Scientific name: Cupressus gigantea W.C.Cheng & L.K.Fu 1975

Synonyms:Cupressus torulosa var. gigantea (W.C.Cheng & L.K.Fu) Farjon

Common names:Tibetan cypress, Ju bai (Chinese)

Description

Tree to 45 m tall, with trunk to 3(-6) m in diameter. Bark bright reddish brown to grayish brown, fibrous, peeling in long thin strips to form furrows and ridges. Crown dense, conical, with short horizontal branches, flattening and thinning with age. Branchlets roundly four-angled, (1-)1.5-2 mm in diameter, branching from all four rows of leaves. Scale leaves on branchlets about 1 mm long, dark green or often bluish green with wax, the back often with an inconspicuous, inactive gland. Pollen cones 3-6(-8) mm long, about 2.5 mm wide, with (4-)6-8(-10) pairs of pollen scales, each scale with three to five pollen sacs. Seed cones slightly oblong, 1.5-2 cm long, dark brown with a grayish waxy coating, usually with six pairs of seed scales, each with a well-developed central, conical point on the face, the surface otherwise warty. Seeds four to eight per scale, 4-6 mm long, light brown, the wings very narrow. Cotyledons two.

Southeastern Xizang (Tibet), along the Brahmaputra (Yarlung Zangbo) River and its tributaries. Forming groves of large trees in a general matrix of shrubby vegetation along streamsides and on gentle slopes; 3,000-3,400(-3,650) m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Vulnerable

(The historic loss of up to 50% of mature individuals in the last three generations (60 to 115 years) places this taxon in the Vulnerable category under criterion A)

References

Farjon, A. (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.

Eckenwalder, J.E. (2009) Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press, Portland.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Cambridge, UK /Gland, Switzerland