Oldest Living Trees - Bristlecone Pine
There is something magical about the sheer diversity in Flora. Here is one unique example of this magnificence:
Have you ever heard of the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (scientific name Pinus Longaeva)? These are trees that have been around for 1,000 to around 4,800 years!
Bristlecone Pines defy the harshest climatic and natural elements such as extremely cold temperatures, dry soils, short seasons for growing, high winds among other hardships and use the same adverse conditions as a catalyst to outlive everything around them. The trees grow very slowly and sometimes do not even add a single growth ring in a whole year. This wonderful tree gets its name from the cones whose scales are each tipped with a claw-like bristle.
Due to extremely slow growth, their wood becomes very dense that it is able to withstand fungi, pests, rot, weathering and erosion. The trees grow sparsely thus manmade calamities such as wildfires can easily be checked. Growth is more sustainable in more favorable conditions such as lower elevations.
The tree’s needle-like leaves are averagely an inch long and sprout in packets of five. The ‘leaves’ wrap themselves around the branches, at times extending this cover a foot or further making the brunch look like a small brush. The purple colour of its budding cones assists tremendously in heat absorption; the cones will turn brown on maturity (after about two years). You can see the Bristlecone Pine at the Great Basin National Park in Nevada.
