Great Basin Bristlecone Pine Tree Seeds | Ancient Bristlecone Pine | (Pinus longaeva)

The oldest living thing on Earth. Grown from a seed the size of a grain of rice.

Pinus longaeva, the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine, is the oldest living non-clonal organism on the planet. Methuselah, a Bristlecone Pine growing in the White Mountains of California, has been alive for over 5,000 years. It was already ancient when the pyramids of Egypt were being built. It survived the Bronze Age, the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, and every human civilization that has risen and fallen in the 5,000 years since it germinated. And it started as a seed smaller than a grain of rice. The Great Basin Bristlecone Pine grows in the most extreme conditions available to any tree, at elevations above 10,000 feet, on alkaline dolomite soils with almost no available nutrients, in climates of intense cold, drought, and wind. The tree that grows slowest in the harshest conditions lives longest. If you are looking to buy Bristlecone Pine seeds or grow the world's oldest tree species from seed, this is the beginning of something measured in millennia.

• The oldest living non-clonal organism on Earth, with documented specimens over 5,000 years old
• Grows in extreme high-altitude conditions on alkaline soils where virtually nothing else survives
• Extraordinarily slow-growing, adding less than an inch of trunk diameter per century in native conditions
• Dense, resinous wood so saturated with pitch it resists decay for thousands of years after death
• One of the most unique and collectible specimen conifers available to the serious grower

Things you probably did not know about the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine

The oldest known Bristlecone was accidentally killed by the scientist studying it. In 1964, a geography graduate student named Donald Currey was coring a Bristlecone Pine in Nevada to determine its age. His core bit became stuck and he was given permission to cut the tree down to retrieve it. When the rings were counted, the tree was found to be 4,862 years old, the oldest living organism ever documented at that time. The tree was named Prometheus and its discovery was a landmark moment in dendrochronology. It is still the oldest tree ever verified, and it no longer exists.

Dead wood persists for 10,000 years in the alpine environment. The resin-saturated heartwood of Great Basin Bristlecone Pine is so resistant to decay that fallen logs and stumps remain structurally sound on the ground for thousands of years. Dendrochronologists have assembled tree ring records extending back over 10,000 years by cross-referencing rings from living trees, recently dead trees, and preserved ancient wood, creating one of the most detailed and continuous climate records available from any natural source.

The trees grow faster when stressed. Counterintuitively, Bristlecone Pines that grow in the harshest, most nutrient-poor conditions on the rockiest, most exposed sites tend to live longer than those in relatively favorable conditions. Trees in better soils grow faster, complete their life cycle sooner, and die younger. The harsh site strips out everything except the most stress-tolerant individuals and the slowest possible growth rate, which appears to be the key to extraordinary longevity.

The bristle in the name refers to the cone scales. Each scale of a Bristlecone Pine cone ends in a slender, flexible, inch-long bristle that gives the species its common name. The bristles are a minor irritant to handle and make the cones immediately distinctive compared to any other pine. The seeds inside are small and light with a single wing adapted for wind dispersal.

Growing Details

• Botanical Name: Pinus longaeva
• Stratification: Required, 30 to 60 days cold stratification
• USDA Zones: 4 to 8
• Soil: Well-drained, rocky, tolerates alkaline and nutrient-poor conditions, requires excellent drainage
• Light: Full sun
• Height: 5 to 30 feet in cultivation, highly variable depending on conditions
• Spread: 8 to 20 feet
• Growth Rate: Very slow, 6 inches or less per year, faster in ideal lowland garden conditions than native high-altitude habitat

Plant it and mark the date clearly. The tree you start today will still be growing when everything written around it has been forgotten.