Image Catalogue number
950075T

Early morning in the Patriarch Grove

Bristlecone pine trees at eleven thousand feet in the White Mountains. This is a harsh climate with poor soil and a very short growing season. The pines only grow a small amount each year. A three foot (one meter) tree could well be seventy or eighty years old. Bristlecone pines are the longest living species on Earth. Some of the groves have living trees that are well over 2000 years old. The oldest known living Bristlecone tree is over 4000 years old.

White Mountains, California