LON-CAPA Microstrobos fitzgeraldi description

line drawing

Foliage. Copyright 1995, Australian National Botanic Garden.

Microstrobos fitzgeraldi (F. Mueller) J. Garden & L. Johnson

Common Names

Dwarf mountain pine; Blue Mountain dwarf pine (1).

Taxonomic notes

Syn: Dacrydium fitzgeraldi F. Mueller; Pherosphaera fitzgeraldi (F. Mueller) F. Mueller; (3).

Description

Ascending or erect many-branched shrub with long slender drooping branchlets to 1 m high or sometimes with straggling branches and to 2 m diam. Leaves 2.5-3.5 mm long, narrow, keeled, the point slightly incurved, the inner surface white with stomatal lines, olive-green and shining below, shortly decurrent. Male cones ovate to globose, c. 6 mm long. Female cones c. 3 mm long with 4-8 scales. Distinguished from M. niphophilus by its looser habit and longer, pointed, and less closely arranged leaves (2, 3).

Range

Australia: NSW, Blue Mtns (1). "Usually grows on wet rocks within the spray of waterfalls or on ledges or in caves near waterfalls; restricted to southerly aspects on sandstone near waterfalls in the Katoomba to Wentworth Falls area of the Blue Mtns." (2).

Big Tree

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

This species is currently listed on the index of threatened Australian plant species.

See also Paleobotany of Australia and New Zealand conifers.

Citations

(1) Silba 1986.
(2) Harden 1990.
(3) Dallimore & Jackson 1967.

See also:
Benson, J. 1989. Establishing priorities for the conservation of rare or threatened plants and plants associations in New South Wales. P.17-82 in M. Hicks and P. Eiser (eds.) The conservation of threatened species and their habitats. Proceedings of a national conference held in Sydney in March, 1987. Canberra: Australian Committee for IUCN.
Benson, J. 1991. Beautiful but vanishing flora. Geo 13(3):52-59.
Benson, J.S. 1992. Microstrobos fitzgeraldii F. Muell. (family Podocarpaceae). P.16 in: Leigh, J.H. and Briggs, J.D. (eds.) 'Threatened Australian Plants - Overview and Case Studies'. Canberra: ANPWS.
Brown, I. 1990. Rare and endangered: living on the edge. Australian Natural History 23(3):252.
Fensom, G. 1996. Microstrobos fitgeraldii, the dwarf mountain pine. [species profile] Danthonia 4(4):12-13.
Hooker. (1882) Icon. Pl. 14, 64, t. 1383.
Howes, J. and C. Smyth. 1994. The edge of extinction: Australia's threatened wildlife (2nd ed.) [brief entries on each plant]. Moorabbin: Gould League of Victoria.
Jones, W. 1994. The biology and management of the dwarf mountain pine (Microstrobos fitzgeraldii) in N.S.W. (Species Management Report no. 13) Hurstville: N.S.W. National Parks & Wildlife Service.
Smith, J. 1981. The distribution and conservation status of a rare conifer, Microstrobos fitzgeraldii (Podocarpaceae). Cunninghamia 1(1):125-128.

[Microstrobos] [Podocarpaceae] [home]

This page is from the Gymnosperm Database
URL: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/2285/po/mi_s/fitzgeraldi.htm
Edited by Christopher J. Earle
E-mail:earlecj@earthlink.com
Last modified on 11-Jan-1999