Baikushev's pine, Ancient coniferous tree in Pirin Mountains, Bulgaria.
Baikushev's pine is a Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii) standing at 1,930 m in the Pirin Mountains near Bansko, Bulgaria. It measures 26 m tall with a trunk diameter of 2.48 m and a circumference of 7.80 m. The tree grows beside the path from Bansko to the Vihren refuge, close to the Banderitsa refuge.
Forester Kostadin Baikushev identified and described this Bosnian pine in 1897, and the tree bears his name. It stands at 1,930 m in the Pirin Mountains near the Banderitsa refuge, beside the road from Bansko to the Vihren refuge. Its age is estimated at over 1,300 years, making it the oldest conifer in Bulgaria.
The tree is named after Kostadin Baikushev, the forest ranger who found and described it in 1897. It is a Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii), known in Bulgarian as mura, and stands beside the path from Bansko to the Vihren refuge, where walkers stop to look at its thick trunk.
The tree stands beside the road from Bansko to the Vihren refuge, close to the Banderitsa refuge, at 1930 m above sea level. The approach is on foot along the marked trail; snow and ice can make it harder in winter.
The tree's age of about 1,300 years makes it roughly contemporary with Khan Asparukh, who founded the First Bulgarian Empire in 681. Its trunk measures 7.8 m in circumference, and the tree is named after forest ranger Kostadin Baikushev, who described it in 1897.
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