Bristlecone Pine Forest

Annual precipitation:

20-40in

USDA Zone :1

A little sand on a mountain of dolomitic lime and you have Bristle cone Pines. pH 6-7, areas of lower pH are where the pines move over granite.

An island in the middle of the desert, this Bristlecone Pine Forest plant community is so beautiful in its two months of glory. The rest of the year it is not friendly. The pH is slightly alkaline to slightly aciditic, rainfall is low (15 inches,), and the dolomitic soils never really get wet except maybe one week in late spring. Humidity is always low, and the lowest temperature recorded was -50F. Snow pack is not reliable and usually light. On north slopes the trees grow on granitic soils and sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) becomes dominant. Patchy is a good description of the area and the plant community, with a few spots of riparian plants, open meadows (the edges are where many of the perennials occur), and with fingers of sagebrush extending into the areas between the widely spaced pines. This is a really nasty place to get caught in with limited shelter in winter.

A few plants that grow here are Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva), sagebrush (Artemisia arbuscula and Artemisia nova), Sierra Penstemon (Penstemon heterodoxus), and Mountain Mint (Monardella odoratissima).

(I've looked everywhere for the pictures of this community, can't find them, so you'll have to wait until I get back up there again.)

To open the list of the plants that are in the trade and live in a Bristlecone Pine Forest click here.