World’s largest plant is a vast seagrass meadow in Australia

By CHRISTINA LARSON
AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists have discovered the world’s largest plant off the Australia coast — a seagrass meadow that extends underwater. Genetic analysis has revealed that the seagrass bed is a single organism that has grown by cloning itself repeatedly over 4,500 years. It covers an area larger than Washington, D.C. The research was published Wednesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Though the seagrass meadow is immense, it’s vulnerable to climate change and cyclones. In the past decade, rising temperatures and storms have killed almost a tenth of the ancient seagrass bed.