Callitris columellaris


Callitris columellaris is a species of coniferous tree in the family Cupressaceae, native to most of Australia. Common names include White Cypress-pine, Murray River Cypress-pine, and Northern Cypress-pine. Callitris columellaris has become naturalised in Hawaii and in southern Florida.

Description

It is a small evergreen tree, 4–12 m high, with a trunk up to 50 cm diameter. The leaves are scale-like, 2–6 mm long and 0.5 mm broad, arranged in decussate whorls of three on very slender shoots 0.7–1 mm diameter. The cones are globose, 1–2 cm diameter, with six triangular scales, which open at maturity to release the seeds.

Taxonomy

Some authors divide it into three species, based largely on the foliage colour, with green plants predominating on the east coast of Australia, and glaucous plants in the interior, and on cone size, with on average marginally smaller cones in tropical areas. However, others point out that both the foliage colour and cone size is very variable, even from tree to tree in local populations, and maintain that it is impossible to distinguish three taxa within the species. When split into three species, the following names apply:
described the pollination of C.columellaris thus: "At pollination time when hundreds of cones go off together
with a sharp crack and spurt brown pollen a metre into the air, the whole
tree shivers."

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