Widdringtonia nodiflora
Common name: 
Berg Cypress
Mountain Cypress
Mountain Cedar
Pronunciation: 
wid-dring-TOH-nee-a no-dee-FLOR-uh
Family: 
Cupressaceae
Synonyms: 
Widdringtonia cupressoides
Type: 
Conifer
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon: 
No
  • Conifer, evergreen shrub or small tree, often no more than 6 m tall, frequently multi-stemmed, crown narrowly conical at first.  Large tree versions reportedly exist in some native habitats.   Bark gray to brown, thinly fissured and flaking.  Leaves needle-like and spreading when young, up to 2 cm long and 2 mm wide; adult leaves scale-like, about 2 mm long, dark green, tightly appressed to the branches.    Male pollen cones terminal, 2-4 mm long; female seed cones, about 2 cm in diam., woody, dark brown; both sexes on the same tree.
  • Sun
  • Hardy to USDA Zone 9      Native to the mountains of southern and southeastern Africa.  The shrubbiest species of Widdringtonia and the only one capable of resprouting after a fire (Eckenwalder, 2009).
  • nodiflora: flowering at the nodes
  • Santa Cruz, California: U.C. Santa Cruz Arboretum
Click image to enlarge
  • plant habit

    plant habit

  • brachletst

    brachletst

  • branches and cones

    branches and cones