Mexican bald cypress
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Mexican bald cypress ( Taxodium mucronatum ), |
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| Taxodium mucronatum | ||||||||||||
| Ten. |
The Mexican cypress ( Taxodium mucronatum called), and Montezuma cypress Mexican cypress and Ahuehuete, is one of the two plant species in the genus of bald cypress ( Taxodium ) from the family of the cypress family (Cupressaceae). Ahuehuete is a Nahuatl word that is translated in Spanish as “viejos de agua” (literally “the ancients of the water”) and refers to the aging and water needs of this tree species. The Mexican bald cypress has been Mexico's national tree since 1921 .
description
The Mexican bald cypress is a large, evergreen or semi-evergreen tree that usually reaches heights of growth of 40 meters and trunk diameters of 1 to 3 meters. The leaves, arranged in a spiral and lying on top of each other in two horizontal layers, are ten to twenty millimeters long and one to two millimeters wide.
The Mexican bald cypress is single-sexed ( monoecious ). The oval cones have a length of 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters and a diameter of 1 to 2 centimeters.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 22.
The Tule tree
The Mexican bald cypress holds a world record, because a recent specimen is the well-known tree with the largest diameter, i.e. the thickest tree in the world . This stately tree is called " Árbol del Tule " (Spanish "Tree of Tule") or "El Gigante" (Spanish "the giant") and stands in the courtyard of the church in the town of Santa María del Tule in the state of Oaxaca , Mexico . It has a trunk diameter of 11.42 meters (other source: 14.05 meters) and a trunk circumference of 58 meters. However, this tree is in competition with a giant sequoia tree ( Sequoiadendron giganteum ), which with a specified diameter of up to 12 m at the base is also said to be the "thickest tree on earth". It is also not clear whether the Tule tree is an individual single tree or a group of trees that has grown together.
Like most members of the Cupressaceae family, this bald cypress species is considered to be long-lived. The "Tree of Tule" is said to be 2000 years old (other sources write between 4000 and 6000 years).
distribution
The species is native to large parts of Mexico. The southernmost occurrence is found in the highlands of southern Mexico and the northernmost natural site is in the southernmost part of Texas (USA) (in the lower valley of the Rio Grande ). Also Guatemala is given as a locality. Natural occurrences are mainly found near rivers.
Systematics
Synonyms for Taxodium mucronatum Ten. are Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich. var. mucronatum (Ten.) A. Henry , Taxodium mexicanum Carr. , Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich. var. mexicanum (Carr.) Gordon , Cuprespinnata mexicana (Carr.) J. Nelson .
swell
- Christopher J. Earle: Taxodium mucronatum. In: The Gymnosperm Database. December 21, 2010, accessed October 24, 2011 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Tropicos. [1]
- ↑ Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Taxodium - data sheet at World Checklist of Selected Plant Families of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Last accessed on August 11, 2016.
Web links
- Report on the thickest tree (pictures). (span.)
- Taxodium mucronatum in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Farjon, 2003. Retrieved on 12 May, 2006.