![]() ![]() Both the Aspen and Mojave creosote achieve their age by "cloning" new trees or bushes from their root systems- some might consider this cheating. A Quaking aspen grove in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah is estimated to be 80,000 years old (although probably much younger). While The Great Basin Bristlecone pines might be the longest-living non-clonal organism, clonal organisms (a group of genetically identical plants, fungi, or bacteria that clone non-sexually) such as the Quaking aspen or the Mojave Desert creosote are considered to be much older. The Great Basin Bristlecone pines also live at lower elevations where they grow more rapidly, but there they remain vulnerable to forest fires and other factors, which do not allow them to achieve legendary age or their haunting twisted shapes. ![]() The dispersion of this species is perhaps thanks to the wind, or the Clark’s nutcracker, or maybe some other bird that is now extinct, as they may have traveled with the seeds to other remote areas of high elevation.Great Basin National Park is proud to boast three groves of the Great Basin Bristlecone pine: Wheeler Peak, Mount Washington, and the Eagle Peak groves. The Great Basin Bristlecone pines are an extremely rare species found only in California, Nevada and Utah. They grow where most other vegetation cannot, limiting the impact that a forest fire might havoc on their near-eternity. And at high elevation the Great Basin Bristlecone pines spiral out from seemingly impossible soil of limestone rock this too proves favorable for the ancients. This slow growth makes the wood very dense which provides resistance from insects, fungi, rot, and erosion. Because of these conditions the Pinus longaeva grow very slowly, and in some years do not even add a ring of growth. The conditions in which they live are harsh (with temperatures that drop well below freezing), a short growing season, and high winds that twist the trees into almost human-like forms along their limestone ridges. Rocky Mountain Bristlecone Pines and Foxtail Pines may be found elsewhere and are close relatives of the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine, though do not live to the ages that Great Basin Bristlecone Pines do.īristlecone pines in Great Basin National Park grow in isolated groves just below the tree-line. But their ability to survive these harsh environments and adverse growing conditions is exactly their secret to great longevity. This strange tree, shaped by the wind, snow, and rain has survived over thousands of years, overseeing the rise and fall of great empires, growing through ice-ages and catastrophic volcanic eruptions. Great Basin Bristlecone pines (Pinus longaeva) are remarkable for being the oldest non-clonal species on the planet. ![]() Bristlecones grow at high elevations where nothing else can grow. ![]()
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