Widdringtonia schwarzii
Willowmore cedar, baviaanskloof-seder.
Syn.: Callistris schwarzii Marloff 1905 (Farjon 1998).
Trees commonly 17-30(-40) m tall. Bark red-gray, thin, fibrous, flaking. Juvenile leaves are needle-like, up to 2 cm long. Adult leaves are decussate, 3-4 mm long. Pollen cones are about 2 mm long, growing on dwarf spur-branchlets. Seed cones are almost globose, 2 cm diameter, dark brown. The 4 woody seed scales have rough and warty faces. Cones in varying stages of development can he found on the trees throughout the year. Seeds are somewhat flattened, with a conspicuous wing (Palgrave 2002). See García Esteban et al. (2004) for a detailed characterization of the wood anatomy.
W. schwarzii has affinities with W. cedarbergensis and W. nodiflora and is intermediate in many respects between the two (Palgrave 2002).
South Africa, Cape province, occurring only at 70-1220 m elevation in rocky ravines in the low rainfall areas of the Baviaauskloof and Kooga mountains. All accessible specimens have been burnt or cut out and lost, so that trees of any substantial size are now confined to remote rocky ravines and can be seen only with great effort (Palgrave 2002).
Zone 10 (cold hardiness limit between -1°C and +4.4°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).
No data as of 2023.03.03.
The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.
Farjon (2005) provides a detailed account, with illustrations.
Last Modified 2024-11-27
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