Sahara cypress
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Sahara cypress ( Cupressus dupreziana ) |
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| Cupressus dupreziana | ||||||||||||
| A. Camus |
The Saharan Cypress ( Cupressus dupreziana ) is a plant of the family of the cypress family (Cupressaceae). It is one of the rarest species within this family. The conifer native to the Algerian Sahara is able to cope with very harsh site conditions.
description
The Sahara cypress is similar to the related Mediterranean cypress , but differs in its clearly blue colored leaves with a white resin stain on each leaf. The smaller shoots are often in one plane. It has smaller cones that are only 1.5 to 2.5 cm long.
The atlas cypress is even more similar . It occurs in Morocco. It is considered by some authors as a variety of the Sahara cypress ( Cupressus dupreziana var. Atlantica (Gaussen) Silba ). Other authors consider them a separate species: Cupressus atlantica Gaussen .
The tallest living tree is 20 m high. The majority of the existing trees are very old (estimates are more than 2000 years), while the offspring is very low due to the increasing drought in the Sahara .
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 22.
Occurrence
The Sahara cypress is endemic to the Tassili-n'Ajjer massif in the central Sahara of Algeria. It grows there at altitudes between 1000 and 1800 meters. There can be frost down to −7 ° C here. Together with the Sahara myrtle ( Myrtus nivellei ) it forms a sparse woody vegetation, 300 km from the nearest tree. The location is characterized by sandstone rocks and, due to the altitude, has a little more water than the surrounding desert. The annual precipitation is only 33 mm. The site is ecologically isolated by the surrounding desert.
Depending on the source, there are only 153 to 213 Sahara cypress trees at this single location. The few specimens in their natural habitat are part of the UNESCO - World Heritage and strongly threatened Tassili n'Ajjer extinction.
Multiplication
Possibly as a result of its isolation and low population, the Saharan cypress has developed a unique male apomixis reproductive system. The seeds only contain the genetic information of the male pollen , the female “parent” only provides nutrients. The atlas cypress does not have this property.
use
The Sahara cypress is occasionally cultivated in southern and western Europe, partly with the aim of preserving the species, partly as an ornamental plant .
swell
- Christopher J. Earle: Cupressus dupreziana. In: The Gymnosperm Database. February 27, 2011, accessed October 27, 2011 .
literature
- Colin Tudge : The secret life of trees. Penguin books, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-101293-5 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Cupressus. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved March 23, 2019.
- ^ Cupressus dupreziana at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed August 9, 2016.
- ↑ Christian Pichot, Bruno Fady, Isabelle Hochu: Lack of mother tree alleles in zymograms of Cupressus dupreziana A. Camus embryos. In: Annals of forest science. Volume 57, No. 1, 2000, pp. 17-22, DOI: 10.1051 / forest: 2000108 .
Web links
- Images of natural occurrences in the Sahara.
- Cupressus dupreziana inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: F. Abdoun, M. Gardner, A. Griffiths, 2012. Retrieved October 16, 2013.