Common Names
Mexican cypress (2), cedar of Goa, Portugal cedar.Taxonomic notes
The systematics of this species are complex. It is generally accepted that there is one species of cypress in tropical Mexico and Central America, and it is typically divided into a type and one variety. Beyond that point the situation gets very complicated. Fortunately, Aljos Farjon has recently analysed this problem (6) and I am happy to accept his authority here:C. lusitanica var. lusitanica. Syn: C. pendula L'Hér. 1786 non Thunb. 1783; C. lindleyi Klotzsch ex Endl. 1847; C. lusitanica var. lindleyi (Endl.) Carr. 1867; C. benthami Endl. var. lindleyi (Endl.) Mast 1896.
C. lusitanica var. benthamii (Endl.) Carrière 1867. Syn: C. benthami Endl. 1847; C. lusitanica ssp. benthamii (Endl.) Franco 1945; C. thurifera sensu Schltdl. 1838 non Kunth 1817.
Description
"A tree attaining 25-30 m in height. Crown broadly pyramidal, in older trees broad with pendulous branches. Bark thick, reddish-brown, with longitudinal fissures. Shoots quadrangular, pendulous, not in a single plane. Foliage distinctly bluish-green, four-ranked, ovate, closely pressed, usually with long, pointed apex. Cones globose, cca 12 mm across, bluish-green in the juvenile stage, turning dark brown when they ripen, they open and later fall, composed of 6-8 scales with a central strong, reflexed umbo, erect on the upper scales. Seeds about 75 to a cone, brown, with resin glands, about 4 mm long together with a narrow wing" (2)."The only consistent difference between the two varieties may be keyed out as follows:
"Branchlets of highest orders distichous, forming flattened foliage sprays.
C. lusitanica var. benthamii.
"Branchlets of highest orders reading in three directions, not forming flattened foliage sprays.
C. lusitanica var. lusitanica" (6).
Range
"Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica at altitudes from 1200 to 3000 m. It is doubtful whether this species is native to El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica (3).Var. benthamii is found in Mexico, in mountains northwest of Pachuca (2).
Big Tree
Oldest
Dendrochronology
"The hypothesis that the cypress Cupressus lindleyi, owing to ecological conditions in its natural habitat, might produce datable growth rings, has not been verified. A comparison with the easily datable tree-ring structure of the fir Abies religiosa from the same site showed that the irregular wood formation in Cupressus lindleyi is largely species-dependent" (5).Ethnobotany
"This cypress has been cultivated in England since 1682, and today it is grown in some parts of Africa as a forest tree" (2).Observations
Vladimir Dinets (e-mail, 11-Aug-99) reports that a small grove can be seen 1.6 km south of the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border, on the eastern side of the Pan American Highway.Remarks
"The [Latin] name derives from the fact that the species was introduced to Lusitania, Portugal, in the 17th century" (2). It was so described in 1700 by Tournefort, and chosen as specific epithet by Miller when the species was formally described in 1768. Miller did not know the plant's country of origin and guessed that it might have come from Goa (in India), an error repeated in several important early conifer compilations, thereby firmly establishing the name "Cedar of Goa" in the horticultural trade (6).Citations
(1) Silba 1986.(2) Vidakovic 1991.
(3) Styles, B.T. and C.E. Hughes.. 1983: Studies of variation in Central American pines III. Notes on the taxonomy and nomenclature of the pines and related gymnosperms in Honduras and adjacent Latin America republics. Brenesia 21: 269-291.
(4) Martínez, M. 1947. Los Cupressos de Mexico. Anal. Inst. Biol. Mexico 18: 71-149.
(5) Dobry, J. and J. Kyncl. 1992. Tree-ring density profiles in Cupressaceae. P.83-84 in T.S. Bartholin, B.E. Berglund, D. Eckstein, F.H. Schweingruber, and O. Eggertsson, eds., Tree Rings and Environment: Proceedings of the International Symposium, Ystad, South Sweden, 3-9 September 1990. Lundqua Report 34. Lund University Department of Quaternary Geology.
(6) Farjon, Aljos. 1993. Nomenclature of the Mexican cypress or "cedar of Goa", Cupressus lusitanica Mill. (Cupressaceae). Taxon 42: 81-84.
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This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.geocities.com/~earlecj/cu/cup/lusitanica.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
E-mail:earlecj@earthlink.com
Last modified on 11-Aug-1999