researchers have suggested that this could indicate a minimum age for the living clone: its lineage may have persisted at least since that time. It is an inference from a fossil, not a direct measurement of living tissue.
The available government and scientific sources cited here do not support describing King’s holly as a verified 100,000-year-old plant. Nor should the fossil’s age be assigned to every visible stem. Stems can be replaced as the clone continues vegetative growth.
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How can a plant persist as a clone?
The recovery plan describes King’s lomatia as triploid and sterile, so it does not produce seed. Instead, it can spread and renew itself through vegetative growth, including root suckering and coppice. In clonal plants, connected or genetically identical growth can continue across generations even as individual stems die and are replaced. This distinction between the age of a lineage and the lifespan of a stem is central to interpreting the age estimate.
Where does King’s lomatia grow?
Official conservation sources record one remaining wild population in southwest Tasmania, within Southwest National Park and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Tasmania’s threatened-species profile describes the site as extending about 1.2 kilometres through scrub and mixed forest associated with two deeply incised creeks separated by a ridge. Because the population is highly restricted, a broad regional description is more appropriate than directions to the site.
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How rare is it, and what is its conservation status?
The Australian Government conservation advice records one population, about 500 mature plants, an area of occupancy of 20–30 hectares and an extent of occurrence of 2–3 square kilometres. These are figures in the assessment page, last updated in 2021, not results of a new 2026 census. The government’s 2006–2010 recovery plan separately estimated 400–500 stems; stems and mature plants are different measures and should not be treated as interchangeable.
King’s lomatia is listed as Endangered under Tasmania’s state legislation and Critically Endangered under the Commonwealth listing. Its single, highly restricted population and reliance on clonal reproduction leave it vulnerable to a threat affecting the site or its capacity to regrow.
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What threatens the population?
The 2006–2010 recovery plan identifies wildfire and root rot caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi as external threats. These risks are particularly serious for a plant confined to one small area: a localized disturbance or disease can affect a substantial share of the known population. The plant’s inability to reproduce by seed also means recovery depends on the survival and vegetative growth of the clone.
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