Twister (limber pine)

Twister is the name given to an ancient Limber pine by Bryan Tikalsky, a graduate student from Brigham Young University and his graduate advisor, Matthew F. Bekker. Twister, located in Utah, near Alta, first sprouted some time before 309 AD, which makes this tree at least 1699 years old as of 2008. Because the wood at the center of the tree had rotted, it could not be analyzed. Therefore, the exact age could not be determined. Had all of the wood been intact, it very likely would have revealed the tree to be greater than 2,000 years old. The name is based on the tree's twisted appearance. Tikalsky and Bekker derived a stream-flow reconstruction for the Jordan River Drainage Basin from Twister and many of its neighboring trees.

References

• BYU Magazine, Spring 2007