Great Basin Bristlecone Pine

The oldest known, non-clonal tree in the world is a Great Basin bristlecone pine in the White Mountains of California. As of December 2020, it was 5,065 years. Despite that, there are likely older bristlecones that have not yet been discovered or dated.

Bristlecone pines get their name from the bristles that extend off their mature pine cones.

The Great Basin bristlecone pine and singleleaf pinyon are the two state trees of Nevada.

Bristlecone pines are found at high elevations in the Great Basin and are subject to harsh winds, poor soil, and limited rainfall. These harsh conditions, however, may be the secret to the trees' longevity. Their trunks grow slowly, so the wood is extremely dense and thus more resistant to insect, fungal, and bacterial infections.

Since bristlecones are some of the oldest trees, they are very important in studying the changing climate in the past. Researchers can look at the different sizes of the tree’s growth rings to correlate what the growing conditions were like in that given year.