General: Great Basin Bristlecone Pines (Pinus longaeva) are coniferous (cone-bearing) trees with short, dark green, roundish needles set in bundles of five. The needle-bundles are crowded onto the ends of twigs, and the bundles radiate in all directions from the twigs, giving the branch a "bottle-brush" appearance. Cones are sappy, prickly, cylindrical, and about 4-inches long. Great Basin Bristlecone Pines are closely related to Foxtail Pines.

In Nevada, Great Basin Bristlecone Pine is the dominant component of the montane vegetation in the Spring and Sheep mountains in the Hudsonian (Bristlecone Forest) life zone. On Mt. Charleston, a popular 3-mile hike runs out to the Raintree, a 3000-year-old Bristlecone Pine.

For many more photos of bristlecone pine, see the North Loop Trail (Mt. Charleston) webpage.

Family: Pine (Pinaceae).

Other Names: Western Bristlecone Pine, Pinus aristata.

Plant Form: Tall straight tree in sheltered areas; short, twisted, and gnarled in more exposed locations.

Height: To 40 ft tall; strongly tapered upward.

Trunk: To 2.5-ft diameter.

Bark: Young trees: smooth and whitish. Mature trees: dark brown with a reddish tint, scaly, fissured (somewhat blocky).

Branches: Gracefully spreading or twisted and gnarled, depending on location. Some branches droop down.

Needles: Dark green, curved, 1/2- to 1-1/2 inch long; bundles of 5; crowded, forming bottlebrush-like branch ends.

Cones: Oblong, 2- to 5.5-inches long. Dark purple-brown when young, aging to brown, hanging, each scale tipped with a stiff, 1/4-inch long, incurved spine.

Seeds:

Habitat: Higher elevations in desert mountains.

Elevation: 7,200 to 11,500 feet.

Distribution: California to eastern Utah.

Comments: This is the common tree at high elevations in the Spring and Sheep Mountains.