cypress pine

▪ plant

      any of the ornamental and timber shrubs and trees of two closely related genera (Callitris and Widdringtonia) of the family Cupressaceae.

      Fourteen species constitute the genus Callitris, whose taxonomy still requires detailed study; they are native to Australasia and grow best in arid localities. The mature leaves of the trees are borne in whorls of three; their tips are often thickened and curve inward. Callitris wood is often attractively marked and is resistant to termite attack. Tannin, resin, and fragrant oils are extracted from the trees. The most important timber trees of the genus are the Murray River pine, or white cypress pine (C. columellaris), found throughout Australia; the black cypress pine (C. endlicheri) of eastern Australia, also locally called black pine, red pine, and scrub pine; the Port Macquarie pine, or stringybark (C. macleayana), of southeastern Australia; and the common cypress pine (C. preissii) of southern Australia, a tree often shrubby near the seacoast, with one subspecies called slender pine and another known as turpentine pine. Most of these timber trees are about 25 metres (about 80 feet) tall, but the Port Macquarie pine, also planted as an ornamental, may reach 45 metres. Timber from the Oyster Bay pine (C. rhomboidea), a coastal tree of eastern and southern Australia, usually 9 to 15 metres tall, is used for local construction.

      The South African genus Widdringtonia includes four species of evergreen shrubs, or tall trees, sometimes called African cypresses. Some species produce fragrant, durable, yellowish or brownish wood of local importance, such as Clanwilliam cedar, or Cape cedar (W. juniperoides), a tree 6 to 18 metres tall, with wide-spreading branches, found in the Cedarburg Mountains. Willowmore cedar (W. schwarzii), a tree from Cape Province, is usually gnarled and about 15 metres tall under unfavourable growing conditions but may reach 30 metres and have a graceful shape in better habitats. The Berg cypress, or sapree-wood (W. cupressoides), usually is a shrub 2 to 4 metres high. The Mlanje cedar (W. whytei), up to 45 metres tall, is the most valuable timber tree of the genus.

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