Plants
There are 11 species of conifer trees and over 800 species of plants in Great Basin National Park and the neighboring valleys.
The area around the Visitor Center is dominated by plants such as sagebrush, saltbush, Single-leaf Pinyon, and Utah Juniper. Higher elevations are home to mountain meadows, White Fir, Quaking Aspen, Englemann Spruce, and large Ponderosa Pine. At treeline is an alpine area of low, delicate plants and rocky outcroppings.
The oldest non-clonal organism ever discovered, a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine tree at least 5000 years old, grew at the treeline near Wheeler Peak in the National Park. It was cut down in 1964 by a graduate student and U.S. Forest Service personnel for research purposes. It was given the nickname Prometheus, after the mythological figure who stole fire from the gods and gave it to man.
Read more about this topic: Great Basin National Park
Famous quotes containing the word plants:
“All plants move, but they don’t usually pull themselves out of the ground and chase you.”
—Philip Yordan (b. 1913)
“When the
Marne flowed by the plants nodded
And above the glistering Gila
A sunset as beautiful as the Athabasca
Stammered. The Zambezi chimed. The Oxus
Flowed somewhere.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“Probably if our lives were more conformed to nature, we should not need to defend ourselves against her heats and colds, but find her our constant nurse and friend, as do plants and quadrupeds.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)