[sqeaky]

What is the dividiing line between single organism and clones with connecting structure, like shared roots?

It seems like a fuzzy gradient to me. Maybe some biologist can share what makes the distinction clear, but I can imagine a gradient ranging from fully distinct autonomous disconnected clones all the way to clearly a single organism that only grows outward into a large sphere.

Clearly Pando is somewhere in the middle of this gradient. What is Pando's position on that gradient and why is "bunch of individual clones" somewhere else? How is another tree sharing a roots not a single individual too?

[digging]

Super confused here because the distinction seems completely clear to me? Relatively few plants, when mature, will start growing clones up from their roots, but it's a known growth pattern. They're called suckers, and I've never heard them referred to as distinct individuals.

But most plants can be cloned by taking a cutting and giving it continuous water + air and letting it start growing a new root system. I've never heard anybody suggest the cutting is not a new, distinct plant.

[j-bos]

Hmmm, could a long generation banana plant be considered ancient? Assuming the line was kept in place for centuries.