Callitris acuminata

F.Muell. (1882)

Common names

Moore cypress-pine (Silba 1986).

Taxonomic notes

Many authorities still name this taxon Actinostrobus acuminatus, for so it was known from 1862 until at least 2010; see Callitris for discussion of why it is now placed in Callitris. Regardless, it shares a clade with its former congeners C. arenaria and C. pyramidalis (Larter et al. 2017).

Syn: Actinostrobus acuminatus Parlatore (1862). Type: Between Moore and Murchison Rivers, Western Australia, 1863, J.Drummond 6, 225; holo: Fl. (Hill 1998).

Description

A prostate plant or a small broadly conical shrub to 3 m tall. Plant spreads by underground stolons. Branchlets finely divided, twisted into long branchlets. Juvenile leaves light silvery-green, 8-15 mm long, needle-like, persistent. Adult leaves scalelike, in whorls of 3, up to 10 mm long, dark green. Male cones ovoid, on a peduncle 4 mm long, 4-6 mm long, 2-3 mm diameter, with 20 acuminate scales with a dorsal crest. Female cones yellowish-brown to glaucous-brown, ovoid-conical, distinctly longer than broad, acute, 20-35 mm long, 15-25 mm diameter, often subtended at the base by juvenile leaves to 1 cm long; the 6 scales acute, erect, spreading when open, distinctly hooked at tip. Seeds variable, dark brown, 9-12 mm long, 9-13 mm wide, wing 2-5 mm wide, hilium 3-5 mm long and white. Cotyledons 2, light green, 15-18 mm long by 3-3.5 mm wide, apex bluntly acute, stem to 2 mm thick (Silba 1986, Hill 1998). See García Esteban et al. (2004) for a detailed characterization of the wood anatomy.

Distribution and Ecology

Western Australia: "Endemic from Eneabba south to the Perth district, south-western WA.; locally frequent in low shrubland on sandplain." Cited collections (presumably wild plants) include 0.8 km S of Coorow-Green Head road on Brand Highway, and 1 mile along McNamara Road (Hill 1998).

Zone 10 (cold hardiness limit between -1°C and +4.4°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).

Remarkable Specimens

No data as of 2026-01-27.

Ethnobotany

Reported as having a medicinal use for rheumatism (Silba 1986).

Observations

No data as of 2026-01-27.

Remarks

The epithet presumably refers to the acuminate tips of the cone scales.

Citations

Larter, Maximilian, Sebastian Pfautsch, Jean-Christophe Domec, Santiago Trueba, Nathalie Nagalingum, and Sylvain Delzon. 2017. Aridity drove the evolution of extreme embolism resistance and the radiation of conifer genus Callitris. New Phytologist 215(1):97–112. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14545.

Mueller, F. von. 1882. Syst. Census Austral. Pl. 109. Available: Biodiversity Heritage Library, accessed 2026.01.27.

See also

Blackall, W. E. and B. J. Grieve. 1954. How to Know W. Austral. Wildflowers. 1: 6 (Illustrations).

Parlatore, F. 1862. Index seminum in horto botanico regii musei florentini: 1862. Florence (p. 25).

Farjon (2005) provides a detailed account, with illustrations (as Actinostrobus acuminatus).

Krussmann, G. 1985. Manual of Cultivated Conifers 2nd edition, 47, fig. 15 (Illustration).

Piggin, J., and J. J. Bruhl. 2010. Phylogeny reconstruction of Callitris Vent. (Cupressaceae) and its allies leads to inclusion of Actinostrobus within Callitris. Australian Systematic Botany 23:69-93. Provides a good discussion of the type specimen and a photo of the isolectotype.