Great Basin Bristlecone Pine

The Great Basin bristlecone pine is a slow-growing conifer native to high-elevation mountains of the southwestern United States, most famously in California, Nevada and Utah, and it holds the distinction of including some of the oldest known living non-clonal organisms on Earth, with individual trees verified to be well over four thousand years old. It survives in extremely harsh, exposed conditions near the tree line, where thin soil, high winds, low precipitation and short growing seasons produce dense, slow-formed wood that is highly resistant to rot, insects and fungal decay, a major factor in its extraordinary longevity. The tree often takes on a gnarled, twisted, wind-sculpted form, with long-lived trees sometimes reduced to a narrow strip of living bark connecting roots to a small patch of foliage while the rest of the trunk stands bare and weathered for centuries. Because of its precisely dated growth rings, the bristlecone pine has become an important tool for scientists studying past climate conditions and for calibrating radiocarbon dating.