Interesting pic; all the individuals I've seen of this plant, including ours, are pyramidal. I will try to include an image later. I think the name has now changed to Pinus longaeva 'Sherwood Compact'.
I don't own a single "Bristlecone Pine" so I don't know if it's Pinus aristata or Pinus longaeva. If the needles have resin 'dots' dappled all over each needle, then it's Pinus aristata. This is a small specimen so it will become pyramidal with age. Also the needles of Pinus aristata have one resin canal whereas Pinus longaeva have two. Dax
now when you guys say 'young' do you mean about 5-10 years? because these are supposed to be notoriously slow growers, i have about 7 just sprouted and want to enter them into a paladarium that i am about to make, potted individually because they will be able to be left alone pretty much, and recieve their own care pretty much carefree by myself.
Just counting the needle whorls of previous growth, it seems the plant to be approximately 10 or 11 years old. Dax
If these are seedlings, then they're just general Pinus aristata, not the cultivar 'Sherwood Compact'.
so i shouldn't expect them to have a similar look to the original post? I should expect more of what the second pictured one is, more conical? Is there anyway that i could get it to not go with such a conventional look, like topping it off at some point, or would it even be years before it starts to look conical, i want to try and place a few in a paludarium where they will recieve their own moisture and potting, but grow with a somewhat wierd look.
This is an even slower-growing compact and dense form of an already slow-growing species, said to grow less than an inch a year; extremely slow growth and density makes it an ideal specimen for my island hopping style of conifer gardening. Dave
