Pando is an ancient quaking aspen tree (Populus tremuloides) with 47,000 genetically identical stems, or tree trunks, connected to a vast underground root system.

Sweeping across 107 acres of Utah’s Fishlake National Forest is one of the world’s largest organisms: a forest of some 47,000 genetically identical quaking aspen trees, which all stem from a ...

The researchers collected samples of roots, bark, leaves and branches from across the Pando clone, as well as from other, unrelated quaking aspen trees for comparison.