“A great Shadow has departed,“ said Gandalf, and then he laughed and the sound was like music, or like water in a parched land.”

DERRY GIRLS (2018- ) Season 1 | Episode 5

Christine Chapel’s hair and make-up in Plato’s Stepchildren

The term bristlecone pine covers three species of pine tree that grow in scattered subalpine groves at high altitude in arid regions of the Western United States. 

All three species are long-lived and highly resilient to harsh weather and bad soils. One of the three species, Pinus longaeva, is among the longest-lived life forms on Earth. The oldest Pinus longaeva is more than 5,000 years old, making it the oldest known individual of any species. Unfortunately, after the death of bristlecone pine expert, Tom Harlan, who discovered the tree, the location and identity of it were unable to be found.

Methuselah is a 4,851-year-old Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) tree growing high in the White Mountains of Inyo County in eastern California. It is recognized as the tree with the greatest confirmed age in the world.

(Photos by Rick Goldwaser, Chao Yen, Chao Yen, David Wood, Juvian Duff, and Jeff Sullivan)

‘That is a chapter of ancient history which it might be good to recall; for there was sorrow then too, and gathering dark, but great valour, and great deeds that were not wholly vain.’