DIV Lecture 11/5: Gymnosperms (trees)

Gymnosperms

• 546 conifer species

• about 250 species of Cycads

• Ginkgo biloba (ginkgos)

• about 50 species (Ephedra, Gnetum, and Welwischia)

Conifers

• 53-67 genras

Monkey-Puzzle Tree (globally)

• Araucaria araucana

• Distribution of Chili

• Sharp foliage

• National tree of Chili

• Seeds are harvested for eating

• Will tolerate could (-4 degrees Fahrenheit)

Norfolk Island pine (globally)

• Araucaria heterophylla

• not a pine

• popular cultivated tree and used as a decoration

Dawn-redwood (globally)

• Metasequoia glyptostrobides

• metasequoia like sequoia described as species from fossil record in 1941

• discovered living in 1941

• widely planted, up to 200 feet tall

Norway Spruce (globally)

• Picea abies

• Europe and Western Asia

• wood used for violins and musical instruments

• Christmas tree (rockefeller)

• source of wood for stradivarius violins

• naturalized in upstate New York

• longest spruce cones

Stone pine (globally)

• Pinus pinea

• used and cultivated for edible nuts

Scotch pine (globally)

• Pinus sylvestris

• big geographical range

• popular Christmas tree (in the US)

• naturalized in New York

• Natural forest in Siberia

Japanese yew (globally)

• Taxus cuspidata

• all plant parts except red fruit are deadly poisonous (including seeds)

• many cultivars

Wolleni pine (globally)

• Wolleni nobilis

• recently discovered (1994)

• 100 adults in wild

• temperate rainforest

Frasser fir (North America)

• Abies frasseri

• endemic to southern appalachians

• exceptional christmas tree

• restricted to highest elevations

Incense-cedar (North America)

• Calocedus decurrens

• not true cedar

• drought and shade tolerant tree of montane zone

• pencil wood

Port-Orford-Cedar (North America)

• Chamaecypsris lawoniana

• restrictive to serpentine soil

• numerous cultivars widely planted globally

Monterey cypress (North America)

• Cupressus macrocurpa

• one of the rarest conifers naturally

• wildly planted as ordimental

Engelmann spruce (North America)

• Picea engelmannii

• rockies

• tree → mound → alpine zone

Colorado or Blue spruce (North America)

• Picea pungens

• sharp needles

• very popular ornamental (more blue → more expensive)

Sitka spruce (North America)

• Picea sitchensis

• largest specie in the world

• piano wood

• dominate in temperate rainforests

Lodge pole pine (North America)

• Pinus contorta

• fire dependent

• dominant in yellowstone

• sierran lodgepole pine (variety)

• mountain pine beetle mortality on lodgepole pine

Pinyon pine (North America)

• Pinus edulis

• detest area of the west

• important for fuel, food, and resins to make baskets water tight

Sugar pine (North America)

Pinus lambertiana

Great basin bristlecone pine ( Nroth America)

• Pinus longaeus

• oldest living tree in the world to about 5700 years

Long leaf pine (North America)

• Pinus palaustris

• about 97% of all long leaf pine suaninas have been cut

• restoration

• high diversity

Ponderosa pine (North America)

• Pinus ponderosa

• most geographically widespread

• good timber