Cupressus cashmeriana

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Cupressus cashmeriana
CupressusCashmerianaSochi.JPG
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Gymnosperms
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Cupressaceae
Genus: Cupressus
Species:
C. cashmeriana
Binomial name
Cupressus cashmeriana
Synonyms

Cupressus assamica
Cupressus darjeelingensis
Cupressus himalaica
Cupressus pseudohimalaica
Cupressus tortulosa

Contents

Cupressus cashmeriana, the Bhutan cypress [1] or Kashmir cypress, [2] is a species of evergreen conifer native to the eastern Himalaya in Bhutan and adjacent areas of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India. [ Now in vulnerable category, IUCN list retrieved in 2006 ]. It is also introduced in China and Nepal. [1] It grows at moderately high altitudes of 1,250–2,800 metres (4,100–9,190 ft). [3]

Description

Cupressus cashmeriana is a medium-sized to large tree growing 20–45 metres (66–148 ft) tall, rarely much more, with a trunk up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) diameter. The foliage grows in strongly pendulous sprays of blue-green, very slender, flattened shoots. The leaves are scale-like, 1–2 mm long, up to 5 mm long on strong lead shoots; young trees up to about 5 years old have juvenile foliage with soft needle-like leaves 3–8 mm long. [3]

The seed cones are ovoid, 10–21 mm long and 10–19 mm broad, with 8–12 scales, dark green, maturing dark brown about 24 months after pollination. The cones open at maturity to shed the seed. The pollen cones are 3–5 mm long, and release pollen in early spring.

A tree of 95 metres (312 ft) tall has recently been reported, [4] but the measurements await verification.

Conservation

The natural populations of this species are fragmented. There are few occurrences and they contain few large individuals. Cypress wood is in demand locally. [1]

Cultivation

Cupressus cashmeriana is widely grown horticulturally as an ornamental tree, both within its native region and internationally in temperate climates. It is planted in private gardens and public parks, although generally regarded as sensitive to drought and wind. [5] Many of the plants available outside of its native range are named cultivars, selected for particular forms, textures, or foliage colours, such as very pendulous branching or shoots, a fastigiate or columnar shape, or a particularly bright blue or silvery glaucous foliage.

This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit [2] (confirmed 2017). [6] It is fully hardy only in relatively mild or coastal areas of the UK. [2]

Some healthy specimens have been reported in Canberra, Australia. [5]

Symbolism

The Bhutan cypress is the official national tree of Bhutan, where it is often associated with Buddhist religious places. It has been widely planted around Vihara monasteries and Buddhist temples there for centuries.

Notable specimen

A notable specimen of Cupressus cashmeriana is situated in front of the palace on Isola Madre, the largest of the Borromean Islands in Lake Maggiore. The seeds for the tree were sent back from the Himalayan region by a correspondent of the Borromeo family, William B. Pentland, in June 1862. By 1915, the Isola Madre specimen was noted as the best in Northern Italy and measured 60 ft. high, 6 ft. in girth, its branches covering an area of over 35 paces in circumference. [7] In 2006, a fierce storm on the night of 28 June knocked the tree down, necessitating a multi-disciplinary effort to save it. A team of gardeners, engineers, and cable workers worked to stabilise the tree, which is the largest specimen in Europe and then weighed 70 tons with a trunk 8 metres in diameter. [8] [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cupressaceae</span> The cypress family of conifers

Cupressaceae is a conifer family, the cypress family, with worldwide distribution. The family includes 27–30 genera, which include the junipers and redwoods, with about 130–140 species in total. They are monoecious, subdioecious or (rarely) dioecious trees and shrubs up to 116 m (381 ft) tall. The bark of mature trees is commonly orange- to red- brown and of stringy texture, often flaking or peeling in vertical strips, but smooth, scaly or hard and square-cracked in some species.

<i>Cupressus macrocarpa</i> Species of conifer

Hesperocyparis macrocarpa is a coniferous tree. It is commonly known as the Monterey cypress and is one of several species of cypress trees endemic to California.

<i>Thujopsis</i> Genus of conifers

Thujopsis is a genus of conifers in the cypress family (Cupressaceae), the sole member of which is Thujopsis dolabrata. It is endemic to Japan, where it is named asunaro (あすなろ). It is similar to the closely related genus Thuja (arborvitae), differing in the broader, thicker leaves and thick cones. It is also called hiba, false arborvitae, or hiba arborvitae.

<i>Chamaecyparis pisifera</i> Species of conifer

Chamaecyparis pisifera is a species of false cypress, native to central and southern Japan, on the islands of Honshū and Kyūshū.

<i>Cupressus dupreziana</i> Species of conifer in the family Cupressaceae

Cupressus dupreziana, the Saharan cypress, or tarout, is a very rare coniferous tree native to the Tassili n'Ajjer mountains in the central Sahara desert, southeast Algeria, where it forms a unique population of trees hundreds of kilometres from any other trees. There are only 233 specimens of this endangered species, the largest about 22 m tall. The majority are estimated to be over 2000 years old, with very little regeneration due to the increasing desertification of the Sahara. Rainfall totals in the area are estimated to be about 30 mm annually. The largest one is named Tin-Balalan is believed to be the oldest tarout tree with a circumference of 12 meters or 36 feet.

<i>Picea breweriana</i> Species of conifer

Picea breweriana, known as Brewer spruce, Brewer's weeping spruce, or weeping spruce, is a species of spruce native to western North America, where it is one of the rarest on the continent. The specific epithet breweriana is in honor of the American botanist William Henry Brewer.

<i>Cupressus arizonica</i> Species of conifer

Cupressus arizonica, the Arizona cypress, is a North American species of tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to the southwestern United States and Mexico. Populations may be scattered rather than in large, dense stands.

<i>Microbiota decussata</i> Species of plant

Microbiota is a monotypic genus of evergreen coniferous shrubs in the cypress family Cupressaceae, containing only one species, Microbiota decussata. The plant is native and endemic to a limited area of the Sikhote-Alin mountains in Primorskiy Krai in the Russian Far East. Microbiota is not to be confused with the range of microorganisms of the same name. The genus name was derived from micro-, meaning "small", + Biota, the genus name for a closely related conifer, a species formerly called Biota orientalis, now renamed Platycladus orientalis.

<i>Glyptostrobus pensilis</i> Species of conifer

Glyptostrobus pensilis, known in Chinese as 水松, and also Chinese swamp cypress, is an endangered conifer, and the sole living species in the genus Glyptostrobus.

<i>Cupressus bakeri</i> Species of conifer

Cupressus bakeri, reclassified as Hesperocyparis bakeri, with the common names Baker cypress, Modoc cypress, or Siskiyou cypress, is a rare species of cypress tree endemic to a small area across far northern California and extreme southwestern Oregon, in the western United States.

<i>Cupressus goveniana</i> Species of conifer

Cupressus goveniana, now reclassified as Hesperocyparis goveniana, with the common names Californian cypress and Gowen cypress, is a species of cypress, that is endemic to California.

<i>Cupressus guadalupensis</i> Species of conifer

Cupressus guadalupensis, the Guadalupe cypress, is a species of cypress from Guadalupe Island in the Pacific Ocean off western North America.

<i>Juniperus recurva</i> Species of juniper

Juniperus recurva, commonly named the Himalayan juniper or drooping juniper, is a juniper native to the Himalaya, from northern Pakistan, through India, Nepal and Bhutan, to western Yunnan in southwestern China. It grows at altitudes of 3,000–4,000 metres.

<i>Juniperus squamata</i> Species of Juniper

Juniperus squamata, the flaky juniper, or Himalayan juniper is a species of coniferous shrub in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to the Himalayas and China.

<i>Cupressus lusitanica</i> Species of plant

Cupressus lusitanica, the Mexican cedar or cedar-of-Goa, is a species of cypress native to Mexico and Central America. It has also been introduced to Belize, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, growing at 1,200–3,000 metres (3,900–9,800 ft) altitude.

<i>Cupressus funebris</i> Species of conifer

Cupressus funebris, the Chinese weeping cypress, is a species of cypress native to southwestern and central China. It may also occur naturally in Vietnam.

<i>Juniperus deppeana</i> Species of conifer

Juniperus deppeana is a small to medium-sized tree reaching 10–15 metres in height. It is native to central and northern Mexico and the southwestern United States.

<i>Cupressus macnabiana</i> Species of conifer

Cupressus macnabiana is a species of cypress in western North America.

<i>Juniperus rigida</i> Species of conifer

Juniperus rigida, the temple juniper, is a species of juniper, native to northern China, Mongolia, Korea, Japan, and the far southeast of Russia, occurring at altitudes of 10–2,200 metres (33–7,218 ft). The species is also naturalized in the United States. It is closely related to Juniperus communis and Juniperus conferta, the latter sometimes treated as a variety or subspecies of J. rigida.

<i>Cupressus nevadensis</i> Species of conifer

Cupressus nevadensis, now reclassified as Hesperocyparis nevadensis, with the common name Paiute cypress, is a species of cypress tree native to a small area in Sierra Nevada of California, in the western United States.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Zhang, D.; Christian, T. (2013). "Cupressus cashmeriana". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2013: e.T32311A2813777. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T32311A2813777.en . Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 "RHS Plant Selector - Cupressus cashmeriana" . Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  3. 1 2 Cupressus cashmeriana. The Gymnosperm Database.
  4. Farjon, A. (2005). Monograph of Cupressaceae and Sciadopitys. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ISBN   1-84246-068-4
  5. 1 2 Boden, Robert (16 January 1991). "Tree Portraits". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995). p. 25.
  6. "AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 22. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  7. "Cupressus cashmeriana". The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic.: 1864 - 1946). 27 November 1915. p. 10.
  8. "Isola Madre - The history". Isola Madre. 2015–2018.
  9. "The Impressive Isola Madre". Gardenia - Creating Gardens. 2019.