Seed Grow Kit | Ancient Bristlecone Pine Tree Golden Gait Mercantile

The amazing Bristlecone Pine may well be the world’s most ancient living organism.

The oldest still-living specimen grows in the mountains of what is now Southeastern California, and is estimated to be more than 5,000 years old, predating Cheops?

Pyramid and the Great Sphinx of Gizeh by centuries. This truly ancient specimen which can still be seen today was already a thousand years old by the time Stonehenge was erected, and three millennia old by the birth of Christ.?Native to dry, mountainous regions in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, New Mexico, and the Rocky Mountains of Colorado,

Bristlecone Pine makes its home in an extremely hostile environment. Depending on growing conditions, mature Bristlecone Pines achieve heights of 20 to 50 feet and trunk diameters of 1 to 2-1/2 feet, and generally feature extremely dense, irregular crowns. Bristlecone Pines have lustrous, deep green needles, arranged in groups of five and often bespeckled with white droplets of resin. Long tufts of foliage cluster at the ends of the trees’ short stout branches.

Bristlecone Pine cones are dark chocolate to purple-brown in color, oval-shaped, and from 3 to 3-1/2 inches long.  each cone scale armed with the tree’s distinctive 3/4″ name-sake “bristle.” The astounding longevity and amazing hardiness of the Bristlecone Pine make it an attractive, slow-growing tree, perfect for ornamental planting in a diverse range of climates.

In cultivation, Bristlecones take on a form quite different from their wild subalpine brethren, bing symmetrical, even luxuriant trees, fully clothed in dense, very dark, shimmering needles. Pinus aristata is remarkably drought-resistant and has been planted successfully throughout the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere (including Iceland!). Its diminutive size and slow growth commend Bristlecone Pine as an excellent species for container-growing.

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