Actinostrobus pyramidalis Miq. ex Lemm.

Common Names

King George's cypress-pine (1).

Taxonomic notes

One variety, arenarius (C. Gardn.) Silba (Syn: A. arenarius) (1).

Description

"A narrowly conical shrub 1-4 m. tall, with erect, closely arranged branches. Bark brown, smooth. Branchlets divided into long, straight, slender branchlets Juvenile leaves glaucous, 7-8 mm. long, rarely persistent on mature trees. Leaves scale-like, ovate, spreading, 1-2 mm. long, in 6 ranks, green to gray-green, free at the apex, pointed, somewhat decurrent, slightly keeled. Male cone globular, 2.5-4 mm. long, with 16-18 ovate scales; microsporophylls 2-4. Female cone globose or ovoid, on a short peduncle, gray-brown, 1.5- 2 cm. long, with 6 valvate scales; scales thin, bluntly acute, slightly overlapping; with large rounded or nearly ovate basal bracts. Seeds tan or yellowish-brown, resinous, 5-7 mm. long, wings 1.5-1.9 mm. wide. Cotyledons 2, blue-green, 9-15 mm. long by 1.5-2 mm. wide, apex bluntly acute, stem 0.5-1 mm. thick" (1).

Range

"W. Australia: King George's Sound, Baxter to Swan River" (1).

Big Tree

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

Photo: see p.4 in (2).

The variety, commonly known as Tamin or Bruce cypress-pine, is "[a] small tree 2-5 m. tall. Branches spreading; branchlets short, nearly triangular in the cross-section. Foliage conspicuously glaucous-green. Leaves in 3's, ovate, acute, spreading, loosely imbricate, scale-like, to 2 mm. long, slightly keeled, ovoid-deltoid in the free portion. Male cone oblong, 3.5 mm. long, with 16-18 ovate or rounded scales narrowing in the center to a point. Female cone ovate to obovoid, 1.5-1.6 cm. long by 1.6 cm. wide, apex not out-curved, broadly narrowing, greenish-yellow bloomed glaucous, apex prominently glaucous; with 6 thin, overlapping scales with rounded, hump-backed, glaucous, basal bracts. Seeds tan or yellowish-brown, 6-11 mm. long, 2-3 winged, wings 1-2 mm. wide, hilium 2 mm. long. Cotyledons 2, rarely 3, blue-green, 9-14 mm. long by 1.5-2 mm. wide, stem thin, apex oval and bluntly acute." It is native to West Australia, in the "Irwin and Avon Districts, Darling Range, Bruce Rock" (1).

Citations

(1) Silba 1986.
(2) van Gelderen et al. 1986.


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This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/2285/cu/ac/pyramidalis.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
E-mail:earlecj@earthlink.net
Last modified on 21-Dec-98

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