Researchers from two Australian universities have discovered what they believe to be the largest plant in the world, an ancient and resilient seagrass that stretches 180km across.
This single giant plant of the seagrass Posidonia australis is estimated to be 4,500 years old. It was found in the shallow waters of Shark Bay in Western Australia (WA) and has been detailed in a study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Dr Elizabeth Sinclair, a senior author of the study and evolutionary biologist from the University of WA’s (UWA) School of Biological Sciences and the UWA Oceans Institute, said researchers were initially looking into how genetically diverse the seagrass meadows in Shark Bay, Western Australia were, as well as which plants should be collected for seagrass restoration….