Callitris oblonga Rich.

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Credits

Article from New Trees by John Grimshaw & Ross Bayton

Recommended citation
'Callitris oblonga' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/callitris/callitris-oblonga/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Common Names

  • Tasmanian Cypress-pine
  • Pigmy Cypress-pine

Glossary

References

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Credits

Article from New Trees by John Grimshaw & Ross Bayton

Recommended citation
'Callitris oblonga' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/callitris/callitris-oblonga/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Shrub or small tree 5–8 m. Branches dense, erect, branchlets drooping at tips. Adult leaves to 4 mm, dark green to glaucous, prominently but not acutely keeled. Male strobili solitary, or two to five, to 2 mm. Female cones clustered, sessile or on short thick fruiting branchlets, rounded, 1–2.4 cm, longer than broad, persisting for several years; scales six, thick with short, thick apical point on dorsal surface. Seeds ~0.2 cm diameter, dark brown, with two to three wings. Elliot & Jones 1997, Hill 1998. Distribution AUSTRALIA: New South Wales, Tasmania. Habitat Sandy soil and low wet sites in the tablelands. USDA Hardiness Zone 8–9. Conservation status Vulnerable. Illustration Van Gelderen & van Hoey Smith 1996. Cross-reference K60. Taxonomic note Three subspecies have been named: subsp. oblonga from Tasmania, with female cones 1.8–2.4 1.4–2.2 cm; subsp. corangensis K.D. Hill, with female cones 1.4–1.8 1.0–1.5 cm, alternate scales half the length of intervening scales, very rare in New South Wales; and subsp. parva K.D. Hill, with female cones 1.2–1.5 1.0–1.4 cm, alternate scales two-thirds of the length of intervening scales, rare in New South Wales.

Apparently rare in cultivation, and not commercially available in our area at present, Callitris oblonga is a columnar conifer with stiffly ascending branches. The best individual observed for the current work is at Tregrehan, a rounded pillar of feathery foliage, standing 7 m tall next to a good C. rhomboidea – an attractive pair, dating from 1990. Several specimens at Logan, in a rather shaded situation, were grown from Johnstone 220, collected in 1992, and are now approximately 1.6 m tall. The species seems to have a toe-hold in American cultivation (PLANTS Database 2008). In Australia it is recommended for cooler climates, suggesting a potential useful adaptability in the northern hemisphere.