Common Names
Mendocino or pigmy cypress (2).Taxonomic notes
Syn: C. pygmaea (Lemmon) Sargent (2).Description
Range
USA: California: Mendocino County: two coastal area near Fort Bragg and Mendocino City. Habitat is the Mendocino White Plains, a white sandy soil over a hard clay. Some plants are dwarf, flowering when less than 1 m tall, but others on more moist substrates attain remarkable size (see Big Tree) (4).Big Tree
Height 43 m, dbh 213 cm, crown spread 12 m, in Mendocino County, CA (1).Oldest
Dendrochronology
Ethnobotany
Observations
Remarks
"The pygmy forests of this species and Pinus contorta on the shallow hardpan soils of coastal terraces of the Mendocino white plains are a remarkable example of phenotypic plasticity" (3).Citations
(1) American Forests 1996.(2) Peattie 1950 (as C. pygmaea).
(3) James E. Eckenwalder at the Flora of North America web site.
(4) Little 1970.
[Cupressus] [Cupressaceae] [home]
This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/2285/cu/cup/pigmaea.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
E-mail:earlecj@earthlink.net
Last modified on 21-Dec-98