 Foliage from an ornamental tree, Seattle (USA) [C.J. Earle, Mar-1999]. | Chamaecyparis pisifera (Siebold & Zuccarini) EndlicherCommon NamesSAWARA [Japanese], sawara false-cypress, sawara cypress.Taxonomic notesClosely allied to Ch. formosensis; q.v. for differences.DescriptionLarge evergreen tree with straight trunk and open, narrow, pyramidal crown. Bark reddish-brown, fibrous, shreddy, peeling in long thin strips. Juvenile leaves acicular, 6 mm long, spreading in 4 rows, blue-green, whitish beneath. Mature leaves 3 mm long, scalelike, sharp-pointed, overlapping, opposite in 4 rows, top pair flattened, side pair keeled, shiny green above, whitish-green beneath. the scales 8-10, each scale smoothly rounded and minutely mucronate Female cones resembling a wrinkled green pea in size and shape (hence pisifera): globose, 5-8 mm in diameter, green, turning dark brown, short-stalked, usually composed of 10 scales; scales strongly depressed when dry with a tiny point in the center, the apical pair of scales fused. There are 1-2 broad-winged seeds beneath each scale (2, 3).RangeJapan: moist soils in the humid temperate zone (2). USDA hardiness zone 6.Big TreeCommonly to 21 m tall and 60 cm dbh (2).OldestDendrochronologyEthnobotanyOne of the 'Five sacred Trees of Kiso' in Japan, the others being Ch. obtusa, Thuja standishii, Thujopsis dolabrata and Sciadopitys verticillata (4).Widely planted as an ornamental; several numerous cultivars, with the juvenile-foliaged 'Squarrosa' and semi-juvenile 'Plumosa' and similar derivatives abundantly planted (3). In Japan, an important timber species (2). ObservationsRemarksCitations(1) Silba 1986.(2) Little 1980. (3) M.P. Frankis, personal observations communicated 3-Feb-1999. (4) Dallimore et al. 1967. This page co-edited with M.P. Frankis, Feb-1999. |
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