Athrotaxis cupressoides

Scientific name: Athrotaxis cupressoides D.Don 1839

Synonyms: Athrotaxis imbricata Gordon, Cunninghamia cupressoides Zucc.

Common names: Pencil pine

Description

Trees to 10-15 m, rarely 20 m tall; monopodial, erect, or very low branching to multi-stemmed; trunk up to 0.5-1 m diameter. Bark on old trees furrowed, exfoliating in thin flakes and long, shredding strips, light brown. Crown conical, dense, extending to the ground except in larger individuals. Leaves helically arranged in ranks of 5, 3-6 × 2-3 mm (larger on leading, older branchlets), fused at base, decurrent, imbricate, appressed, oblong, the visible part rhombic-ovate, keeled; margins thin hyaline, entire; apex obtuse, usually lustrous yellowish green to green; amphistomatic, with widely spaced stomata (on the adaxial face in two faint bands). Pollen cones terminal or subterminal, at base surrounded by shortened leaves, 3-5 mm long, yellowish, turning brown. Seed cones terminal on branchlets with normal scale leaves, solitary; mature cones globose or subglobose, 10-16 × 10-14 mm; with 10-15 helically arranged bract-scale complexes which slightly part at maturity. Seeds 20-30 per cone, obovate-oblong, 1.5-2 mm long, with 2 wings of slightly unequal size and shape and ca. 1 mm wide positioned more or less in one plane.

Central and southern Tasmania. Forming pure stands or mixed with other trees in montane rain forests and subalpine scrublands; (600-)900-1,250(-1,360) m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Vulnerable

(Calculations of extent of occurrence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO) for Athrotaxis cupressoides are based on herbarium specimen distribution data. While EOO appears roughly in accordance with a map published by Brown and Hill in Farjon and Page (1999), the AOO could be too small if a grid size of 2-4 km were used. This is because there are many stands known that were not sampled for the herbaria consulted. Using a 5 km grid the species qualifies for a Vulnerable listing under the observation of slowed but still ongoing decline because of various threats. The population is also considered to be severely fragmented)

References

Farjon, A. (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.

Eckenwalder, J.E. (2009) Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press, Portland.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Cambridge, UK /Gland, Switzerland

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