''Callitris columellaris'' is a species of

conifer Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All ext ...

ous

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

in the family

Cupressaceae Cupressaceae is a conifer family, the cypress family, with worldwide distribution. The family includes 27–30 genera (17 monotypic), which include the junipers and redwoods, with about 130–140 species in total. They are monoecious, subdioeci ...

(cypress family), native to most of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. Common names include white cypress, white cypress-pine, Murray River cypress-pine, and northern cypress-pine. ''Callitris columellaris'' has become

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

and in southern

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

.Florida plant atlas: ''Callitris columellaris''
/ref>Florida plant atlas details: ''Callitris columellaris''
/ref>

Description

It is a small

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

, 4–12 m (rarely to 20 m) high, with a trunk up to 50 cm diameter. The

leaves A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

are scale-like, 2–6 mm long and 0.5 mm broad, arranged in decussate whorls of three on very slender shoots 0.7–1 mm diameter. The

cones A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines conn ...

are globose, 1–2 cm diameter, with six triangular scales, which open at maturity to release the seeds.

Taxonomy

Some authors (e.g. Thompson & Johnson 1986, followed by the ''Flora of Australia Online'') divide it into three species (or occasionally as

varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

), based largely on the foliage colour, with green plants predominating on the east coast of Australia, and glaucous plants in the interior, and on cone size, with on average marginally smaller cones in tropical areas (north of 22°S). However, others (e.g. Blake 1959, Farjon 2005) point out that both the foliage colour and cone size is very variable, even from tree to tree in local populations, and maintain that it is impossible to distinguish three taxa within the species. When split into three species, the following names apply: *''Callitris columellaris'' F.Muell. ''sensu stricto'' – coastal northeast

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, southeast

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

. *''Callitris glaucophylla'' Joy Thomps. & L.A.S.Johnson (syn. ''C. columellaris'' var. ''campestris'' Silba; ''C. glauca'' nom. inval.; ''C. hugelii'' nom. inval.) – throughout most of the southern half of Australia. *''Callitris intratropica'' R.T.Baker & H.G.Smith (syn. ''C. columellaris'' var. ''intratropica'' Silba) – northern Queensland, northern

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

, northern

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

Pollination

Eric Rolls described the pollination of ''C.columellaris'' thus: "At pollination time when hundreds of cones go off together with a sharp crack and spurt brown pollen a metre into the air, the whole tree shivers."

Gallery

File:Goldfields Pine in Primer of Forestry Poole 1922.png, Mature tree, circa 1920 File:Callitris columellaris foliage.jpg, ''C. columellaris'' foliage File:Callitris columellaris bark.jpg, ''C. columellaris'' bark File:Callitris glaucophylla 2012-06-20 10.59.13.jpg, Mature tree File:Callitris glaucophylla P6090089.jpg, Green fruit, Narrabri Shire File:Callitris glaucophylla P6090083.jpg, Mature fruit, Narrabri Shire

References

External links

* Blake, S. T. (1959). New or noteworthy plants, chiefly from Queensland. ''Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland'' 70 (6): 33–46. * Farjon, A. (2005). ''Monograph of Cupressaceae and Sciadopitys'', pp. 507–513. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. . * Thompson, J. & Johnson, L. A. S. (1986). ''Callitris glaucophylla, Australia's 'White Cypress Pine' – a new name for an old species. ''Telopea'' 2 (6): 731–736. * * * * *
Gymnosperm Database - ''Callitris columellaris''

Gymnosperm Database - ''Callitris glaucophylla''

Gymnosperm Database - ''Callitris intratropica''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1988747 columellaris Pinales of Australia Trees of Australia Trees of Mediterranean climate Flora of Western Australia Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales Drought-tolerant trees Least concern flora of Australia Least concern biota of Queensland Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller