Intermountain Bristlecone Pine

(Pinus longaeva)

Intermountain Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva)

Identifying Characters: The long, hooked spines on the cone scales are distinctive for this species and Bristlecone Pine. The two species have non-overlapping ranges.

Similar Species: Closely related to Bristlecone Pine. However the ranges of the two species do not overlap. Bristlecone Pine is restricted to central Arizona, northern New Mexico, and northern Arizona. Intermountain Bristlecone Pine occurs in central-eastern California, Nevada, and Utah. The cones of Bristlecone pines are more elongate than those of Intermountain Bristlecone Pine and not as rounded at the base.

Measurements: Trees grow to 48 feet in height and 6 feet in diameter.

Cones: Cones are 2.5 to 3.75 inches in length, globular to slightly elongate, and rounded and symmetric at the base; each cone scale bears a long, hooked spine; cones take two years to mature.

Needles: Needles 1 to 1.5 inches long, deep yellow-green; borne in bundles of five and sheath shed after the first year; needles very persistent, from 10 to 40 years.

Bark: Bark red-brown, furrowed with thick, scaly, irregular, blocky ridges.

Native Range: Intermountain Bristlecone Pine occurs at high elevations in the mountains of east-central California, Nevada, and Utah.

Habitat: Intermountain Bristlecone Pine occurs at very high elevations in the subalpine to timberline zones on exposed and dry rocky slopes and ridges.

Notes: The oldest known trees, and perhaps the oldest living organisms, are Intermountain Bristlecone Pines. Pines more than 4600 years old have been found in Inyo National Forest near Bishop, California. Intermountain Bristlecone Pine and Bristlecone Pine from Colorado and New Mexico are very closely related and some consider them to be populations of the same species.