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jtroth  > Nature > The Oldest Trees
Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains of California.
http://suisekiart.com/2008/07/27/the-oldest-trees-on-earth/
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jtroth > Bristlecone Pine: Patriarch Grove, Inyo National Forest, California

The live and dead veins paint a beautiful pattern in this trunk
jtroth > Bristlecone Pine: Patriarch Grove, Inyo National Forest, California

A small flowering plant grows near this bristlecone, like an accent plant enhancing a bonsai.
jtroth > Bristlecone Pine; White Mountains, Schulman Grove, Inyo National Forest, California

The bristlecones grow proudly upright in a place where most plants hug the ground to escape the wind and cold.
jtroth > Ancient Bristlecone Forest; White Mountains, Inyo National Forest, California

The bristlecone pines are able to tolerate the highly alkaline dolomite limestone that gives the White Mountains their name.  Only a few alpine flowers can tolerate this environment - even the sagebrush won't grow here - so the bristlecones have little competition for resources.
jtroth > Dead bristlecone Pines; about 12,000 feet, White Mountains, Inyo National Forest, California

These trees died thousands of years ago.  When the climate was warmer, the trees grew higher on the mountain, and then died as the climate cooled.  Due to the warming of recent decades, young bristlecones are again climbing higher towards the mountain tops.
jtroth > close up of a dead Bristlecone Pine, White Mountains, Schulman Grove, Inyo National Forest, California

The bristlecones grow very slowly, adding about 1 inch in diameter every 100 years.  This dense wood, which is full of pitch, is very resistant to decay and can last for thousands of years.
jtroth > White Mountain Road, Inyo National Forest, California

You can clearly see the limestone dolomite outcrops - the sagebrush stops and the bristlecone pines take over.
jtroth > View of the Palisade glaciers in the eastern Sierra Nevada from the White Mountains.
jtroth > view of the eastern Sierra Nevada from the White Mountains, California
Bristlecone Pine: Patriarch Grove, Inyo National Forest, California

The live and dead veins paint a beautiful pattern in this trunk
 > Bristlecone Pine: Patriarch Grove, Inyo National Forest, California

The live and dead veins paint a beautiful pattern in this trunk
Bristlecone Pine: Patriarch Grove, Inyo National Forest, California

The live and dead veins paint a beautiful pattern in this trunk
Camera: Canon (Canon Eos Digital Rebel Xsi) |
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Keywords: white mountains old tree bristlecone pine inyo national forest
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