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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 The term bristlecone pine covers three species of pine tree (family Pinaceae, genus ''Pinus'', subsection ''Balfourianae''). All three species are long-lived and highly resilient to harsh weather and bad soils. One of the three species, ''Pinus ...
tree found in the higher mountains of
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
,
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
, and
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
.
Methuselah Methuselah () ( he, מְתוּשֶׁלַח ''Məṯūšélaḥ'', in pausa ''Məṯūšālaḥ'', "His death shall send" or "Man of the javelin" or "Death of Sword"; gr, Μαθουσάλας ''Mathousalas'') was a biblical patriarch and a f ...
is a bristlecone pine that is years old and has been credited as the oldest known living non- clonal organism on Earth. To protect it, the exact location of this tree is kept secret. In 1987, the bristlecone pine was designated one of Nevada's
state tree This is a list of U.S. state, federal district, and territory trees, including official trees of the following of the states, of the federal district, and of the territories. Table See also * List of U.S. state, district, and territorial insign ...
s.


Description

It is a medium-size tree, reaching tall and with a trunk diameter of up to . The bark is bright orange-yellow, thin and scaly at the base of the trunk. The needles are in fascicles of five, stout, long, deep green to blue-green on the outer face, with
stoma In botany, a stoma (from Greek ''στόμα'', "mouth", plural "stomata"), also called a stomate (plural "stomates"), is a pore found in the epidermis of leaves, stems, and other organs, that controls the rate of gas exchange. The pore is bo ...
ta 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 cones 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 seeds 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 nutcracker Clark's nutcracker (''Nucifraga columbiana''), sometimes referred to as Clark's crow or woodpecker crow, is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to the mountains of western North America. The nutcracker is an omnivore, but subsists mai ...
s. 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 The vascular cambium is the main growth tissue in the stems and roots of many plants, specifically in dicots such as buttercups and oak trees, gymnosperms such as pine trees, as well as in certain other vascular plants. It produces secondary xy ...
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 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 ''Pinus balfouriana'', the foxtail pine, is a rare high-elevation pine that is endemic to California, United States. It is closely related to the Great Basin and Rocky Mountain bristlecone pines, in the subsection ''Balfourianae''. Descriptio ...
because the cone bristles of the former are over 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. File:Inyo Bristlecone bcp tree (5632371665).jpg, Tree in
Inyo National Forest Inyo National Forest is a United States National Forest covering parts of the eastern Sierra Nevada of California and the White Mountains of California and Nevada. The forest hosts several superlatives, including Mount Whitney, the highest po ...
File:Pinus longaeva young cone Patriarch Grove.jpg, Young Cone File:Pinus longaeva mature cone Patriarch Grove.jpg, Mature Cone File:2015-07-13 07 39 32 Foliage and pollen cones on a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine along the North Loop Trail about 5.4 miles west of the trailhead in the Mount Charleston Wilderness, Nevada.jpg, pollen cones File:Bristlecone Pinus longaeva new growth.jpg, New growth File:White Mtns Ancient Bristlecone Pines Park - grainy (11226427796).jpg, Bark


Distribution and ecology

The species occurs in
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
,
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
and eastern
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. In California, it is restricted to the White Mountains, the
Inyo Mountains The Inyo Mountains are a short mountain range east of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California in the United States. The range separates the Owens Valley to the west from Saline Valley to the east, extending for approximately south-southeast fr ...
, and the
Panamint Range The Panamint Range is a short rugged fault-block mountain range in the northern Mojave Desert, within Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, eastern California. Dr. Darwin French is credited as applying the term Panamint in 1860 during his ...
, in
Mono Mono may refer to: Common meanings * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono * Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single Music Performers * Mono (Japanes ...
and
Inyo Inyo may refer to: Places California * Inyo County, California * Inyo National Forest, USA * The Inyo Mountains * The Mono–Inyo Craters Other uses * Japanese for yin and yang Yin and yang ( and ) is a Chinese philosophical concep ...
counties. In Nevada, it is found in most of the higher ranges of the Basin and Range from the Spring Mountains near
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...
north to the
Ruby Mountains The Ruby Mountains are a mountain range, primarily located within Elko County with a small extension into White Pine County, in Nevada, United States. Most of the range is included within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The range reache ...
, and in Utah, northeast to South Tent in the
Wasatch Range The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the G ...
. Due to the inaccessibility of many of the sites that this species occupies, information on their location and abundance is incomplete, and thus is needed.  Environmental niche modelling has been used to better map the distribution of Great Basin bristlecone pine using topographic and spectral variables calculated from a
geographic information system A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with software tools for managing, analyzing, and visualizing those data. In a ...
(GIS). The tree grows in large open stands, unlike the related
foxtail pine ''Pinus balfouriana'', the foxtail pine, is a rare high-elevation pine that is endemic to California, United States. It is closely related to the Great Basin and Rocky Mountain bristlecone pines, in the subsection ''Balfourianae''. Descriptio ...
, which sometimes form dense forests. ''Pinus longaeva'' trees generally do not form closed canopies, usually covering only 15-50%. ''Pinus longaeva'' shares habitats with a number of other pine species, including the
ponderosa pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...
, the white fir and, notably, the
limber pine ''Pinus flexilis'', the limber pine, is a species of pine tree-the family Pinaceae that occurs in the mountains of the Western United States, Mexico, and Canada. It is also called Rocky Mountain white pine. A limber pine in Eagle Cap Wildernes ...
, a similarly long-lived high-elevation species. The tree is a "vigorous"
primary succession Primary succession is the beginning step of ecological succession after an extreme disturbance, which usually occurs in an environment devoid of vegetation and other organisms. These environments are typically lacking in soil, as disturbances l ...
species, growing quickly on new open ground. It is a "poor competitor" in good soils, however, and the species does best in harsh terrain. ''Pinus longaeva'' is often the dominant species in high-elevation dolomite soils, where few plants can grow. Bristlecone pines are protected in a number of areas owned by the United States federal government, such as the
Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is a protected area high in the White Mountains in Inyo County in eastern California. Geography The forest is east of the Owens Valley, high on the eastern face of the White Mountains in the upper Fish Lake ...
in the White Mountains of California and the Great Basin National Park in Nevada. These areas prohibit the cutting or gathering of wood.
Clark's nutcracker Clark's nutcracker (''Nucifraga columbiana''), sometimes referred to as Clark's crow or woodpecker crow, is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to the mountains of western North America. The nutcracker is an omnivore, but subsists mai ...
s pluck ''P. longaeva'' seeds out of the opening cones. The nutcrackers use the seeds as a food resource, storing many for later use in the ground, and some of these stored seeds are not used and are able to grow into new plants. An introduced fungal disease known as white pine blister rust (''
Cronartium ribicola ''Cronartium ribicola'' is a species of rust fungus in the family Cronartiaceae that causes the disease white pine blister rust. Other names include: (French), (German), (Spanish). ''Cronartium ribicola'' is native to China, and was subsequ ...
'') is believed to affect some individuals. The species was placed on the
IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biolo ...
and listed as "Vulnerable", or
threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of '' critical depe ...
, in 1998. In 2011, however, a population survey found the population of ''Pinus longaeva'' to be stable, with no known subpopulations decreasing in size. White pine blister rust was found to have a negligible effect on the population. As a result, the species was moved to "Least Concern".


Fire ecology

The tree is extremely susceptible to fire, and is damaged by even low-intensity burns. The resinous bark is capable of igniting quickly, and a crown fire will almost certainly kill the tree. However, populations of ''Pinus longaeva'' are known to be extremely resilient, and as a primary succession species, it is believed that populations of the tree would reestablish itself quickly after a fire. That said, large-scale fires are extremely uncommon where the species grows, and are not a major factor in the species' long-term viability. Historically, ''Pinus longaeva'' stands experienced low to high severity fires, and fuels structures changed considerably across elevational gradients. In low elevation, mixed species stands, fuels are often heavy and in close proximity to anthropogenic ignition sources. Yet at high elevations near
treeline The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snowp ...
, ''Pinus longaeva'' typically grow on limestone outcroppings that provide little or no surface fuels to propagate a
wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...
. However, warmer temperatures will likely increase the duration of fire season, and thus the frequency of fire in ''Pinus longeava'' systems at low and mid elevations could increase where stands are typically denser and surface fuel is greatest. While rare, wild fires such as The Carpenter 1 fire in southern Nevada (July 2013) and the Phillips Fire in Great Basin National Park, (September 2000) that started in lower elevation fuel types and moved through the crowns of trees with the aid of extreme fire weather, could become more likely.


Age

A specimen located in the White Mountains of California was measured by Tom Harlan, a researcher with the
Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research The Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research (LTRR) was established in 1937 by A.E. Douglass, founder of the modern science of dendrochronology. The LTRR is a research unit in the College of Science at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Since its fo ...
, to be 5,062 years old as of 2010. This would make it the oldest known non-clonal tree in the world. The identity of the specimen was kept secret by Harlan. Harlan passed away in 2013, and neither the tree nor the core Harlan studied have been found, making the age or existence of this tree unable to be confirmed. The confirmed oldest tree of this species, "
Methuselah Methuselah () ( he, מְתוּשֶׁלַח ''Məṯūšélaḥ'', in pausa ''Məṯūšālaḥ'', "His death shall send" or "Man of the javelin" or "Death of Sword"; gr, Μαθουσάλας ''Mathousalas'') was a biblical patriarch and a f ...
", is also located in the
Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is a protected area high in the White Mountains in Inyo County in eastern California. Geography The forest is east of the Owens Valley, high on the eastern face of the White Mountains in the upper Fish Lake ...
of the White Mountains. Methuselah is years old, as measured by annual ring count on a small core taken with an
increment borer An increment borer is a specialized tool used to extract a section of wood tissue from a living tree with relatively minor injury to the plant itself. The tool consists of a handle, an auger bit and a small, half circular metal tray ( the core ...
. Its exact location is kept secret. 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.


See also

*
List of superlative trees The world's superlative trees can be ranked by any factor. Records have been kept for trees with superlative height, trunk diameter or girth, canopy coverage, airspace volume, wood volume, estimated mass, and age. Tallest The heights of th ...


References

* *


External links

*
The ancient bristlecone pine




* ttp://www.aeonmagazine.com/nature-and-cosmos/ross-andersen-bristlecone-pines-anthropocene/ Aeon Magazine longform article on Bristlecone pines {{Authority control longaeva Trees of the Southwestern United States Trees of the Great Basin Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Great Basin Trees of the Western United States Negligibly senescent organisms