Scientists Clone Oldest Living Organism
abc.net.au
abc.net.au
She says it's under threat from the introduced phytophera fungus...
Sexual reproduction is a big sacrifice, instead of passing on 100% of genes, you only pass on 50% at a time. But on the upside, your offspring is more likely to survive new diseases.
Still, a cloned plant doesn't seem like much of an achievement compared with a cloned animal.
However, that said, if this plant has really survived for 43000 years then that is pretty impressive. It must have been doing an awfully fine job on its own. That makes human efforts seem a little puny in comparison.
Another interesting plant is Welwitschia that can be found in Namimbia and Angola. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welwitschia).
Although under threat of extinction the plants living in Angola are better protected than the plants in Namibia, owing to the relatively high concentration of landmines in Angola, which keep collectors away!