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Pinus aristata

Pinus aristata, the Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine or Colorado bristlecone pine is a long-lived species of bristlecone pine tree native to the United States. It is found in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and northern New Mexico, with an isolated population in the San Francisco Peaks of Arizona. It is found at very high altitudes, from 2,100 to 4,000 meters (6,900 to 13,100 ft) in cold, dry subalpine climate conditions, often at the tree line, although it also forms extensive closed-canopy stands at somewhat lower elevations.

Description

Pinus aristata is a medium-size tree, commonly reaching 15 meters (49 ft) in height and occasionally as much as 20 m (66 ft) in their natural habitat. In favorable conditions they are straight and upright trees, but they become increasingly stunted, short, and twisted the closer they grow to timberline.[4] The crown of the tree is flattened, irregular, or round in shape when fully mature.[5] The trunk can be very substantial, commonly 75 cm (2 ft) and up to 1 m (3.3 ft) in diameter, and tapers very noticeably towards the top.[4][5] The bark is fairly smooth and white-gray on young trees, but becomes dark and cracked with a scaly texture on old trees.[4][6] The color of older bark varies from red-brown to gray.[5]

On older trees the branches are crooked and twisting and may be partially dead.[6] Twigs begin as red-brown, but become gray with age.[5] Twigs and very young branches are covered in needles that last for 10 to 17 years, giving them a shaggy bottle brush appearance.[6][4] The needle like leaves are bundles of five and are 2–4 centimeters long, but usually longer than 3 cm.[5] The fascicle, the base that holds the needles together, breaks down more quickly in Pinus aristata than in Pinus longaeva, giving a more even appearance to its branches. The resin canals in the needles are closer to the surface and not as sturdy, explaining the noticeable white flecks of resin. The botanist Dana K. Bailey described the needles covered in resin as appearing "dandruffy".[7] Between the white specks the needles are dark green in color. The buds are egg shaped with a long tapering point (acuminate), about 1 cm in size.[5]

The pollen cone is approximately 1 cm in length and may be blueish to red colored.[5] Seed cones are dark purple when immature and turn brown as they ripen. At full size they are 6–11 centimeters in length.[4] A seed cone takes two years to fully ripen. Each scale of the cone is tipped with a thin, brittle pickle 4–10 millimeters long. They fall from the tree soon after releasing their seeds. Pinus aristata has seeds that are gray-brown to nearly black in color and 5–6 mm long.[5]

Longevity

Though they do not obtain the extreme age of the Great Basin bristlecone pines, Colorado bristlecones still reach quite advanced ages. There are 13 trees that are known to be older than 1600 years by reliable dating, including one on Mount Goliath dated to the year 403. Four of these trees exceed 2100 years of age and one is 2465 years old (see Notable trees). Based on size and appearance scientists estimate there are 30 more trees older than 1600 years that have not yet had core samples taken.[8] The botanist Aljos Farjon thinks that there may be trees that are older 3000 years of age that have yet to be scientifically scrutinized.[6] At lower elevations in montane habitats where they grow with grasses, ages generally do not exceed 300 years.[9]

Taxonomy

Pinus aristata was scientifically described in 1862 by George Engelmann with its present scientific name.[3] The botanical samples used to describe and name the species were collected in 1861 by Charles Christopher Parry, however the earliest known scientific collection was by Frederick Creuzefeldt in 1853.[7] In 1878 Englemann worked on a reclassification of the taxon as a variety of Pinus balfouriana and in 1880 as a subspecies. It is listed as an accepted species with no subspecies by Plants of the World Online,[3] World Flora Online,[10] and World Plants.[11] Prior to work by Dana K. Bailey published in 1971, Pinus longaeva trees growing in California, Nevada, and Utah were not identified as a separate species or subspecies.[12][13]

Names

The species name aristata means "bristle" in botanical Latin, a reference to the long points on the ends of the scales of its cones.[7] As the first bristlecone identified, Pinus aristata is still occasionally referred to simply as bristlecone pine,[14] however Pinus longaeva is also sometimes called bristlecone pine in English.[15] To distinguish it from its relative the name Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine has been used since at least 1971 and the similar Colorado bristlecone has been in use since at least 1976.[16][17] The common name hickory pine is used, most often in Colorado, due to the hardness and density of the wood being like that of a hickory.[7] It is additionally known as foxtail pine and wind timber,[15] but the first of these names is more often applied to Pinus balfouriana.[18]

Range and habitat

The Colorado bristlecone grows in three western US states, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.[19]The Rocky Mountain bristle cone reaches its northern limit at approximately 40 degrees north latitude.[20] They are widely distributed in the southern Rocky Mountains, but are limited to small areas within its range.[21] The elevation range where it grows is widest, from 2,100 to 4,000 meters (6,900 to 13,100 ft), in the state of Colorado. The Arizona population is only found above 2900 m and only as high as 3700 m. In New Mexico the trees start at a similarly high elevation of 3000  and have the same maximum as in Arizona.[22]

Rocky Mountain bristle cone will grow in krummholz habitat at the edge of the arctic tundra, where it has the typical dwarfed and gnarled growth of these "crooked woods".[23] Its habitat extends downward into the subalpine forests and even lower in the driest parts of the middle elevations.[24]

Notable trees

The oldest tree in Colorado is a Rocky Mountain bristlecone that was dated by F. Craig Brunstein and David Yamaguchi to 442 BCE.[25] Designated in the 1992 paper as CB-90-11, it grows on Black Mountain in the Pike National Forest west of Pike's Peak. At the time core samples were taken by researchers the trees showed many signs of old age including dead wood that had been sculpted by wind erosion, crowns that had died back, only strips of living bark, and a radius greater than 40 centimeters (1.3 ft). Three other trees in the same area were dated to earlier than 100 BCE.[8]

Uses

Formerly it was used for fuel and as support timbers in mines.[15]

Cultivation

Rocky Mountain bristlecone is by far the most common of the bristlecone pines in cultivation, where it is a very attractive slow-growing small tree suitable for small gardens in cold climates. In gardens it will range from 2–6 meters (8–20 ft) high and 3–4.5 m (10–15 ft) wide.[26] It is never as long-lived as in the wild, typically living less than 100 years before it succumbs to root decay in the warmer, moister conditions prevalent in most inhabited places.

References

  1. ^ Mahalovich, M.; Farjon, A. (2013). "Pinus aristata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013: e.T34057A2841717. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T34057A2841717.en. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  2. ^ NatureServe (2024). "Pinus aristata". Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  3. ^ a b c "Pinus aristata Engelm". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e Heil, Kenneth D.; O'Kane, Jr., Steve L.; Reeves, Linda Mary; Clifford, Arnold (2013). Flora of the Four Corners Region : Vascular Plants of the San Juan River Drainage, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. St. Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. pp. 89–90. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Kral, Robert (5 November 2020). "Pinus aristata - FNA". Flora of North America. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d Farjon, Aljos (2005). Pines : Drawings and Descriptions of the Genus Pinus (Second ed.). Leiden ; Boston: Brill. p. 23, 37, 121. ISBN 978-90-04-13916-9. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d Cohen, Michael P. (1998). A Garden of Bristlecones : Tales of Change in the Great Basin. Reno, Nevada: University of Nevada Press. pp. 5–6, 16–17, 22, 175. ISBN 978-0-87417-296-6. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  8. ^ a b Brunstein, F. Craig; Yamaguchi, David K. (1992). "The Oldest Known Rocky Mountain Bristlecone Pines (Pinus aristata Engelm.)". Arctic and Alpine Research. 24 (3): 253–256. doi:10.2307/1551666. ISSN 0004-0851. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  9. ^ Fryer, Janet L. (2004). "Pinus aristata". Fire Effects Information System. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  10. ^ "Pinus aristata Engelm". World Flora Online. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  11. ^ Michael, Hassler (18 July 2024). "Synonymic Checklist and Distribution of the World Flora. Version 24.7". World Plants. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  12. ^ "Pinus longaeva D.K.Bailey". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  13. ^ Peterson, Russell Francis (2004). The Pine Tree Book (Second ed.). New York: Central Park Conservancy. pp. 75–76. ISBN 978-0-9604540-0-6. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  14. ^ Barnard, Loretta; Doggett, Dannielle; Doig, Fiona; Etherington, Kate, eds. (2003). Flora's Plant Names. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. pp. 52–53. ISBN 978-0-88192-605-7.
  15. ^ a b c Grandtner, Miroslav M. (2005). Elsevier's Dictionary of Trees. Vol. 1: North America. Amsterdam: Elsevier. pp. 642, 650. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  16. ^ Gates, David M. (1971). "An Amateur Botanist's Great Discovery: Dana K. Bailey and Pinus longaeva". Missouri Botanical Garden bulletin. 59 (39–48). St. Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  17. ^ Mirov, Nicholas Tiho; Hasbrouck, Jean (1976). The Story of Pines. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-253-35462-4. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  18. ^ Schlenz, Mark A. (2008). A Day in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. Bishop, California: Companion Press. pp. 8, 53. ISBN 978-0-944197-85-1. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  19. ^ Pinus aristata, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Profile, 22 July 2024
  20. ^ Benedict, Audrey D. (1991). A Sierra Club Naturalist's Guide to the Southern Rockies : the Rocky Mountain Regions of Southern Wyoming, Colorado, and Northern New Mexico. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. pp. 443–459. ISBN 978-0-87156-741-3. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  21. ^ Elmore, Francis Hapgood (1976). Shrubs and Trees of the Southwest Uplands. Globe, Arizona: Southwest Parks and Monuments Association. pp. 5, 173, 178, 180, 187. ISBN 978-0-911408-41-6. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  22. ^ "Distribution". High Elevation White Pines. United States Department of Agriculture, US Forest Service. Archived from the original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  23. ^ Carter, Jack L.; Carter, Martha A.; Stevens, Donna J. (2003). Common Southwestern Native Plants : An Identification Guide. Silver City, New Mexico: Mimbres Publishing. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-9619945-1-8. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  24. ^ Arno, Stephen F. (1984). Timberline : Mountain and Arctic Forest Frontiers. Seattle, Washington: The Mountaineers. pp. 176, 185. ISBN 978-0-89886-085-6.
  25. ^ Fiester, Roberta (1993). Brunstein, F. Craig (ed.). A Strew of Wonder : The Story of the Bristlecone Pine at Windy Ridge, Colorado. Dillon, Colorado: Summit Historical Society. pp. 2–3.
  26. ^ "Pinus aristata (Bristlecone Pine, Colorado Bristlecone Pine, Hickory Pine, Rocky Mountain Bristlecone Pine)". North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox. North Carolina State University. Retrieved 21 July 2024.

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