families Flashcards
Cupressaceae
The Cypress Family
cypress habit
Habit: Shrub, tree, generally evergreen; monoecious or dioecious.
cypress leaf
- simple, cauline
- alternate or opposite (either +- 4-ranked) or whorled in 3s (6-ranked)
- linear or scale-, awl- or needle-like (sometimes linear and awl-like on 1 pl, or on juvenile or injured plants),
- generally decurrent, covering young stems.
Chamaecyparis lawsoniana
Port Orford Cedar
Calocedrus decurrens
the Incense Cedar
Hesperocyparis macrocarpa
the Monterey Cypress
Cupressus sempervirens
the Italian Cypress
Thuja plicata
Western Red Cedar
Calocedrus decurrens
the Incense Cedar
cypress major genera
- Juniperus (junipers)
- Hesperocyparis (cypresses)
- Thuja (Arbor-vitae, Western Red Cedar)
cypress distribution
- cosmopolitan
- several genera monotypic
- endemic
cosmopolitan
all over the earth
the Monterey Cypress
Hesperocyparis macrocarpa
- confined to 2 groves near Monterey, California
- in native setting, is the rarest Cypress in North America
- widely planted along the coast
- very pretty and picturesque
Cypress Pollen Cone
axillary or terminal
the Italian Cypress
Cupressus sempervirens
- used for sarcophagi (coffin) of Egyptians and statues of Greek Gods
- infusion used as foot-bath for smelly feet
- seen throughout campus
the Common Juniper
Juniperus communis
- “berries”
- used for flavoring of gin (Dutch word “genever” means Juniper)
- berries eaten with meat, removes the “gamey” taste from venison
the Giant Sequoia
Sequoiadendron giganteum
- have largest biomass of any organism (largest living thing on earth)
- state tree of California
the Coast Redwood
- Sequoia sempervirens*
- tallest tree in the world
- most common conifer on the UOP campus
- grow on fog coast
- state tree of California
the Port Orford Cedar
Chamaecyparis lawsoniana
- very important timber tree from the Pacific Northwest
- grow to 200 feet in height
- highly valued, expensive (single tree can be worth $50,000, Japan highly values bc resembles native hinoki cedar)
- Native Americans use them to make sweat lodges
- major use as internal separators in batteries bc wood has good electrical resistance
the Dawn Redwood
Metasequoia glyptostroboides
(next to sequoia, slender cones)
meta = next to
glypto = slender
stroboides = cone
- a living fossil (thought to be extinct but found to be alive) found only in a few groves in China
- 1 on Campus, near the Pacific Technology Customer Support Center
- UNQIUE: deciduous, lose their leaves in winter which is strange for conifers
the Western Red Cedar
Thuja plicata
- weather & insect resistant wood
- used for shingles and totem poles
- extreme northwest
the Incense Cedar
Calocedrus decurrens
- ornamental tree
- wood is used to make pencils
- several on campus, near South-West and Khoury Halls
The Japanese Cedar (Sugi)
Cryptomeria japonica
- implicated in the downfall of Shogun Hideyoshi (1536-1598), after he ordered the felling of an especially large, old tree (tree blocked road and he cut it down and die right after)
the Pacific Yew
Taxus brevifolia
- in mountains of northern half of California
- original source of Taxol = a major drug in cancer treatment
(In 1962, botanists working for the National Cancer Institute collected Taus brevifolia in Washington state) - bark has Taxol which is highly toxic to human cells = DEADLY
- red, fleshy arils surrounding but not fully enclosing the seeds.
- renowned for its value in making bows (for arrows)
