Cupressus lusitanica MILL. var.
lusitanica
Tree: evergreen; erect; 30.5 m maximum
height; monoecious. Trunk: 1.15 m maximum diameter. Bark: grey,
red, or brown; peeling off in strands, or furrowed. Crown: dense, or
rather open; columnar to narrowly or widely conical (pyramidal). Branches:
drooping. Ultimate branchlets: 1.1–1.5 mm
wide; 15–25 mm long; arranged 3-dimensionally; stout, or quadrangular in
cross-section.
Leaves: only adult leaves on adult plants;
scaly. Scale leaves: 1–1.5 mm long; 0.8–1.5 mm wide; arranged
oppositely; bright – dark green, or green with coating (somewhat bluish); apically
spreading, or closely appressed; only one type of
leaves (no differentiation in lateral and facial leaves = monomorphic); tip
acute; with inconspicuous or without glands; without white resin; dorsal side
rounded or keeled; tip curved outwards.
Male cones: 3–4.5 mm long; 0.8–1.2
mm wide; solitary; 14–20 male cone scales; 7–10 male cone scale whorls; oblong;
yellow or bright brown. Male cone scales: arranged oppositely; 2–6
pollen sacs per male cone scale.
Female cones: 12–16 mm long; 12–20 mm
wide; 6–8 cone scales; globose; cone-like (open after maturity); woody; not
disintegrating after maturity; bright, or dark; young cones green with bluish
coating. Female cone scales: arranged oppositely; inserted on different
levels in mature cones; without several small additional cone scales on the
female cone; tip blunt; with small or large dorsal umbo; umbo more or less in
the centre. Columella: absent.
Seeds: 3–4.5 mm long; 2–4 mm wide; 65–85 seeds
per cone; bright brown – black; 8–10 seeds per female cone scale; flattened;
not tubercled, or tubercled;
without conspicuous hilum. Seed wings: 0–1 mm wide; 2 (almost) equal
wings.
Supplement: maturity in the second
year; 4 cotyledones; 22 chromosomes (2n). Cultivation:
cultivated in