Calocedrus decurrens
Calocedrus decurrens | |
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Tree in Yosemite National Park, California | |
Conservation status
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Division: | Pinophyta |
Class: | Pinopsida |
Order: | Pinales |
Family: | Cupressaceae |
Genus: | Calocedrus |
Species: | C. decurrens
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Binomial name | |
Calocedrus decurrens | |
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Distribution of Calocedrus decurrens in the Western United States | |
Synonyms[2] | |
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Calocedrus decurrens, with the common names incense cedar[3] and California incense-cedar[4] (syn. Libocedrus decurrens Torr.), is a species of conifer native to western North America. It is the most widely known species in the genus, and is often simply called 'incense cedar' without the regional qualifier.[5][6][7]
Description[]
Calocedrus decurrens is a large tree, typically reaching heights of 40–60 m (130–195 ft) and a trunk diameter of up to 1.2 m (3.9 ft). The largest known tree, located in Klamath National Forest, Siskiyou County, California,[8] is 157.42 ft (47.98 m) tall with a 472-inch (12.0-meter) circumference trunk and a 57.42-foot (17.50-meter) spread.[8] It has a broad conic crown of spreading branches. The bark is orange-brown weathering grayish, smooth at first, becoming fissured and exfoliating in long strips on the lower trunk on old trees.
The foliage is produced in flattened sprays with scale-like leaves 2–15 mm (3⁄32–19⁄32 in) long; they are arranged in opposite decussate pairs, with the successive pairs closely then distantly spaced, so forming apparent whorls of four; the facial pairs are flat, with the lateral pairs folded over their bases. The leaves are bright green on both sides of the shoots with only inconspicuous stomata.[7] The foliage, when crushed, gives off an aroma somewhat akin to shoe-polish.
The seed cones are 20–35 mm (3⁄4–1+3⁄8 in) long, pale green to yellow, with four (rarely six) scales arranged in opposite decussate pairs; the outer pair of scales each bears two winged seeds, the inner pair(s) usually being sterile and fused together in a flat plate. The cones turn orange to yellow-brown when mature about 8 months after pollination. The pollen cones are 6–8 mm (1⁄4–5⁄16 in) long.[7]
Distribution[]
The bulk of the range is in the United States, from central western Oregon through most of California and the extreme west of Nevada, and also a short distance into northwest Mexico in northern Baja California.
It grows at altitudes of 50–2,900 metres (160–9,510 ft)
Ecology[]
This tree is the preferred host of a wood wasp, Syntexis libocedrii a species which lays its eggs in the smoldering wood immediately after a forest fire.[6] The tree is also host to incense-cedar mistletoe (Phoradendron libocedri), a parasitic plant which can often be found hanging from its branches.[9]
The incense cedar is one of the most fire and drought tolerant plants in California. Although the tree is killed by hot, stand-replacing crown fire, it spreads rapidly after lower intensity burns.[10] This has given the incense cedar a competitive advantage over other species such as the bigcone Douglas-fir in recent years.
Uses[]
The wood is the primary material for wooden pencils, because it is soft and tends to sharpen easily without forming splinters.
Native Americans[]
The Native Americans of California use the plant in traditional medicine[how?], basket making, hunting bows, building materials, and to produce fire by friction.[11]
The Maidu Concow tribe name for the plant is hö'-tä (Konkow language).[12]
Cultivation[]
Calocedrus decurrens is cultivated by plant nurseries as an ornamental tree, for planting in gardens and parks. It is used in traditional, xeriscapic, native plant, and wildlife gardens; and used in designed natural landscaping and habitat restoration projects in California. It is valued for its columnar form and evergreen foliage textures.
The tree is also grown in gardens and parks in cool summer climates, including the Pacific Northwest in the Northwestern United States and British Columbia, eastern Great Britain and continental Northern Europe. In these areas it can develop an especially narrow columnar crown, an unexplained consequence of the cooler climatic conditions that is rare in trees within its warm summer natural range in the California Floristic Province. Other cultivated species from the family Cupressaceae can have similar crown forms.[13] This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit, [14] as has the cultivar 'Berrima Gold'.[15]
See also[]
- Cedar wood
- List of California native plants
- Plants used in traditional Native American medicine
Gallery[]
Incense cedar tree in McMinnville, Oregon
Incense cedar trunks in Lassen Volcanic National Park, California.
Cones and seeds
Foliage and pollen cones
Opened cones
Young female cones
References[]
- ^ Farjon, A. (2013). "Calocedrus decurrens". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013: e.T42210A2962006. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T42210A2962006.en.
- ^ "Calocedrus decurrens (Torr.) Florin". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 6 January 2017 – via The Plant List.
- ^ "Calocedrus decurrens". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
- ^ BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
- ^ Thieret, John W. (1993). "Calocedrus decurrens". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). 2. New York and Oxford – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Powers, Robert F.; Oliver, William W. (1990). "Libocedrus decurrens". In Burns, Russell M.; Honkala, Barbara H. (eds.). Conifers. Silvics of North America. Washington, D.C.: United States Forest Service (USFS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). 1 – via Southern Research Station (www.srs.fs.fed.us).
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Farjon, A. (2005). Monograph of Cupressaceae and Sciadopitys. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ISBN 1-84246-068-4
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Incensecedar (Calocedrus decurrens)". American Forests. 2017-01-04. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
- ^ Hawksworth, Frank G.; Wiens, Delbert (1993). "Phoradendron libocedri". In Hickman, James C. (ed.). The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University and Jepson Herbaria.
- ^ Franklin, Janet; Spears-Lebrun, Linnea A.; Deutschman, Douglas H.; Marsden, Kim. 2006. Impact of a high-intensity fire on mixed evergreen and mixed conifer forests in the Peninsular Ranges of southern California, USA. Forest Ecology and Management. 235(1-3): 18-29. [65016]
- ^ University of Michigan—Dearborn: Native American Ethnobotany of Calocedrus decurrens
- ^ Chesnut, Victor King (1902). Plants used by the Indians of Mendocino County, California. Government Printing Office. p. 404. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
- ^ Mitchell, A. F. (1996). Alan Mitchell's Trees of Britain. Collins ISBN 0-00-219972-6.
- ^ "Calocedrus decurrens". RHS. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
- ^ "Calocedrus decurrens 'Berrima Gold'". RHS. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
External links[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Calocedrus decurrens. |
- Calflora
- Jepson eFlora, The Jepson Herbarium, University of California, Berkeley
- Calocedrus decurrens in the CalPhotos photo database, University of California, Berkeley
- IUCN Red List least concern species
- Calocedrus
- Least concern plants
- Trees of Baja California
- Trees of the Southwestern United States
- Trees of the Northwestern United States
- Flora of California
- Flora of Oregon
- Flora of the Cascade Range
- Flora of the Klamath Mountains
- Flora of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.)
- Natural history of the California Coast Ranges
- Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges
- Natural history of the Transverse Ranges
- Plants used in traditional Native American medicine
- Least concern flora of North America
- Least concern flora of the United States