Plant ID: White Cypress Pine (Callitris glaucophylla)

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• published: 13 Oct 2015
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(formerly Callitris columellaris) Genius: Callitris Species: glaucophylla Family: CUPRESSACEAE Common name: White Cypress Pine Plant type: Evergreen, coniferous Origin: Coastal Queensland and coastal New South Wales, Australia; and New Guinea. Habit: The genus Callitris has around 15 species, 13 which are native to and growing throughout Australia, in almost every climatic zone. C. columellaris/glaucophylla is a small coastal Cypress tree growing with the coastal scrub and sandy soils near the sea. Can maintain dense, fastigiated and columnar habits throughout its lifespan. Mature and established specimens can develop a large, broad, columnar crown. Established specimens can range around 10 - 20m height, with a crown spread up to 6m wide. Can develop many multiple leaders of similar size, sometimes starting close to the ground so that there is hardly a distinguishable single trunk. Bark is grey, can have brown - red-brown wood underneath, vertical cracking and fissures, rough, can have pieces and strips, splintering. Young wood smooth - grained, cracking becoming somewhat flaky, layered build-up developing fibrous-shaggy appearance, some twisting and weaving, furrow. Bark flaky layers/pieces can become harder and thinner. As with many Cypress pine trees, the wood is decay and termite/borer resistant. Loves well drained soils, handles harsh coastal conditions as well as dry, windy conditions. Forms strong hedge, narrow screening, can be planted close together, windbreak, for ornamental fastigiated/billowing appearance or vertical column. Foliage: Scale-like branchlets, segmented but also cylindrical-like, small, slender, 2 - 6mm length x 0.5mm width, green, dark green, can have light-green tips/new growth, older foliage can have some brown colour. Grows in groups of 3 branchlets from a branchlet-like shoot. Each branchlet may eventually trifurcate. Foliage can behave decussate with each group of branchlets occurring opposite along the shoot. Slightly aromatic when crushed. Flowers: Monecious. Male, small catkin, up to 5mm length, light-orange - light-brown, in groups of 3 - 5, occurring at the growth terminals. Catkin can be soft, crumbly when disturbed, can have tiny spots/markings. Cones: Female, woody, dark-brown cone, ovoid - globose, around 15 - 25mm length and diameter, borne singly but can also have some groups of 2 and 3 cones. The cone has 6 thin, triangular scales, which can almost entirely open so that they are only connected at the very bottom of the cone. The scales alternate in larger and smaller/narrower size/lengths (so usually there are 3 larger scales and 3 narrower scales). The cone can have a small triangular column/central axis starting from the inside base and extending outward. Cones persist on tree after seeds have been dispersed. Seeds are numerous, compressed, dark brown and 2-winged. The following author's photographs are credited: (Fastigiated specimen) Callitris columellaris (syn. C. glaucophylla) at Paynes Find, Western Australia Photo by: Hesperian Licensed under: CC BY 3.0