Callitris arenaria

Location & distribution maps

Plant description

Common name:         Sandplain Cypress  

• Also, Bruce cypress, Bruce cypress-pine, and tamin 

Conservation status: . . .

Etymology:   

• The name ‘callitris’ is derived from the Greek calli (meaning beautiful) and treis (meaning three), because their scale-like leaves are in whorls of three

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Cones and seed:                            

• The cylindrical male cones are up to half a cm long

• The female cones are up to 2 cm long with pointed scales

• They contain winged seeds

Leaves:         

• The scale-like, gray-green leaves are up to 1.2 cm long and grow in threes

Stem & branches: 

• It has spreading branches with small branchlets

Roots:         

Habit:        

• A shrub or a tree growing up to 5 m tall.

Habitat:   

• This plant grows in colonies on sandplains, as part of a low scrubby plant community known as kwongan; associated plant species include proteaceae of the genus Banksia, Conospermum, Grevillea and Hakea, myrtaceae of the genus Melaleuca, various Acacia species and the conifers Callitris preissii and C. roei

• Some of its habitat has been degraded or destroyed

• The Bruce cypress colonises disturbed areas, forming stands on road verges and areas cleared for agriculture.[6

Distribution:                  

• It is endemic to Western Australia

• The plant is still widespread and grows in several protected areas

• It is found from Lake Grace north to the Murchison River

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

• Western Australian State Botanist Charles Gardner described the species in 1964, from a specimen collected at Tammin, Western Australia

• The species name is derived from the Latin word arena "sand", relating to where the sandplain cypress grows

• A 2010 study of the genera Actinostrobus and Callitris found that all three species of Actinostrobus lay within the current concept of Callitris based on analysis of 42 morphological and anatomical characters, hence Actinostrobus arenarius was renamed Callitris arenaria

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actinostrobus_arenarius (2023)