Pherosphaera fitzgeraldi
Dwarf mountain pine
Dwarf mountain pine
Wikipedia links: Gymnosperms > Cupressales > Podocarpaceae > Pherosphaera fitzgeraldi
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Common name: Dwarf mountain pine
Also, Blue Mountains pine
Conservation status: Critically endangered
Only 7 populations, containing a total of 455 individual plants are known
This conifer may be threatened by habitat loss, due to increased urbanization on the plateau
In the past hundred years, stream water quality has deteriorated, due to urban sprawl in the Blue Mountains
However, the population of Pherosphaera fitzgeraldii seems to have been stable over the last fifty years
Etymology:
Cones and seed:
Leaves:
Has tiny narrow leaves 2 or 3 mm in length
Stem & branches:
The branchlets droop
Roots:
Habit:
It grows as a small shrub to 1 m high
Habitat:
The entire natural habitat is in the Blue Mountains, from Katoomba to Wentworth Falls, growing almost exclusively in the splash zones of waterfalls, and on the southern aspect of sandstone nearby
Distribution:
It is found only in NSW
Additional notes:
Taxonomy
It was first described by Ferdinand von Mueller in his 1881 work Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae as Dacrydium fitzgeraldii, naming it after its collector, one R. Fitzgerald
It was renamed Microstrobos fitzgeraldii by Lawrie Johnson and Garden in 1951, and Pherosphaera fitzgeraldii by Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1882
Sources of information: