Cupressus stephensonii
| Cupressus stephensonii | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Pinophyta |
| Class: | Pinopsida |
| Order: | Pinales |
| Family: | Cupressaceae |
| Genus: | Cupressus |
| Species: | C. stephensonii |
| Binomial name | |
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Cupressus stephensonii C.B.Wolf |
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| Natural range of Cupressus stephensonii | |
| Synonyms | |
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Hesperocyparis stephensonii (C. B. Wolf) Bartel; . . Callitropsis stephensonii (C.B.Wolf) D.P.Little |
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Hesperocyparis stephensonii (C. B. Wolf) Bartel; . .
Cupressus stephensonii is a species of conifer known as the Cuyamaca cypress, and is endemic to southern California. It has been classified as Hesperocyparis stephensonii. It was previously listed as Cupressus arizonica subsp. stephensonii and Cupressus arizonica var. glabra.
The Cuyamaca Cypress exists only in the headwaters area of King Creek in the Cuyamaca Mountains of the Peninsular Ranges system, south of Cuyamaca Peak within San Diego County in extreme Southern California.
Trees were reported growing as low as 3,000 feet (910 m) in elevation in 1998, but the presence of these individuals today has not been verified. Most individual trees occur at 4,500–5,100 feet (1,400–1,600 m) within the Pacific Southwest Research Station's King Creek Research Natural Area, in the Cleveland National Forest.
It is an IUCN Red List Critically endangered species, and a California Native Plant Society Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants listed Seriously endangered species. The entire native (world) population of the tree was reduced down to thirty to forty individual trees by the 2003 Cedar Fire.
Cupressus stephensonii may attain heights of 10 to 16 m (33 to 52 ft). It usually forms a spreading tree with a central leader, only slightly taller than it is wide.
Female cones about 10 mm in diameter, cone scales 6-8, but mostly 6, often, but not always, with conspicuous umbos 3–4 mm high and conical. Seeds average 100-125 per cone, not at all glaucous. Cotyledons 3-4. It is the only California Cypress species to release pollen in the summertime.
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