Cupressus lusitanica
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 Cupressus lusitanica var. lusitanica foliage and cones
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| Cupressus lusitanica Mill. |
Cupressus lusitanica is a species of cypress native to Mexico and Central America (Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, El Salvador), growing at 500-4000 m altitude.
It is an evergreen tree with a conic to ovoid-conic crown, growing to 40 m tall. The foliage grows in dense sprays, dark green to somewhat yellow-green in colour. The leaves are scale-like, 2-5 mm long, and produced on rounded (not flattened) shoots. The seed cones are globose to oblong, 10-20 mm long, with 4 to 10 scales, green at first, maturing brown or grey-brown about 25 months after pollination. The cones may either open at maturity to release the seeds, or remain closed for several years, only opening after the parent tree is killed in a wildfire, allowing the seeds to colonise the bare ground exposed by the fire. The male cones are 3-5 mm long, and release pollen in February-March.
There are two varieties, treated as distinct species by some botanists:
- Cupressus lusitanica var. lusitanica (syn. C. lindleyi) - Mexican Cypress - secure. Foliage in three-dimensional sprays, with small shoots in two planes. Occurs in lower rainfall areas.
- Cupressus lusitanica var. benthamii (syn. C. benthamii) - Bentham's Cypress - NT. Foliage in flattened sprays, with small shoots all in one plane. Occurs in higher rainfall areas.
The scientific name lusitanica (of Portugal) refers to its very early cultivation there, with plants imported from Mexico to the monastery at Buçaco, near Coimbra in Portugal in about 1634; these trees were already over 130 years old when the species was botanically described by Miller in 1768.
[edit] Cultivation and uses
It is widely cultivated, both as an ornamental tree and for timber production, in warm temperate and subtropical regions around the world. Its cultivation and subsequent naturalisation in parts of southern Asia has caused a degree of confusion with native Cupressus species in that region; plants sold by nurseries under the names of Asian species such as Cupressus torulosa often prove to be this species.
[edit] References
- Conifer Specialist Group (1998). Cupressus lusitanica. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006.
