The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Widdringtonia nodiflora
Also called Mountain Cypress, Mountain Cape Cedar, Mountain Cedar, Widdringtonia, Wild Cedar
Widdringtonia nodiflora is a multistemmed shrub or small conifer from high mountain slopes in southern Africa, usually growing among rocks. It is grown as an ornamental and container tree in cool or wet climates and is valued for its ability to regrow after fire.
Widdringtonia nodiflora, the mountain cypress, is a species of conifer in the cypress family, Cupressaceae, native to Southern Africa. It usually grows at high altitudes, typically among rocks on mountainsides. Its foliage and wood are highly flammable while its natural habitat is prone to fire. To compensate, the species will coppice from its roots after being burnt down.
The mountain cypress can be propagated from seed, sown during autumn in well-drained sand. The seeds germinate over several weeks, and it grows about 0.3 metres a year. It grows in cool or wet climates and is resistant to frost. It grows well as a container plant and ornamental tree and, when planted in a pot, can be used as a reusable southern hemisphere christmas tree. It's water-wise and environmentally friendly indigenous alternative to the pine tree.
It occurs naturally from Table Mountain in the south, to southern Malawi, southern Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe and throughout eastern and southern South Africa. It is the only widespread species in its genus, and the only one not threatened or endangered. It is closely related to the endangered cypress ("Cedar") of the Cederberg mountains.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Widdringtonia nodiflora 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.
