Trees do not pay taxes. Some, it seems, can avoid death. A large proportion of the ancient organisms that have survived on Earth are trees, such as the 3,600-year-old cypress in Chile or the sacred fig tree in Sri Lanka, which was planted around 300 BC.

A study recently published in the journal "Trends in Plant Science", titled "Long-lived trees are not immortal", concludes that even the oldest trees have certain physiological limits, although these are difficult for a human to explain...