Results for Chamaecyparis
On this page:
 
Gardener's Dictionary:

Chamaecyparis


The botanical name for false cypress.

chamaecyparis

 
 
WordNet: Chamaecyparis
Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a genus of Chamaecyparis
  Synonym: genus Chamaecyparis


 
Wikipedia: Chamaecyparis
Chamaecyparis
Chamaecyparis pisifera foliage and cones
Chamaecyparis pisifera foliage and cones
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Pinales
Family: Cupressaceae
Genus: Chamaecyparis
Spach
Species

See text

Chamaecyparis is genus of conifers in the family Cupressaceae, native to eastern Asia and western and eastern North America. It is one of several genera within the Cupressaceae that have the common name cypress; for others, see cypress (disambiguation). Synonyms include Retinispora Siebold & Zucc. and Retinospora Carr.

They are medium-sized to large evergreen trees growing to 20-70 m tall, with foliage in flat sprays. The leaves are of two types, needle-like juvenile leaves on young seedlings up to a year old, and scale-like adult leaves. The cones are globose to oval, with 8-14 scales arranged in opposite decussate pairs; each scale bears 2-4 small seeds.

There are five or six species, depending on taxonomic opinion:

C. taiwanensis is treated by many authors as a variety of C. obtusa (as C. obtusa var. formosana).

Another species which used to be included in this genus, as Chamaecyparis nootkatensis, has now been transferred on the basis of strong genetic and morphological evidence to the separate genus Callitropsis as Callitropsis nootkatensis, or back to Cupressus nootkatensis (the name it was originally described under in 1824).

Chamaecyparis species are used as food plants by the larva of some Lepidoptera species including Juniper Pug and Pine Beauty.

Cultivation and uses

Four species (C. lawsoniana, C. obtusa, C. pisifera, and C. thyoides) are of considerable importance as ornamental trees in horticulture; several hundred cultivars have been selected for various traits, including dwarf size, yellow, blue, silvery or variegated foliage, permanent retention of juvenile leaves, and thread-like shoots with reduced branching. In some areas, cultivation is limited by Phytophthora root rot diseases, with C. lawsoniana being particularly susceptible to P. lateralis.

The wood is scented, and is highly valued, particularly in Japan, where it is used for temple construction.

References


 
 

Join the WikiAnswers Q&A community. Post a question or answer questions about "Chamaecyparis" at WikiAnswers.

 

Copyrights:

Gardener's Dictionary. Taylor's Dictionary for Gardeners, by Frances Tenenbaum. Copyright © 1997 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Chamaecyparis" Read more

Search for answers directly from your browser with the FREE Answers.com Toolbar!  
Click here to download now. 

Get Answers your way! Check out all our free tools and products.

On this page:   E-mail   print Print  Link  

 

Keep Reading

Mentioned In: