Cupressus nevadensis, the Piute cypress, is a species of cypress native to a small area in California in the western United States. It is sometimes considered to be its own species, or sometimes included within Cupressus arizonica.^[1]

Distribution

Cupressus nevadensis grows in a restricted area of the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains in Kern County, California.

It is found in a large, almost pure cypress forest on soils of granitic origin at altitudes of 3,000-6000 ft. located three miles south of the town of Bodfish, California. It grows here with Pinus monophylla, Juniperus occidentalis, and Fremontodendron californicum. It is also known from no more than eight other locales around the mountains of Lake Isabella; however these are much smaller, scattered stands compared to the Bodfish grove. ^[2] Like most California cypress, it is a pyrophyte, heavily reliant on wildfire for its regeneration.

Description

Cupressus nevadensis is a medium-sized evergreen tree with a conic crown, growing to heights of 10-25 m (exceptionally to 39 m), and a trunk diameter of up to 0.5 m (exceptionally to 1 m). The foliage grows in sparse, very fragrant, sprays varying from dull gray-green to glaucous blue-green in color. The leaves are scale-like, highly glandular, resinous and aromatic, 2-5 mm long, and produced on rounded (not flattened) shoots. ^[3]

The seed cones are globose to oblong, 25-55 mm long, with 6 or 8 (rarely 4 or 10) scales, green to brown at first, maturing gray or gray-brown about 20–24 months after pollination. The male cones are 3-5 mm long, and release pollen in February-March. ^[4]

The cones often remain closed for several years, only opening after the parent tree is killed in a wildfire, thereby allowing the seeds to colonize the bare ground exposed by the natural fire.

Conservation

Fire suppression policies of the past decades have severely limited reproduction of this fire dependent species. It is listed as a vulnerable species. ^[5]

See also

• Fire ecology

References

• Gymnosperm Database: Cupressus nevadensis