Cupressus macnabiana
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Cupressus macnabiana A.Murray |
Cupressus macnabiana (McNab Cypress or Shasta Cypress) is a species of cypress endemic to northern California. It is one of the most widely distributed of all the native California cypresses, found growing in chaparral, oak woodlands and coniferous woodlands along the innner northern Coast Ranges and the foothills of the northern Sierra Nevada.
It is an evergreen shrub or small tree, 3-12 m (rarely to 17 m) tall, with a spreading crown that is often broader than it is tall. The foliage is produced in dense, short flat sprays (unlike most other California cypresses, which do not have flattened sprays), bright glaucous gray-green in color, with a strong spicy-resinous scent. The leaves are scale-like, 1-2 mm long with an acute apex, and a conspicuous white resin gland on the center of the leaf. Young seedlings produce needle-like leaves up to 10 mm long in their first year.
The seed cones are oblong-ovoid to cuboid, 15-25 mm long and 13-20 mm broad, with six (rarely four or eight) scales, each scale bearing a prominent umbo; they are strongly serotinous, not opening to release the seeds until the parent tree is killed by wildfire. This enables heavy seed release to colonize the bare, fire-cleared ground. The pollen cones are 3-4 mm long, and release their pollen in the fall.
[edit] References
- Conifer Specialist Group (1998). Cupressus macnabiana. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 December 2006.
- Farjon, A. (2005). A Monograph of Cupressaceae and Sciadopityaceae. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ISBN 1-84246-068-4.
- Stuart, J. D.; J. O. Sawyer (2001). Trees and Shrubs of California. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22110-9.
- Wolf, C. B. & Wagener, W. E. (1948). The New World cypresses. El Aliso 1: 195-205.
- Gymnosperm Database: Cupressus macnabiana
- Flora of North America: Cupressus macnabiana
- Jepson Flora Project: Cupressus macnabiana
