Pinus longaeva
| Pinus longaeva | |
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| A specimen in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, White Mountains, California | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Pinophyta |
| Class: | Pinopsida |
| Order: | Pinales |
| Family: | Pinaceae |
| Genus: | Pinus |
| Subgenus: | Pinus |
| Species: | P. longaeva |
| Binomial name | |
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Pinus longaeva D.K.Bailey |
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Pinus longaeva (commonly referred to as the Great Basin bristlecone pine, intermountain bristlecone pine, or western bristlecone pine) is a long-living species of bristlecone pine tree found in the higher mountains of California, Nevada, and Utah.One member of this species, at 5066 years old, is the oldest known living non-clonal organism on Earth. In 1987, the bristlecone pine was designated one of Nevada's state trees.
It is a medium-size tree, reaching 5 to 15 m (16 to 49 ft) tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 2.5 to 3.6 m (8 ft 2 in to 11 ft 10 in). The bark is bright orange-yellow, thin and scaly at the base of the trunk. The needles are in fascicles of five, stout, 2.5 to 4 cm (0.98 to 1.57 in) 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).
These ancient trees have a gnarled and stunted appearance, especially those found at high altitudes, and have reddish-brown bark with deep fissures. As the tree ages, much of its vascular cambium layer may die. In very old specimens, often only a narrow strip of living tissue connects the roots to a handful of live branches.
The cones are ovoid-cylindrical, 5 to 10 cm (2.0 to 3.9 in) long and 3 to 4 cm (1.2 to 1.6 in) 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 2 to 5 mm (0.079 to 0.197 in) long. The cones open to 4 to 6 cm (1.6 to 2.4 in) broad when mature, releasing the seeds immediately after opening. The seeds are 5 mm (0.20 in) long, with a 12 to 22 mm (0.47 to 0.87 in) wing; they are mostly dispersed by the wind, but some are also dispersed by Clark's nutcrackers.
The Great Basin bristlecone pine differs from the Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine in that the needles of the former always have two uninterrupted resin canals, so it lacks the characteristic small white resin flecks appearing on the needles of the latter. The Great Basin bristlecone pine differs from the foxtail pine because the cone bristles of the former are over 2 mm (0.079 in) long, and the cones have a more rounded (not conic) base. The green pine needles give the twisted branches a bottle-brush appearance. The name 'bristlecone pine' refers to the dark purple female cones that bear incurved prickles on their surface.
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Wikipedia