Bristlecone Pine

(Pinus aristata)

Color Photograph: U.S. Forest Service

Color Photograph: © Nearctica.com, Inc.

Bristlecone Pine (Pinus aristata)

Identifying Characters: The long, hooked spines on the cone scales is distinctive for this species and Intermountain Bristlecone Pine. The two species have non-overlapping ranges.

Similar Species: Closely related to Intermountian Bristlecone Pine. However the ranges of the two species do not overlap. Bristlecone Pine is restricted to central Arizona, northern New Mexico, and northern Arizona. Intermountain Bristlecone Pine occurs in central-eastern California, Nevada, and Utah. The cones of Bristlecone pines are more elongate than those of Intermountain Bristlecone Pine and not as rounded at the base.

Measurements: Height 20-40 feet and diameter 1 to 3 feet.

Cones: Cones 3 to 3.5 inches long, cylindrical, tapered toward the apex; cone scales with a very long, apical, hooked spine; cones dark purple-brown when mature, taking two years to mature.

Needles: Needles in bundles of five with the sheath deciduous after the first year; needles 0.75 to 1.5 inches long, dark green, and with white lines on the ventral surfaces; needles crowded into a dense mass against the twig.

Bark: White-gray in young trees, becoming red-brown and furrowed into irregular, scaly ridges in older trees.

Native Range: Bristlecone Pine is restricted to the high mountains of central Colorado and northern New Mexico. There is also a population near timberline in the San Francisco Peaks of northern Arizona.

Habitat: This species occurs at high elevations on dry, rocky slopes and ridges near timberline.

NOTES: This species is very closely related to Intermountain Bristlecone Pine. Some botanists treat these two species as populations of a single species, Pinus aristata.