Bristlecones

Mere Size Does Not Mean Age

During a forest sampling survey in the southern Andes some years ago, I made an effort to find the oldest Fitzroya, locally called "alerce," a wet-forest tree very similar to our coast redwood. Some of ther alerce we sampled were found to be in the 2,000-year class--a respectable age, certainly, but only about half the reputed maximum.

One is tempted to suggest a general rule: if a very large tree, anywhere in the world, grows in a flattish area and its roots tap very moist soil most of the time, then it probably does not have the age to which its size seems to entitle it.

It appears that there exist throughout the world two general categories of very old trees. One consists of the giants favored by plenty of water. In the other are battered dwarfs managing to eke out a minimum living in a very adverse environment. And the oldest dwarfs outlive the oldest giants, at least today in the American West.

Can the bristlecone pines tell us something about the causes of great longevity in trees? We do not yet know, but there are promising leads.

In an open grove of old bristlecone pines many of the trees are full of heart rot and some are only shells. But here and there is one that is almost or entirely sound, and it is older than the others. Alwyas this sound tree is extremely resinous. Perhaps the chemistry of the resin in the oldest individuals is different from that in the average bristlecone. Or it may be merely the especailly heavy concentration of resin that has enabled the tree to ward off decay.

In the oldest bristelcones, growth had been exceedingly slow almost from the very first year, in contrast to larger but younger pines, which slow fairly fast growth in the early decades of life. Does this indicate anything more than the fact that the oldest pines are found only on the most difficult sites?

Some of the old trees have been adding only an inch or less of rings per century throughout their long lives. There is something a little fantastic in the persistent ability of a 4,000-year-old tree to shut up shop almost everywhere throughtout its stem in a very dry year, and faithfully to reawaken to add many new cells in a favorable year.

Maybe we cannot hope to find bristlecone pine trees very much older than those we have found already, for the days of the oldest studied are obviously numbered. But when research has been carried far enough in these Methuselah pines, perhaps their misshapen and battered stems will give us answers of great beauty.

Written By: Dr. Edmund Shulman
Dendrochronologist, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research
Associate Professor of Dendrochronology, University of Arizona, Tucson

Information received from: USDA Forest Service, Inyo National Forest

Edmund Shulman (1908 - 1958) first ventured into the Bristlecone Pine Forest in 1953 at the urging of the Forest Service District Ranger Al Noren, who had heard of Schulman's search for old trees. Dr. Shulman was attempting to extend his continuous tree-ring chronolgy when he sampled some of the trees in what is now called Schulman Grove. His discovery of living 4,000 year-old trees and eventual discovery of the oldest living tree in the world was his reward for years of persistent research.

Dr. Shulman lived to be only 49 years old, but his contribution to the science of dendrochronology and our knowledge of the natural history of the ancient bristlecone trees remains highly significant. In 1959, this area of the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest was named Schulman Grove, in his honor. The text in this handout was written by Dr. Shulman before his death as the basis for a landmark article on the bristlecone pines published in National Geographic, March 1958. It has been edited for brevity.

While we were up in the Bristlecones, the deputy ranger that was on post at the visitors center, told us that it is now believed that the Great-granddad Pickaback Bristlecone tree is 40,000 plus years old! Of course, we could not obtain or verify this informatin anywhere that we have looked, but who knows???

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