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Cupressus pygmaea
Also called Mendocino Cypress, Gowen Cypress, Dwarf Cypress, North Coast Cypress, Pygmy Cypress, Santa Cruz Cypress
Hesperocyparis pygmaea, the Mendocino cypress or pygmy cypress, is a species of conifer of disputed status in the cypress family, Cupressaceae. It is endemic to certain coastal terraces and coastal mountain ranges of Mendocino and Sonoma Counties in northwestern California. It is a variable tree, and closely related to Hesperocyparis abramsiana and Hesperocyparis goveniana, enough to sometimes be considered conspecific with them.
The Mendocino cypress is highly variable in growth form, depending on soil conditions. In the pygmy forest plant community on poor, acidic, nutrient-starved podsol soils with drainage impeded by an iron hardpan, it is a stunted tree from 0.2–5 meters in height at maturity. When occurring in its pygmy form, it is sometimes called pygmy cypress. When growing on deep, well-drained soils it can be a large tree up to 30–50 meters in height and 1–2.4 m in trunk diameter. The bark is dark gray-brown, with stringy texture, and fissured on old trees.
Moroccan Cypress · South Tibetan Cypress · Hesperocyparis bakeri · Bhutan Cypress · Cheng Cypress · Yunnan Cypress · Saharan Cypress · Hesperocyparis forbesii · Chinese Weeping Cypress · Tsangpo cypress · Hesperocyparis glabra · Hesperocyparis goveniana
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Hesperocyparis pygmaea by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
