lotsofcatsandcheapwine:

lotsofcatsandcheapwine:

Ok, yes, fuck I am here for this, but I’m gonna need, like 4 business days to gather resources and photos. 

HOWDE HO I HAVE RETURNED FOR SOME TREE FACTS. 

So, bristle cone pines are these old-as-shit trees that grow above the treeline, primarily in the American. “But, Friend, how can it grow…above..the..treeline. Isn’t that, like, how you define a treeline.” 

Good point. Valid. But these trees are, like, kinda bad at being trees. or very very good at being trees. It’s a glass half full kinda thing. 

Cause you see, these little shits are early successional trees. They come in after disturbances and take over where other things can’t. Bt they’re also real shit at competition. So as soon as something else comes in, they are right fucked and die off. 

BUT in the areas they don’t have competition, they can grow very, very slowly for a very long time. Like over 5,000 years long time. Especially at higher elevations, where it’s super cold and windy and the soils are terrible, they can retain this tiny, twisted growth form to put up with it. This thing can grow for almost half a decade and grow less than 6 inches. It can hold onto a leaf for 40 YEARS and still have it be functional.

In short, bristlecones are the survivalists of the plant world, and they will outlive literally all of us.