Pinus longaeva, the
Great Basin Bristlecone Pine, is a long-living species of tree found in the higher
mountainA mountain is a large landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill. The adjective montane is used to describe mountainous areas and things associated with them...
s of the southwest
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The species is one of three closely related trees known as
bristlecone pineThe bristlecone pines are a small group of pine trees that are thought to reach an age far greater than that of any other single living organism known, up to nearly 5,000 years....
s and is sometimes known as the
Intermountain or
Western bristlecone pine.
It is a medium-size
treeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
, reaching tall and with a trunk diameter of up to in diameter.
Pinus longaeva, the
Great Basin Bristlecone Pine, is a long-living species of tree found in the higher
mountainA mountain is a large landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill. The adjective montane is used to describe mountainous areas and things associated with them...
s of the southwest
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The species is one of three closely related trees known as
bristlecone pineThe bristlecone pines are a small group of pine trees that are thought to reach an age far greater than that of any other single living organism known, up to nearly 5,000 years....
s and is sometimes known as the
Intermountain or
Western bristlecone pine.
Physical characteristics
It is a medium-size
treeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
, reaching tall and with a trunk diameter of up to in diameter. The bark is bright orange-yellow, thin and scaly at the base of the trunk. The
leavesIn botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin. There is continued debate about whether the flatness of leaves evolved to expose the chloroplasts to more light or to increase the absorption of carbon dioxide. In...
('needles') are in fascicles of five, stout, long, deep green to blue-green on the outer face, with stomata confined to a bright white band on the inner surfaces. The leaves show the longest persistence of any plant, with some remaining green for 45 years (Ewers & Schmid 1981).
The
conesA cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the reproductive structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds. The male cones, which produce pollen, are usually herbaceous and much less conspicuous even at full maturity...
are ovoid-cylindrical, long and broad when closed, green or purple at first, ripening orange-buff when 16 months old, with numerous thin, fragile scales, each scale with a bristle-like spine long. The cones open to broad when mature, releasing the
seedA seed , referred to as a kernel in some plants, is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s immediately after opening. The seeds are long, with a wing; they are mostly dispersed by the wind, but some are also dispersed by
Clark's NutcrackerThe Clark's Nutcracker , is a large passerine bird, in the family Corvidae. It is slightly smaller than its Eurasian relative Spotted Nutcracker . It is ashy-grey all over except for the black-and-white wings and central tail feathers...
s, which pluck the seeds out of the opening cones. The nutcrackers use the seeds as a food resource, storing many for later use, and some of these stored seeds are not used and are able to grow into new plants. However, in many stands current reproduction is not adequate to replace old and dying trees.
It differs from
Pinus aristata in that the needles always have two resin canals, and these are not interrupted and broken, so it lacks the characteristic small white resin flecks appearing on the needles in that species. From the
Foxtail PineThe Foxtail Pine is a rare pine that is endemic to California, United States, where it is found in two areas with a separate subspecies in each, the typical subsp. balfouriana in the Klamath Mountains, and subsp. austrina in the southern Sierra Nevada...
, it differs in the cone bristles being over long, and the cones having a more rounded (not conic) base.
Distribution
The species occurs in
UtahUtah is a western state of the United States. It was the 45th state admitted to the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80 percent of Utah's 2,736,424 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering around Salt Lake City. In contrast, vast expanses of the state are nearly uninhabited, making...
,
NevadaNevada is a state located in the western region of the United States. The capital is Carson City and the largest city is Las Vegas. The state's nickname is Silver State, due to the large number of silver deposits that were discovered and mined there...
and eastern
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
.
In California, it is restricted to the
White MountainsThe White Mountains of California are a triangular fault block mountain range facing the Sierra Nevada across the upper Owens Valley. They extend for approximately as a greatly elevated plateau about on the south, narrowing to a point at the north, with elevations generally increasing south to...
, the
Inyo MountainsThe Inyo Mountains are a short mountain range east of the Sierra Nevada mountains in eastern California in the United States. The range separates the Owens Valley to the west with Saline Valley to the east, extending for approximately 70 mi SSE from the southern end of the White Mountains, from...
, and the
Panamint RangeThe Panamint Range is a short rugged fault-block mountain range on the northern edge of the Mojave Desert in eastern California in the western United States. The range runs north-south for approximately 100 miles through Inyo County, forming the western wall of Death Valley and separating it from...
, in Mono and Inyo counties. In Nevada, it is found in most of the higher ranges of the
Basin and RangeThe Basin and Range Province is a large geologic province which includes parts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, typified by basin and range topography.-Geography:...
from the
Spring MountainsThe Spring Mountains are a mountain range of southern Nevada in the United States, running generally northwest-southeast along the west side of Las Vegas and down to the border with California. The highest point is Mount Charleston, at . They are a sky island...
near
Las VegasLas Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, fine dining, and entertainment. Las Vegas, which bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, is famous for the number of...
north to the
Ruby MountainsThe Ruby Mountains comprise one of the many mountain ranges of the Great Basin in the western United States. They are the predominant range in Elko County, in the northeastern section of the state of Nevada. To the north is Secret Pass and the East Humboldt Range, and from there the Rubies run...
, and in Utah, northeast to South Tent in the
Wasatch RangeThe Wasatch Range is a mountain range that stretches about from the Utah-Idaho border, south through central Utah in the western United States. It is generally considered the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Great Basin region...
.
Age
A specimen of this species nicknamed
"MethuselahMethuselah is a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine in the White Mountains of California, which was 4,789 years old when sampled in 1957 by Schulman and Harlan. It is the oldest known non-clonal organism still alive, at the age of about 4,841 years old. It is the oldest known individual tree in the world...
" located in the
Ancient Bristlecone Pine ForestThe Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, located in the White Mountains of California, is home to the oldest known living trees on earth, the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine Pinus longaeva. The oldest tree, nicknamed "Methuselah", is more than 4,750 years old, and is not marked to ensure added protection...
of the
White MountainsThe White Mountains of California are a triangular fault block mountain range facing the Sierra Nevada across the upper Owens Valley. They extend for approximately as a greatly elevated plateau about on the south, narrowing to a point at the north, with elevations generally increasing south to...
near
Bishop, CaliforniaBishop is a city in Inyo County, California, USA. is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley, at an elevation of 4147 feet . The population was 3,575 at the 2000 census...
is 4,700 years old, as measured by annual ring count on a small core taken with an increment borer. Its exact location is kept secret, since an older specimen, nicknamed
"PrometheusPrometheus was the nickname given to the oldest known non-clonal organism, a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine tree growing near tree line on Wheeler Peak in eastern Nevada, USA. The tree, which was at least 4862 years old and likely approaching or over 5000 years, was cut down in 1964 by a graduate...
", was cut down in 1964. It is the
oldest known tree in North America, and the oldest known individual tree in the world, although a clonal individual, nicknamed
"Old TjikkoOld Tjikko is a 9,550 year old Norway Spruce tree, located on Fulufjället Mountain of Dalarna province in Sweden. Old Tjikko is the world's oldest living individual clonal tree, however, there are many examples of much older clonal colonies , such as "Pando", estimated to be over 80,000 years...
", a
Norway SpruceNorway Spruce is a species of spruce native to Europe. It is a large evergreen coniferous tree growing to 35-55 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 1-1.5 m. The shoots are orange-brown and glabrous...
in
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
is 9,550 years old.
Among the White Mountain specimens, the oldest trees are found on north-facing slopes, with an average of 2,000 years, as compared to the 1,000 year average on the southern slopes. The climate and the durability of their wood can preserve them long after death, with dead trees as old as 7,000 years persisting next to live ones.
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