Flora of North America species comparison

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Cupressus goveniana

Cupressus macrocarpa

Gowen cypress, Mendocino cypress, Santa Cruz cypress

ciprés monterrey, Monterey cypress
Habit Shrubs or small trees usually to 10 m, but to 50 m under favorable conditions, or bearing cones at as little as 2 dm on shallow hardpan soils; crown globose to columnar, dense or sparse. Trees to 25 m; crown generally broadly spreading, especially on exposed headlands, fairly sparse, often composed of few major limbs from near ground, more upright in sheltered locations.
Bark

smooth or rough, fibrous.

rough, fibrous.
Branchlets

decussate, 1–1.5 mm diam.

decussate, 1.5–2 mm diam.
Leaves

without abaxial gland or sometimes with embedded abaxial gland that does not produce drop of resin, not glaucous.

without gland or sometimes with inconspicuous, shallow, pitlike, abaxial gland that does not produce drop of resin, not glaucous.
Pollen cones

3–4 × 1.5–2 mm;

pollen sacs 3–6.

4–6 × 2.5–3 mm;

pollen sacs 6–10.
Seed(s)

cones globose, 1–2.5(–3) cm, grayish brown, not glaucous;

scales 3–5 pairs, smooth, umbo nearly flat at maturity.

cones oblong, 2.5–4 cm, grayish brown, not glaucous;

scales 4–6 pairs, smooth, umbo nearly flat at maturity.
2n

= 22.

Cupressus goveniana

Cupressus macrocarpa
Habitat Coastal closed-cone pine forests, especially on sterile soils Coastal bluffs
Elevation 60–800 m (200–2600 ft) 5–35 m (0–100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Populations from the three regions of Cupressus goveniana —north coast, Santa Cruz Mountains, and Monterey Peninsula—differ in foliage and seed characters and have been treated as varieties or species; additional interpopulational variation occurs within these regions. Trees from Santa Cruz Mountain populations may have originated through hybidization with C. sargentii (E. Zavarin et al. 1971). The pygmy forests of this species and Pinus contorta Douglas ex Loudon on the shallow hardpan soils of coastal terraces of the Mendocino white plains are a remarkable example of phenotypic plasticity.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

The geographically most restricted taxon recognized here, Cupressus macrocarpa is confined today to two picturesque groves near Monterey, but it is also known from fossils to have been in other regions. It is much planted and commonly naturalized near the coast from central California north to Washington and in warm temperate and subtropical regions worldwide.

Of conservation concern.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 2. FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Cupressaceae > Cupressus Cupressaceae > Cupressus
Sibling taxa
C. arizonica, C. bakeri, C. guadalupensis, C. macnabiana, C. macrocarpa, C. sargentii
C. arizonica, C. bakeri, C. goveniana, C. guadalupensis, C. macnabiana, C. sargentii
Synonyms C. abramsiana, C. goveniana var. abramsiana, C. goveniana var. pigmaea, C. pigmaea
Name authority Gordon: J. Hort. Soc. London 4: 295. (1849) Hartweg: J. Hort. Soc. London 2: 187. (1847)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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