Editing Pinus longaeva (section)

==Age==
[[File:BristleConeBranch.jpg|thumb|Needles and cones, [[Snake Range]], Nevada]]
A specimen located in the [[White Mountains (California)|White Mountains of California]] was measured by Tom Harlan, a researcher with the [[Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research]], to be 5,062 years old as of 2010.<ref name=oldest/> This would make it the [[oldest tree|oldest known]] non-clonal tree in the world. The identity of the specimen was kept secret by Harlan.<ref name="collweekly">{{cite web|author=Oatman-Stanford, Hunter|title=Read My Rings: The Oldest Living Tree Tells All|url=http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/oldest-living-tree-tells-all/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729183229/http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/oldest-living-tree-tells-all/|archive-date=2014-07-29|access-date=2014-07-27|publisher=Collectors Weekly}}</ref> Harlan passed away in 2013, and neither the tree nor the core Harlan studied have been found, making the age or existence of this tree unable to be confirmed.<ref>{{Cite web|title=RMTRR OLDLIST|url=http://www.rmtrr.org/oldlist.htm|access-date=2020-08-22|website=www.rmtrr.org}}</ref>

The confirmed oldest tree of this species, "[[Methuselah (pine tree)|Methuselah]]", is also located in the [[Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest]] of the [[White Mountains (California)|White Mountains]]. Methuselah is {{age|-2832|8|5|format=commas}} years old, as measured by annual ring count on a small core taken with an [[increment borer]].

Among the White Mountain specimens, the oldest trees are found on north-facing slopes, with an average of 2,000 years, as compared to the 1,000 year average on the southern slopes. The climate and the durability of their wood can preserve them long after death, with dead trees as old as 7,000 years persisting next to live ones.<ref name="lp37">{{cite book|title=Ancient Trees: Trees that Live for a Thousand Years|last=Lewington|first=A|author2=Parker E |year=1999|publisher=Collins & Brown Ltd.|location=London|isbn=1-85585-704-9|page=37}}</ref>