A native we do not grow
Great Basin Bristlecone Pine
Pinus longaeva. Medium tree, 30 feet where planted, zones 4 to 8; full sun or part shade; dry or average ground.
We do not grow Great Basin bristlecone pine, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.
At a glance
| Other names | Intermountain bristlecone pine, western bristlecone pine, bristlecone pine |
|---|---|
| Form | Medium tree |
| Height, feet | 30 where planted; up to 60 in its native stands |
| Spread, feet | Up to 15 |
| Zones | 4 to 8 |
| Sun | Full sun or part shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry or average ground |
| Growth | Slow |
| Leaves | Evergreen |
| Traits | Wildlife value |
| Pollen | July to August |
| Fruit | Cones, September to October |
| First crop | 20 years |
| Pollination | One bears; a second improves the crop. Each tree carries both male and female cones and the wind carries the pollen; the trees mostly cross with their neighbors, and pines standing alone tend to set less seed. |
| Lifespan | The oldest tree dated by its rings reached 4,900 years. Only a tiny share of trees has ever been ring-counted or cross-dated. |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Dry uplands and rocky ground |
| Native in | 3 states |
Great Basin bristlecone pine is native in 3 states: California, Nevada and Utah. The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from the Fire Effects Information System and the National Park Service.
What our tools say
How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil How far from a house, wires and a septic field What grows with it in the wild and in a yard When to plant it where you live When it sheds pollen and bears cones, month by month How to sow its seed, with dates for your place How many to plant for a crop of seed Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes How old one is, from its trunk How a big one scores against the champion trees
For the same ground, we grow
These trees we grow share the most of Great Basin bristlecone pine's natural communities in the wild, by the companion species tool's rules.
Common Hoptree (Wafer Ash)
Ptelea trifoliata Small tree Zones 4–9 10–20 ft
Shares rocky ground in the wild.
Read from
Its figures come from the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the Gymnosperm Database, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, the USDA PLANTS Database, Cal Poly's SelecTree, Calscape, the Wildflower Center, the National Park Service and Rocky Mountain Tree-Ring Research.