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Athrotaxis cupressoides
Also called Tasmanian Pencil Pine, Smooth Tasmanian Cedar
Pencil pine is a slow-growing conifer from the cypress family, native to Tasmania, that grows as a conical tree or a shrub in cool mountain country. It is hard to grow outside its cool, moist native habitat, so it suits cold, damp, high-altitude gardens rather than warm or dry ones.
Athrotaxis cupressoides, commonly known as pencil pine, is a species of conifer in the cypress family,Cupressaceae and not a member of the pine family. Found either as an erect shrub or as a tree, this species is endemic to Tasmania, Australia. Trees can live for upwards of 1000 years, sustaining a very slow growth rate of approximately 12 mm in diameter per year.
Athrotaxis cupressoides currently has no recorded uses. The trunks are gnarled and unsuitable for uses as timber. The species is, however, occasionally grown and sold as an ornamental.
Athrotaxis cupressoides is an endemic native to Tasmania, Australia. Its distribution is primarily in the central and western mountain areas between 700 and 1300 m above sea level, often around tarns or damp depressions on peaty or wet rocky soils. Locations include: the Central Plateau, the Great Western Tier, Mt. Field National Park, the westward mountains such as Cradle Mountain and scattered through the south of the island.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Athrotaxis cupressoides by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
