Patagonian cypress
| Patagonian cypress | ||||||||||||
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Patagonian cypress ( Fitzroya cupressoides ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Fitzroya | ||||||||||||
| Hook. f. ex Lindl. | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Fitzroya cupressoides | ||||||||||||
| ( Molina ) IMJohnst. |
The Patagonian cypress or Alerce ( Fitzroya cupressoides ) is the only species of the genus Fitzroya from the cypress family (Cupressaceae). It is native to South America . It is listed as one of only seven tree species in Appendix I of the Washington Convention on Endangered Species . International trade with the Alerce is therefore categorically prohibited.
description
The Patagonian cypress is an evergreen tree . The Patagonian cypress grows as a mighty tree in its homeland and can reach heights of around 45 to 50 m and trunk diameters of 3 to 5 m. She can reach a very old age. The oldest Patagonian cypress could be dated to an age of 3600 years. The Patagonian cypress grows very slowly. The bark is reddish to dark brown and deeply cracked. Young trees have an approximately conical crown ; the crown loosens with age. The large branches point straight up while the twigs are drooping. The flaky leaves are dark blue-green and 2 to 4 mm long. There are three of them in whorls and have one or two white stripes on both sides.
Fitzroya cupressoides is dioecious (dioecious), so male and female cones are on different trees. The single axillary near the branch tips, male cones are cylindrical. The individually standing, female cones have nine cone scales in three whorls: the cone scales of the lower whorl are sterile and the smallest, the cone scales of the middle whorl are larger and also sterile or they each have an ovule in the armpits. The three upper cone scales carry two to six ovules. At the end of the cone are three spherical structures that secrete a fragrant resin when it is ripening. The cones, which ripen in the first year, are spherical with a diameter of 5 to 8 mm. The egg-shaped seeds have two, rarely three wings. The seedlings have two seed leaves ( cotyledons ).
Systematics
The Chilean botanist Juan Ignacio Molina described this plant species in 1782 under the name Pinus cupressoides . The American botanist Ivan Murray Johnston referred to this Basionym , but placed this species under the name Fitzroya cupressoides in its own genus; its first description was published in 1924. The generic name honors the British naval officer and meteorologist Robert FitzRoy (1805-1865), captain of the 'Beagle' on the voyage with Charles Darwin . He was also Governor of New Zealand from 1843–1845.
Other synonyms are: Abies cupressoides (Molina) Poir. , Cupresstellata patagonica (Hook. F.) J. Nelson. , Fitzroya patagonica Hook. f. ex Lindl. , Libocedrus tetragona (Hook.) Endl. , Thuja tetragona Hooker .
distribution
This species is native to the southern Andes of South America; it occurs only in southern Chile (in the Región de los Lagos ) and Argentina (provinces of Chubut , Neuquén and Río Negro ).
In Central Europe it is not hardy enough. It thrives quite satisfactorily in the British Isles , where it reaches heights of about 20 m.
Special single copies
The largest officially registered specimen in Argentina is in the Los Alerces National Park on the northern foothills of Lake Menendez, near Puerto Sagrario. This tree is 57 m high and has a trunk diameter of 2.2 m. Its age is estimated to be 2600 years. Park rangers are rumored to have even taller specimens on the southern edge of Lake Menendez, which is not open to the public. In Chile's "Monumento Natural Alerce Costero", in Region X, south of Valdivia, there is a mighty Alerce tree with a diameter of 4.26 m.
The age of a specimen was determined to be 3622 years. This is the second highest age of a single tree that has ever been precisely determined. On this specimen, together with even older wooden finds of Patagonian cypresses, a dendrochronology could be built that covers 5666 years and thus represents the longest chronology in the southern hemisphere that has been secured by tree ring analyzes. There are almost certainly older specimens than the 3,622 year old tree. However, these specimens are hollow, so that an exact age determination is not possible.
swell
literature
- Christopher J. Earle A lot of information on the species in The Gymnosperm Database, 2007. (English)
- Colin Tudge : The Secret Life of Trees. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 978-0-14-101293-3 .
- Alan Mitchell, translated and edited by Gerd Krüssmann: The forest and park trees of Europe. An identification book for dendrologists and nature lovers . Paul Parey, Hamburg 1975, ISBN 3-490-05918-2 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ CITES Appendices I to III , accessed April 11, 2008
- ↑ Tudges, p 107
- ^ Armin Jagel, Veit Dörken: Morphology and morphogenesis of the seed cones of the Cupressaceae - part III. Callitroideae . Bulletin of the Cupressus Conservation Project, Vol. 4 (3), 2015, pp. 91-103 ( PDF )
- ↑ Contr. Gray Herb. 70:91. 1924; see entry at GRIN Taxonomy for Plants.
- ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names . Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2016. ISBN 978-3-946292-10-4 , page 353. doi : 10.3372 / epolist2016
- ^ A. Lara, R. Villalba: A 3620-year temperature record from Fitzroya cupressoides tree rings in southern South America . Science 260, 1993; Pages 1104-1106.
- ^ Tudge, p. 107
Web links
- Entry in GRIN Taxonomy for Plants (English)
- Fitzroya cupressoides inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Premoli, A., Quiroga, P., Souto, C. & Gardner, M., 2010. Retrieved November 30, 2013.
- The Oldest, Slowest Rainforests in the World? Massive Biomass and Slow Carbon Dynamics of Fitzroya cupressoides Temperate Forests in Southern Chile