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bristlecone pine, Great Basin bristlecone pine, intermountain bristlecone pine

hickory pine, mountain pine, prickley pine, table mountain pine

Habit Trees to 16m; trunk to 2m diam., strongly tapering; crown rounded, flattened (sheared), or irregular. Trees to 12m; trunk to 0.6m diam., straight to crooked, erect to leaning, poorly self-pruning; crown irregularly rounded or flattened.
Bark

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

red- to gray-brown, irregularly checked into scaly plates.

Branches

contorted, pendent;

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

horizontally spreading;

twigs slender, orange- to yellow-brown, aging darker brown, rough.

Buds

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

ovoid to cylindric, red-brown, 0.6–0.9cm, 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(–3) per fascicle, spreading or ascending, persisting 3 years, 3–6(–8)cm × 1–1.5mm, twisted, deep yellow-green, all surfaces with fine stomatal lines, margins harshly serrulate, apex acute to short-acuminate;

sheath 0.5–1cm, base persistent.

Pollen cones

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

ellipsoid, ca. 15mm, yellow.

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, variably serotinous, mostly whorled, downcurved, asymmetric, ovoid before opening, broadly ovoid when open, (4–)6–10cm, gray- to pale red-brown, nearly sessile or on stalks to 1cm;

apophyses thickened, diamond-shaped, strongly keeled, elongate, mammillate at cone base abaxially;

umbo central, a stout, curved, sharp claw.

2n

=24.

Pinus longaeva

Pinus pungens

Habitat Subalpine and alpine Dry, mostly sandy or shaly uplands, Appalachians and associated Piedmont
Elevation 1700–3400m (5600–11200ft) 500–1350m (1600–4400ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV; UT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
DE; GA; MD; NC; NJ; PA; SC; TN; VA; WV
[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 pungens is a scrub pine and is too small and knotty to be much utilized except for pulpwood and firewood. Its common name refers to a general type of landform, not to a specific, named mountain.

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

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. contorta, 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. 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
Synonyms P. aristata var. longaeva
Name authority D. K. Bailey: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 57: 243. (1970) Lambert: Ann. Bot. (London) 2: 198. (1805)
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