Athrotaxis laxifolia

Hooker 1843

Common names

Summit or yellow-twig Athrotaxis (Silba 1986).

Taxonomic notes

Syn: A. doniana Henk. & Hochst. (Silba 1986). These trees are thought to possibly be a hybrid of Athrotaxis cupressoides and Athrotaxis selaginoides because individual trees are only found in areas where both of the other species occur. The foliage is also intermediate in appearance between the other two species (ANBG [no date]).

Description

Monoecious tree with a conical, sparsely branched crown, 12-21 m. tall. Bark dark orange-brown, deeply fissured, flaky, exfoliating. Seasonal branchlets pale or bright yellow. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, slightly spreading, acute, 6 mm. long, with 2 white bands of stomata below, margins entire and translucent, apex incurved. Male cone with 2 pollen sacs. Female cone produced in pairs, densely clustered on ends of short shoots, ovoid, bright yellow or pale, 1.5-3 cm. wide, on a peduncle 2-3 mm. long; scales thin, triangular, papery, wavy, glaucous at the base, without prominent umbos. Seeds with 2 narrow wings (Silba 1986).

Range

Australia: Tasmania: Mountain rainforests at elevations of 900 to 1200 m. The seeds are wind-dispersed (ANBG [no date]).

Big tree

Oldest

A maximum age of 1300 years is given by ANBG [no date], with no supporting data.

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

The timber is soft and pale red. It is not used commercially because the trees are not common and grow as isolated individuals (ANBG [no date]).

Observations

Remarks

"The species name laxifolia refers to the wider spacing of the leaves, compared to the spacing of leaves of other species belonging to the same genus" (ANBG [no date]).

Citations

Brown, M.J., J.B. Kirkpatrick and A. Moscal. 1983. An atlas of Tasmania's endemic flora. Hobart: Tasmania Conservation Trust. ISBN 0-9599816-8-3.

See also

Farjon (2005).

Gymnosperms of New Zealand.