{"id":15750,"date":"2022-06-10T08:14:30","date_gmt":"2022-06-10T08:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/worlds-biggest-plant-discovered-off-australian-coast"},"modified":"2022-06-10T09:22:54","modified_gmt":"2022-06-10T09:22:54","slug":"worlds-biggest-plant-discovered-off-australian-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/worlds-biggest-plant-discovered-off-australian-coast","title":{"rendered":"World\u2019s biggest plant discovered off Australian coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>The largest known plant on Earth \u2013 a seagrass roughly three times the size of Manhattan \u2013 has been discovered off the coast of Australia. Using genetic testing, scientists have determined a large underwater meadow in Western Australia is in fact one plant.<\/p>\n

It is believed to have spread from a single seed over at least 4,500 years. The seagrass covers about 200 sq km (77 sq miles), researchers from the University of Western Australia said.<\/p>\n

The team stumbled upon the discovery by accident at Shark Bay, about 800km north of Perth. They had set out to understand the genetic diversity of the species \u2013 also known as ribbon weed \u2013 which is commonly found along parts of Australia\u2019s coast.<\/p>\n

Researchers collected shoots from across the bay and examined 18,000 genetic markers to create a \u201cfingerprint\u201d from each sample. They had aimed to discover how many plants made up the meadow.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe answer blew us away \u2013 there was just one!\u201d said Jane Edgeloe, the study\u2019s lead author.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s it, just one plant has expanded over 180km in Shark Bay, making it the largest known plant on Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201d The plant is also remarkable for its hardiness, having grown in locations across the bay with wildly variable conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt appears to be really resilient, experiencing a wide range of temperatures and salinities plus extreme high light conditions, which together would typically be highly stressful for most plants,\u201d said Dr Elizabeth Sinclair, one of the researchers.<\/p>\n

The species generally grows like a lawn at a rate of up to 35cm a year. This is how researchers estimated it has taken 4,500 years to sprawl to its current size. The research has been published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. The largest known plant on Earth \u2013 a seagrass roughly three times the size of Manhattan \u2013 has been discovered off the coast of Australia. Using genetic testing, scientists have determined a large underwater meadow in Western Australia is in fact one plant. It is believed to have spread from a single […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":15749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,9,16],"tags":[233,246,245,1896],"class_list":["post-15750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-miscellaneous","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-world-2"],"yoast_head":"\nWorld\u2019s biggest plant discovered off Australian coast - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The largest known plant on Earth \u2013 a seagrass roughly three times the size of Manhattan \u2013 has been discovered off the co ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/worlds-biggest-plant-discovered-off-australian-coast\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"World\u2019s biggest plant discovered off Australian coast\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The largest known plant on Earth \u2013 a seagrass roughly three times the size of Manhattan \u2013 has been discovered off the co ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/worlds-biggest-plant-discovered-off-australian-coast\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-10T08:14:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-10T09:22:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/06\/postQueueImg_10-62a30d5288542.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"976\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"549\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/worlds-biggest-plant-discovered-off-australian-coast#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/worlds-biggest-plant-discovered-off-australian-coast\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"World\u2019s biggest plant discovered off Australian coast\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-10T08:14:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-10T09:22:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/worlds-biggest-plant-discovered-off-australian-coast\"},\"wordCount\":303,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/worlds-biggest-plant-discovered-off-australian-coast#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/06\/postQueueImg_10-62a30d5288542.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"World\u2019\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"miscellaneous\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/worlds-biggest-plant-discovered-off-australian-coast#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/worlds-biggest-plant-discovered-off-australian-coast\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/worlds-biggest-plant-discovered-off-australian-coast\",\"name\":\"World\u2019s biggest plant discovered off Australian coast - 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