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Fitzroya cupressoides
Also called Chilean False Larch
A giant, long-lived conifer of the Andes and coastal forests of southern Chile and Argentina, and the largest tree species in South America, reaching 40 to 60 m tall. It grows very slowly and is hard to cultivate outside its native cool, wet climate.
Fitzroya is a monotypic genus of conifer in the cypress family, Cupressaceae. The single living species, Fitzroya cupressoides, is a tall, long-lived conifer native to the Andes mountains and coastal regions of southern Chile, and to the Argentine Andes, where it is an important member of the Valdivian temperate forests. Common names include lawal (in Mapudungun, Hispanicized as lahual), alerce ([aˈleɾse], "larch" in Spanish), and Patagonian cypress. The genus was named in honour of Robert FitzRoy.
The genus is ancient with it dating back to the Cretaceous of South America. Fossils are also known from the Paleogene of Tasmania, Australia (particularly from the now extinct Fitzroya tasmanensis).
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Fitzroya 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.
