Researchers Discover World Largest Plant in Australia - Details
Home > News Shots > World newsResearchers have found that the world's largest plant grows in the Australian Ocean.
Experts in the ocean in the Shark Bay area of Western Australia have discovered that a giant plant has grown under the sea. Researchers say that this is the largest plant in the world, covering an area of 200 square kilometers. Analysts say it is larger than Glasgow and three times larger than Manhattan Island.
Researchers say the plant was unexpectedly discovered during genetic testing, "at first we thought it was a marine grass, but it was only later discovered that it was a 4,600-year-old plant that grew from a single seed. It grew to a length of 180 km." >
According to the study, the plant is a single clone of the "Pacidonia australis" sponge, which is also a prime example of the world's largest sponge.
Elizabeth Sinclair, an evolutionary biologist and co-author of a study at the University of Western Australia, said: "We were amazed at the data. It was astonishing that they all belonged to the same plant."
Biologists have found that this type of plant does not produce much flowering or seed formation, saying that "it is even more surprising that it has grown in the face of climate change for thousands of years." Biologists are baffled by the fact that a single plant has grown to about 200 square kilometers in the Australian Ocean.
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