# Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva)

> Great Basin bristlecone pine, Pinus longaeva: its height and zones, how fast it grows, where it grows wild, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/great-basin-bristlecone-pine/

![An old Great Basin bristlecone pine with a stout, twisted trunk and a broad, gnarled crown on a grassy mountain slope](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/great-basin-bristlecone-pine-1000.jpg?v=cd8389f7 "A Great Basin bristlecone pine in the Inyo National Forest, California, on July 4, 2011. A tree cut on Wheeler Peak, Nevada, in 1964 had lived about 4,900 years.")
*Photo: Gus Tonsay, [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABristlecone_Pine_Forest.jpg))*

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

| Fact | Great Basin Bristlecone Pine |
| --- | --- |
| 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](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CA), [Nevada](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NV) and [Utah](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=UT). 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](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=great-basin-bristlecone-pine): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=great-basin-bristlecone-pine): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=great-basin-bristlecone-pine&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=great-basin-bristlecone-pine): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=great-basin-bristlecone-pine): the planting-window tool
- [When it sheds pollen and bears cones, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=great-basin-bristlecone-pine): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=great-basin-bristlecone-pine): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=great-basin-bristlecone-pine:2): the pollination planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=great-basin-bristlecone-pine): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=great-basin-bristlecone-pine): the tree age calculator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=great-basin-bristlecone-pine): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Chokecherry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/chokecherry/index.html.md) (*Prunus virginiana*): small tree, 20 to 30 feet, zones 2 to 10. Shares rocky ground in the wild.
- [Common Hoptree (Wafer Ash)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/common-hoptree/index.html.md) (*Ptelea trifoliata*): small tree, 10 to 20 feet, zones 4 to 9. Shares rocky ground in the wild.
- [More natives for this ground in the tree finder](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md?size=medium-tree&sun=full&moisture=average)
- [Every companion of Great Basin bristlecone pine in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=great-basin-bristlecone-pine)

## 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.