| Cupressus goveniana | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Pinophyta |
| Class: | Pinopsida |
| Order: | Pinales |
| Family: | Cupressaceae |
| Genus: | Cupressus |
| Species: | C. goveniana |
| Binomial name | |
| Cupressus goveniana Gordon |
|
Cupressus goveniana is a species of cypress endemic to coastal California in the United States, where it is found in small, scattered populations, not in large forests.
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It is an evergreen tree with a conic to ovoid-conic crown, very variable in size, with mature trees of under 1 m on some sites, to 50 m tall in ideal conditions. The foliage grows in dense sprays, dark green to somewhat yellow-green in color. The leaves are scale-like, 2-5 mm long, and produced on rounded (not flattened) shoots. The seed cones are globose to oblong, 12-22 mm long, with 6 to 10 scales, green at first, maturing brown or gray-brown about 20-24 months after pollination. The cones remain closed for many years, only opening after the parent tree is killed in a wildfire, thereby 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; typically, cones of C. goveniana are smaller than those of C. macrocarpa.
There are two or three varieties, treated as distinct species by some botanists:
Gowen Cypress occurs with Monterey Cypress, Cupressus macrocarpa, in the only two groves where C. macrocarpa is known to occur naturally.[2]