Microbiota decussata

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Microbiota decussata
Microbiota decussata PAN.JPG
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
(unranked): Gymnosperms
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Cupressaceae
Subfamily: Cupressoideae
Genus: Microbiota
Kom.
Species:
M. decussata
Binomial name
Microbiota decussata
Microbiota range.png

Microbiota is a monotypic genus of evergreen coniferous shrubs in the cypress family Cupressaceae, containing only one species, Microbiota decussata (Siberian carpet cypress, Russian arbor-vitae). The plant is native and endemic to a limited area of the Sikhote-Alin mountains in Primorskiy Krai in the Russian Far East. [2] 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. [3] [4]

Contents

Description

Close-up of scale-like leaves Russian Arborvitae Microbiota decussata Leaves 2800px.JPG
Close-up of scale-like leaves

Microbiota decussata is a prostrate shrub to 20–50 cm (8–20 in) in height, and 2–5 m (6.6–16.4 ft) in spreading width. The foliage forms flat sprays with scale-like leaves 2–4 mm long. The cones are among the smallest of any conifer, 2–3 mm long, green ripening brown in about eight months from pollination, and have four scales arranged in two opposite pairs. The seeds are 2 mm long, with no wing; there is usually only one seed in each cone, rarely two. The foliage sometimes turns brown in winter, giving the impression that the plant has died; but it revives in spring. [5]

Taxonomy

The monotypic taxon Microbiota was discovered in 1923, [6] but political secrecy in the former Soviet Union prevented any knowledge of its existence outside the country for around 50 years.

Microbiota is generally accepted as being a distinct genus. It has also been suggested, but not widely followed, that Microbiota could be included in the closely related genus Platycladus . Other fairly close relatives are the genera Juniperus and Cupressus .

Cultivation

Microbiota decussata is grown as an ornamental plant for use as evergreen groundcover in gardens and parks. It is valued for its drought tolerance and considerable cold temperature and winter season conditions tolerance. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. [5] [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Thuja</i> Genus of conifers

Thuja is a genus of coniferous trees or shrubs in the Cupressaceae. There are five species in the genus, two native to North America and three native to eastern Asia. The genus is monophyletic and sister to Thujopsis. Members are commonly known as arborvitaes, thujas or cedars.

Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word cypress is derived from Old French cipres, which was imported from Latin cypressus, the latinisation of the Greek κυπάρισσος (kyparissos). Cypress trees are a large classification of conifers, encompassing the trees and shrubs from the cypress family (Cupressaceae) and many others with the word “cypress” in their common name. Many cypress trees have needle-like, evergreen foliage and acorn-like seed cones.

Cupressaceae 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. In New Zealand, where it is also widespread, it is simply known as "macrocarpa".

<i>Chamaecyparis</i> Genus of conifers

Chamaecyparis, common names cypress or false cypress, is a genus of conifers in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to eastern Asia and to the western and eastern margins of the United States. The name is derived from the Greek khamai (χαμαί), meaning "on the earth", and kuparissos (κυπάρισσος) for "cypress".

<i>Tsuga</i> Genus of conifers

Tsuga is a genus of conifers in the subfamily Abietoideae of Pinaceae, the pine family. The common name hemlock is derived from a perceived similarity in the smell of its crushed foliage to that of the unrelated plant poison hemlock. Unlike the latter, Tsuga species are not poisonous.

<i>Juniperus communis</i> Species of conifer in the cypress family Cupressaceae

Juniperus communis, the common juniper, is a species of small tree or shrub in the cypress family Cupressaceae. An evergreen conifer, it has the largest geographical range of any woody plant, with a circumpolar distribution throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere.

<i>Platycladus</i> Genus of conifers

Platycladus is a monotypic genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae, containing only one species, Platycladus orientalis, also known as Chinese thuja, Oriental arborvitae, Chinese arborvitae, biota or Oriental thuja. It is native to northeastern parts of East Asia and North Asia, but is also now naturalised as an introduced species in other regions of the Asian continent.

<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>Juniperus chinensis</i> Species of conifer

Juniperus chinensis, the Chinese juniper is a species of plant in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to China, Myanmar, Japan, Korea and the Russian Far East. Growing 1–20 metres tall, it is a very variable coniferous evergreen tree or shrub.

<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>Picea orientalis</i> Species of conifer

Picea orientalis, commonly known as the Oriental spruce or Caucasian spruce, is a species of spruce native to the Caucasus and adjacent northeast Turkey.

<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>Actinostrobus</i> Genus of conifers

Actinostrobus is a genus of coniferous trees in the Cupressaceae. Common names include cypress, sandplain-cypress and cypress-pine, the last of these shared by the closely related genus Callitris.

<i>Tetraclinis</i> Genus of conifers

Tetraclinis is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae, containing only one species, Tetraclinis articulata, also known as Thuja articulata, sandarac, sandarac tree or Barbary thuja, endemic to the western Mediterranean region. It is native to northwestern Africa in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, with two small outlying populations on Malta, and near Cartagena in southeast Spain. It grows at relatively low altitudes in a hot, dry subtropical Mediterranean climate.

<i>Papuacedrus</i> Genus of conifers

Papuacedrus papuana is a species in the conifer family Cupressaceae, the sole species in the genus Papuacedrus. Some botanists do not consider this species as forming a distinct genus, but include it in the related genus Libocedrus. It is native to New Guinea and to the Indonesian Province of Maluku.

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

Juniperus procumbens is a species of shrub in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to Japan. This low-growing evergreen conifer is closely related to the Chinese juniper, Juniperus chinensis, and is sometimes treated as a variety of it, as J. chinensis var. procumbens.

<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 cashmeriana</i> Species of conifer

Cupressus cashmeriana, the Bhutan cypress or Kashmir cypress, 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. It grows at moderately high altitudes of 1,250–2,800 metres (4,100–9,190 ft).

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

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

References

  1. Farjon, A. 2013. Microbiota decussata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T30750A2796100. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T30750A2796100.en. Accessed on 01 September 2022.
  2. "Microbiota decussata". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  3. Fu, Liguo; Yu, Yong-fu; Adams, Robert P.; Farjon, Aljos. "Platycladus orientalis". Flora of China. Vol. 4 via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  4. "Biota Endl.". Tropicos . Missouri Botanical Garden.
  5. 1 2 "RHS Plant Selector - Microbiota decussata" . Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  6. Komarov, Vladimir Leontjevich. 1923. Botanicheskie Materialy Gerbariya Glavnogo Botanicheskogo Sada RSFSR 4(23/24): 180.
  7. "AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 64. Retrieved 4 April 2018.