MEDITERRANEAN CYPRESS: A TREE WITH MANY NAMES

This evergreen-conifer tree has many synonyms. Examples are the following:  Cupressus sempervirens = [“Mediterranean cypress” a.k.a  "Italian cypress"], "Tuscan cypress," "Persian cypress," “pencil pine," “tiny towers,” and/or “green spine.” 

This kind of tree tapers quickly (thus it is pencil shaped). It is a very narrow (4 to 5 feet wide) tree, but it can be very tall (commonly reported as up to 115 feet tall (= 35 m). These kind of trees rapidly increase their height (about 2 to 3 feet per year), but eventually their growth rate slows down. Their roots are primarily vertical and usually not disruptive to nearby walls. In my neighborhood in southern California (northern Los Angeles Count), there are quite a few localized stands of the "Mediterranean Cypress." The tallest ones are about 80+ feet tall (estimated height) or more, as they have been growing for many decades.

A cluster of this cypress in Southern California, with a telephone pole, for scale. I estimate this cluster to be at least 70 feet tall.

The foliage of this type of tree consists of clusters of short needles on upright branches. Shown is a cluster, 7 inches long, 5.5 inches wide.

A view showing only the uppermost 10 feet of a cluster of these trees. Their seed cones are located only in the uppermost part of each plant.

This plant does not flower, but in the late summer and fall, it produces small, roundish, green to brown (can be copper color) seed cones, which are initially closed--but open up somewhat later. Shown here are representative seed cones from the upper part of the tree. The cones are about 1.5 inches in height and ¾ inch in diameter.

Shown above is a dried-up and cracked seed cone, ¾ inch height and by ¾ inch in diameter. Dried cones are used for crafts and decorations. The cones are tightly held together at first, but eventually, they fall apart.

The fossil record of this genus is poorly known. The geologically earliest known occurrence of Cupressus in the rock record is Oligocene in age (very approximately 30 million years old) in South China (Shi, G. et al., 2011). A Paleocene fossil of Cupressoconus from Britain is probably an earlier representative of genus Cupressus (Shi et al, 2011).

References Cited or consulted

Belger, T.J. 1984. Roadside plants of southern California. Mountain Press Publishing Co., Missoula. 157 pp.

Shi, G. and others, 2011. Cupressus foliage shoots and associated seed cones from the Oligocne Ningming Formation of Cuangzi, south China. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 166(3):325-334. (free pdf available online)

Watts, T. Desert tree finder. Natural Study Guild. 61 pp. [note: an inexpensive “pocket

book” for hikers].