  Foliage, pollen cones & seeds [C.J. Earle]. | Cupressus arizonica var. stephensonii (Wolf) Little 1953Common NamesCuyamaca cypress (1).Taxonomic notesAn intermediate variety between var. arizonica and var. glabra (3). Syn: Cupressus stephensonii C. B. Wolf (2). Little (4) traces its taxonomy.Description"[B]ark on older trees smooth, cherry-red or mahagony brown, exfoliating in thin plates; foliage with somewhat more conspicuous glands; seeds usually over 5 mm long, not bluish pruinose" (3).RangeUSA: California. This rarest of named cypresses is "[K]nown only from a few scattered trees on the headwaters of King Creek on the southwest side of Cuyamaca Peak, San Diego County" (4).Big TreeHeight 11 m, dbh 57 cm, crown spread 9 m; in Cleveland National Forest, CA (1).OldestDendrochronologyEthnobotanyObservationsLittle (5) reports that the trees' occurrence in "[t]his stand less than 1 mile [1.6 km] long is partly within the Cleveland National Forest and Cuyamaca Rancho State Park and thus is doubly protected. On Jan. 12, 1970 I visited this area with officials from both the U.S. Forest Service and the State Park. The site at about 4,000 feet [1220 m] altitude is reached by a walk of about 1/2 mile [0.8 km] west from the end of the nearest truck trail in the park."As noted by Wolf, the cypress trees are scattered over a chaparral slope near the headwaters of King Creek. The grove is about 1 mile [1.6 km] SSW. of Cuyamaca Peak, altitude 6512 feet [1985 m] and the highest point in these mountains, and about 1/2 mile [0.8 km] W. of Japacha Peak, altitude 5825 feet [1775 m]. According to a Forest Service boundary marker yellow metal sign found among the trees, most of the cypresses are within the Cleveland National Forest, mainly in Sec. 30, T. 14 S., R. 4 E., San Bernardino P.M., partly in Sec. 19, and partly extending northeast into Cuyamaca Rancho State Park (unsurveyed). ... "The largest Cuyamaca cypresses seen were 30-35 feet [9-11 m] high and more than 2 feet [60 cm] in trunk diameter. The bark was a smoothish light gray, with mottled patches of pink brown." If you visit this site, you will likely also want to visit the nearby stand of C. guadalupensis var. forbesii. In March 1998 I tried to locate the stand, without success. The roads described by Little have been closed and new trails have been built. A hike of at least 5 km one way is now necessary. Part of the problem was, I only had a hiker's map that did not show section lines. The area could probably be located with the help of a 7.5' USGS topographic map. I did, however, find a grove of the cypresses growing a few kilometers northeast of Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, at a scenic overlook called Desert View Park. The site is along the east side of State Route 79, 2.5 miles south of the highway junction in Julian, in the far northern Cuyamaca Mountains. The trees were dispersed over several acres and varied in size from seedlings to 8 m tall trees. They may have been introduced to the site. Interestingly, one tree at the site displayed the cone characters (described in Jepson [6]) of C. arizonica var. nevadensis, but had the bark of a normal Cuyamaca cypress - possibly a hybrid. RemarksCitations(1) American Forests 1996.(2) Eckenwalder, James E. at the Flora of North America web site. (3) Vidakovic 1991. (4) Peattie 1950. (5) Little 1970. |
[Cupressus] [Cupressaceae] [home] This page is from the Gymnosperm Database |