Cupressus arizonica</i> var. <i>arizonica description

Cupressus arizonica var. arizonica

Common Names

Arizona cypress.

Taxonomic notes

Description

"[T]ree up to 25 m high; bark gray to black-brown, furrowed; branches horizontally spreading; crown broadly conical; shoots short, thick, four-sided, spreading in all directions; foliage scale-like, mostly 2 mm long, acuminate, usually glaucous-green; resin gland on the dorsal side of the leaf not conspicuous or only slightly so; cones shortly petiolated, globose, 2-3 cm large, dark red-brown, bluish pruinose, composed of 6 to 8 scales with prominent dorsal processes; seeds 4-5 mm long, dark brown, occasionally bluish pruinose, cca 90-120 to a cone; cotyledons 4-5" (2).

Range

USA: Texas, New Mexico, SE Arizona; N Mexico; at 1000 to 1500 m in the US, and up to 2200 m in Mexico (2).

Big Tree

Height 28 m, dbh 194 cm, crown spread 15 m, in the Santa Catalina Mountains of AZ (1).

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Can be seen at several points along the Mt. Lemmon Highway, Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona; most notably, in Seven Cataracts Canyon.

Remarks

Citations

(1) American Forests 1996.
(2) Vidakovic 1991.