Callitris rhomboidea

Scientific name: Callitris rhomboidea R.Brown. ex L.Richard & A.Richard 1826

Synonyms: Callitris articulata Gordon, Callitris australis (Pers.) Sweet, Callitris cupressiformis Vent., Callitris cupressiformis F.Muell., Callitris fothergillii Loudon, Callitris tasmanica (Benth.) R.T.Baker & H.G.Sm., Callitris ventenatii R.Br. ex Mirb., Cupressus australis Pers., Cyparissia australis (Pers.) Hoffmanns., Frenela australis (Pers.) Mirb. ex Endl., Frenela rhomboidea (R.Br. ex Rich. & A.Rich.) Endl., Frenela triquetra Spach, Frenela variabilis Carrière, Thuja australis Bosc ex Poir., Thuja inaequalis Desf.

Common names: Illawara Mountain pine, Oyster Bay pine, Port Jackson pine

Description

Tree to 12(-30) m tall, or sometimes shrubby, with a single or forking trunk to 0.4 m in diameter. Bark brown, weathering grayish brown, hard, flaking in scales and becoming shallowly furrowed. Crown variable, with upright or spreading branches. Branchlets rounded-triangular. Juvenile foliage somewhat delayed in giving way to adult foliage but not persisting to adulthood. Adult leaves, including bases 1.5-4 mm long, dark green or silvered with wax, with a strong, rounded keel. Pollen cones mostly single, 1-2 mm long, with three to five trios of pollen scales, each scale with three or four pollen sacs. Seed cones usually tightly clustered on stout stalks thickening to 8 mm in diameter, long persistent after maturity, roughly spherical to somewhat shorter, 1.5-2 cm in diameter, with a three-lobed or three-parted central column 3 mm high or less. Seeds 4-10 on each, dark brown to blackish, the body 2.5-4 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide, with two nearly equal wings slightly longer than the body, 1-4 mm wide.

Eastern Australia from southeastern Queensland to eastern Tasmania, west to Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Various open forests, woodlands, and scrublands on a wide variety of substrates, primarily near the coast; 0-300(-750) m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern

(Due to its wide distribution and relative frequency, this species is regarded as Least Concern despite some decline in some parts of its range)

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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