Flora of New Zealand Series

macrocarpa

Medium-sized tree (sometimes very large in cultivation), pyramidal at first, with broad crown when mature. Bark thick, reddish brown beneath, often becoming whitish on surface. Adult foliage in dense, dark green masses, aromatic when bruised; branchlets systems not flattened. 1-3-year shoots terete, reddish brown, with lvs appressed except for the cuspidate, pungent, c. 1 mm long apex. Lvs on ultimate twigs uniform, 1-2 mm long, broadly rhombic-ovate, tightly appressed, obtuse or subacute. ♂ strobili 1.5-3 mm long, broad-oblong to subglobose. Mature ♀ cones very shortly stalked or sometimes subsessile, (1.5)-2-3.5 × (1.2)-1.5 × 3.2 cm, subglobose or broadly oblong-ellipsoid, shining brown; scales 8-14; umbo with small, obtuse, crescent-shaped process; seeds usually 10-20 per scale, of irregular shape, with small resinous tubercles.

N.; S.: lowland, especially towards the coast and in northern areas.

Monterey Peninsula, California 1904

Occasional and scattered cultivation escape in the vicinity of planted trees, mainly in open, waste ground.

Macrocarpa is almost ubiquitous in cultivation in lowland areas wherever there are farms and settlements, this being the commonest shelter belt and hedge tree. Untrimmed trees cone freely, although seedlings are uncommon. It is also sometimes grown as a plantation tree, mainly in the North Id and E. and S. areas of the South Id.

The related and rather similar Mediterranean cypress, C. sempervirens L., is very commonly cultivated, usually in its columnar form, and has been recorded wild but this is unsubstantiated. From C. macrocarpa it is distinguished by the thinner twigs and ± ellipsoid cones which are shining yellowish grey.

In addition, C. arizonica Greene, C. glabra Sudw. and C. lusitanica Miller agg. are very commonly planted as ornamentals, for windbreaks, and in small plantations. Seedlings sometimes occur around planted trees, but these spp. do not seem to be naturalised although there is an unconfirmed report of C. arizonica being wild in N.Z. C. macrocarpa may be best distinguished from them by a combination of: lvs lacking resin glands and usually blunter; cones 2-3.5 cm long, green when young and shining brown when mature; scales 8-14, possessing a thick umbo process; seeds tuberculate.