introduction
THE Gowen cypress Or California cypress (Cupressus goveniana) is a tree in the family Cupressaceae native to California in the United States.
This tree is considered an endangered species and appears on the Red List. …) of the IUCN.
distribution
Endemic to coastal California. Scattered small stations, never large populations.
The population totals fewer than 2,000 individuals.
classification
There are two or three varieties that some botanists consider to be separate species:
- Cupressus goveniana var. goveniana – Gowen cypress well said.
Monterey County, strictly coastal, within a 3 km strip along the coast and less than 200 m above sea level (elevation is the vertical height of a place or object relative to a plane…). Green foliage (green is a complementary color corresponding to light, which has a wavelength…) dark, not rough, with leaf tips not spread; spherical cones.
- Cupressus goveniana var. pygmaea (C. pygmaea) – Mendocino cypress.
Mendocino and Sonoma counties, on the coast, within 6 miles (10 km) of the coast and less than 650 feet (200 m) above sea level. Clearly distinguishable from var. goveniana, with very similar foliage and cones.
- Cupressus goveniana var. abramsiana (Cupressus abramsiana) – Santa Cruz cypress.
Santa Cruz and San Mateo Counties, in the Santa Cruz Mountains, 10-20 km inland and between 300 and 760 m above sea level. More distinct and possibly a valid species, with yellow foliage, slightly textured, rough green with sharp, slightly spread leaf tips; Cones often oval. Shows similarities to Cupressus sargentii.
Description
The Gowen cypress is an evergreen tree with a generally conical shape (cones form a widespread family of algebraic plane curves, etc.) and highly variable in size (in mathematics and logic, a variable is represented by a symbol. It… ) dependent from the environmental conditions, which can range from dwarf trees less than a meter in size (The meter (symbol m, from the Greek metron, measure) is the basic unit of length of the…) to mature trees in some locations up to 60 meter high giants under ideal conditions.
The foliage forms dense branches that are dark green to yellow-green in color. The scale-shaped, 2 to 5 mm long leaves cover rounded (rather than flattened) branches.
The spherical to elongated cones with a length of 12 to 22 mm consist of 6 to 10 scales, which are initially green and turn gray-brown at around 20 to 24 months of age (Le mois (from Latin mensis “month”). and formerly in the plural “menses”) is a period…) after pollination (pollination is the preferred way of reproduction of angiosperm plants and…). The cones remain closed for several years and only open when the parent tree has died in a forest fire, allowing seeds to colonize the bare ground released by the fire (fire is the production of a flame by an exothermic chemical oxidation reaction). ..).
The smaller male cones (3 to 5 mm long) release their pollen in February-March.