Guadalupe Cypress

Description

Cupressus guadalupensis, the Guadalupe cypress, is a species of cypress from Guadalupe Island in the Pacific Ocean off western North America. The Guadalupe cypress, Cupressus guadalupensis, is endemic to Mexico, found only on Guadalupe Island in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California. It is found growing at altitudes of 800–1,280 metres (2,620–4,200 ft), in the island's recovering chaparral and woodlands habitats. Cupressus guadalupensis has previously been listed as being the same species as Cupressus forbesii, which had been listed as a variety of C. guadalupensis in the past. Recent analysis, however, has placed C. forbesii as a separate, albeit closely related, species. Cupressus guadalupensis is an evergreen conifer tree with a conic to ovoid-conic crown, variable in size, with mature trees reaching 10–20 metres (33–66 ft) tall. The foliage grows in dense sprays, dark green to gray-green in color. The leaves are scale-like, 2–5 mm long, and produced on rounded (not flattened) shoots. The seed cones are spherical to oblong, 12–35 mm long, with 6 to 10 scales, green at first, maturing gray-brown to gray about 20–24 months after pollination. The cones remain closed for many years, only opening after the parent tree is killed in a wildfire, thereby allowing the seeds to colonise the bare ground exposed by the fire. The male cones are 3–5 mm long, and release pollen in February–March. A specimen survived at Cistus Nursery outside of Portland, OR during the winter of 2013-14, where temperatures went to -11.1111 Celsius.