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bristlecone pine, Great Basin bristlecone pine, intermountain bristlecone pine

lodgepole pine, scrub pine, shore pine

Habit Trees to 16m; trunk to 2m diam., strongly tapering; crown rounded, flattened (sheared), or irregular. Shrubs or trees to 50m; trunk to 0.9m diam., straight to contorted; crown various according to genetic race.
Bark

red-brown, shallowly to deeply fissured with thick, scaly, irregular, blocky ridges.

brown to gray- or red-brown, platy to furrowed.

Branches

contorted, pendent;

twigs pale red-brown, aging gray to yellow-gray, puberulent, young branches resembling long bottlebrushes because of persistent leaves.

Twigs

slender, orange to red-brown, aging darker brown, rough.

Buds

ovoid-acuminate, pale red-brown, ca. 1cm, resinous.

narrowly to broadly ovoid, dark red-brown, to 1.2cm, slightly resinous.

Leaves

mostly 5 per fascicle, upcurved, persisting 10–30 years, 1.5–3.5cm × 0.8–1.2mm, mostly connivent, deep yellow-green, with few resin splotches but often scurfy with pale scales, abaxial surface without median groove but with 2 subepidermal but evident resin bands, adaxial surfaces conspicuously whitened with stomates, margins entire or remotely and finely serrulate distally, apex bluntly acute to short-acuminate;

sheath ca. 1cm, soon forming rosette, shed early.

2 per fascicle, spreading or ascending, persisting 3–8 years, 2–8cm × 0.7–2(–3)mm, twisted, yellow-green to dark green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins finely serrulate, apex blunt to acute or narrowly acuminate;

sheath 0.3–0.6(–1)cm, persistent.

Pollen cones

cylindro-ellipsoid, 7–10mm, purple-red.

ellipsoid to cylindric, 5–15mm, orange-red.

Seed(s)

cones maturing in 2 years, shedding seeds and falling soon thereafter, spreading, symmetric, lance-cylindric with rounded base before opening, lance-cylindric to narrowly ovoid when open, 6–9.5cm, purple, aging red-brown, nearly sessile;

apophyses much thickened, sharply keeled;

umbo central, raised on low buttress, truncate to umbilicate, abruptly narrowed to slender but stiff, variable prickle 1–6mm, resin exudate pale.

cones maturing in 2 years or variably serotinous, variably persistent, spreading to reflexed, often curved, nearly symmetric or variably asymmetric, lanceoloid to ovoid before opening, broadly ovoid to nearly globose when open, 2–6cm, tan to pale red-brown, lustrous, nearly sessile or on stalks to 1cm;

apophyses nearly rhombic, variously elongate, cross-keeled, often mammillate toward outer cone base and on inside above middle;

umbo central, depressed-triangular, prickle barely elongate to stubby or slender and to 6mm.

Lower

branches often descending, the upper spreading or ascending.

2n

=24 (variety not indicated).

Pinus longaeva

Pinus contorta

Habitat Subalpine and alpine
Elevation 1700–3400m (5600–11200ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV; UT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; NT; SK; YT; only in the flora
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Pinus longaeva is considered by dendrochronologists to be the longest-lived tree. One tree was estimated to be 5000 years old.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Pinus contorta is fire successional over most of its range and is characterized by prolific seeding and high seed viability in disturbed habitats, often resulting in extremely slow-growing, overly dense stands. Some authors consider it to consist of 4 races; these have been given various infraspecific ranks, but perhaps they are more conventionally treated as 3 varieties.

Varieties 3.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Leaves 2-7 cm × 0.7-0.9(-1.1) mm, dark green; mature trunk with bark evidently furrowed; seed cones strongly asymmetric, strongly recurved, persistent or variously serotinous.
var. contorta
1. Leaves (4-)5-8 cm × (0.7-)1-2(-3) mm, yellow-green; mature trunk with bark not evidently furrowed; seed cones asymmetric to nearly symmetric, recurved to spreading, variously serotinous or soon shed.
→ 2
2. Seed cones asymmetric, recurved, variously serotinous, long-persistent; mid and lower apophyses mostly much domed; main branches mostly horizontally spreading, not ascending at tip.
var. latifolia
2. Seed cones nearly symmetric, mostly spreading, not serotinous, not persistent; mid and lower apophyses mostly shallowly domed; main branches ascending at tips.
var. murrayana
Source FNA vol. 2. FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Pinaceae > Pinus Pinaceae > Pinus
Sibling taxa
P. albicaulis, P. aristata, P. attenuata, P. balfouriana, P. banksiana, P. cembroides, P. clausa, P. contorta, P. coulteri, P. echinata, P. edulis, P. elliottii, P. engelmannii, P. flexilis, P. glabra, P. jeffreyi, P. lambertiana, P. leiophylla, P. monophylla, P. monticola, P. muricata, P. palustris, P. ponderosa, P. pungens, P. quadrifolia, P. radiata, P. resinosa, P. rigida, P. sabiniana, P. serotina, P. strobiformis, P. strobus, P. sylvestris, P. taeda, P. torreyana, P. virginiana, P. washoensis
P. albicaulis, P. aristata, P. attenuata, P. balfouriana, P. banksiana, P. cembroides, P. clausa, P. coulteri, P. echinata, P. edulis, P. elliottii, P. engelmannii, P. flexilis, P. glabra, P. jeffreyi, P. lambertiana, P. leiophylla, P. longaeva, P. monophylla, P. monticola, P. muricata, P. palustris, P. ponderosa, P. pungens, P. quadrifolia, P. radiata, P. resinosa, P. rigida, P. sabiniana, P. serotina, P. strobiformis, P. strobus, P. sylvestris, P. taeda, P. torreyana, P. virginiana, P. washoensis
Subordinate taxa
P. contorta var. contorta, P. contorta var. latifolia, P. contorta var. murrayana
Synonyms P. aristata var. longaeva
Name authority D. K. Bailey: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 57: 243. (1970) Douglas ex Loudon: Arbor. Frutic. Brit. 4: 2292, figs. 2210, 2211. (1838)
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