Study
An ancient bristlecone pine stand in eastern Nevada
Currey, D. R.
Ecology, 1965
Bristlecone pines on Wheeler Peak in Nevada were sampled for ring counts. One tree, later known as Prometheus, was cut down during the work and its rings counted on the stump.
- Studied in
- Pinus longaeva
- Sample size
- trees sampled in one high-altitude stand
The felled tree carried well over 4,000 countable rings, making it the oldest individually dated tree then known.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
The stand contains exceptionally old individuals and offers an unusually long tree-ring record for the region.
How NatureHQ reads it
NatureHQ carries this record for the method and for the caution, not for a superlative. Ring counting gives an age with a real error attached — rings can be missing in poor years or doubled — so an age of this kind is a careful minimum rather than a birthday. The episode is also part of why oldest-tree records are now kept quiet and sampled with a corer instead of a saw. Whether this was the oldest tree in the stand is unknowable; it was the one that was cut.
- A ring count from one individual, with the usual uncertainty from missing and false rings at extreme age.
- Establishes the age of a single stem, not of a lineage, a clone or a population.
- The tree was destroyed, so the count cannot be independently re-examined on the living tree.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: Wiley journalsPublished in a Wiley journal.
This reference was resolved automatically against Crossref and OpenAlex on 2026-08-30.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-08-30.