Actinostrobus arenarius

Gardner 1964

Common names

Tamin or Bruce cypress-pine (Silba 1986).

Taxonomic notes

Syn: A. pyramidalis var. arenarius (C.A. Gardner) Silba 1984, Callitris arenaria (C.A. Gardner) E. Piggin et J.J. Bruhl 2010. Type: near Tammin, Western Australia, Nov-1920, C.A. Gardner 610; holo: PERTH (Hill 1998).

Description

Shrub or small tree to 5 m. tall. Branches spreading; branchlets short, nearly triangular in the cross-section. Juvenile leaves glaucous. Adult leaves in 3's, ovate, acute, spreading, loosely imbricate, scale-like, slightly keeled, to 12 mm long, glaucous or grey-green. Male cones cylindrical, 3-5 mm long, 1.5-2 mm diam, with 16-18 ovate or rounded scales narrowing in the center to a point. Female cones globular-conical, acute, 15-20 mm long, 15-20 mm diam., glaucous when young; scales 6, acute, erect, slightly spreading when open, not apically hooked. Seeds tan or yellowish-brown, 6-11 mm. long, 2-3 winged, wings 1-2 mm. wide, hilium 2 mm. long. Cotyledons 2, rarely 3, blue-green, 9-14 mm. long by 1.5-2 mm. wide, stem thin, apex oval and bluntly acute (Silba 1986, Hill 1998).

Distribution and Ecology

Western Australia: "Endemic and locally abundant in sandy soil or sandplain, from around Shark Bay south to the Wongan Hills district, south-western WA." Cited collections (presumably wild plants) include: 14.4 km E of Hiscox-Kialoch road on Marchagee road; 1 mile N of Watheroo; 44 miles S of Wannoo; and Kalbarri road near turnoff to Murchison Gorge (Hill 1998). You can also create a highly detailed map, and access specimen data, using the "search" function at the Australia Virtual Herbarium.

Zone 10 (cold hardiness limit between -1°C and +4.4°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).

Big tree

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

Citations

Gardner, C.A. 1964. Contributiones Florae Australiae Occidentalis XIII. Cupressaceae. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 47: 54.

Piggin, J., and J.J. Bruhl. 2010. Phylogeny reconstruction of Callitris Vent. (Cupressaceae) and its allies leads to inclusion of Actinostrobus within Callitris. Australian Systematic Botany 23:69-93.

See also

Blackall, W.E. and B.J. Grieve. 1954. How to Know W. Austral. Wildflowers. 1: 6, as A. p. vammophila (Illustrations).

Farjon (2005) provides a detailed account, with illustrations.

Krussmann, G. 1985. Manual of Cultivated Conifers 2nd edition, 47, fig. 15 (Illustration).