Cupressus atlantica

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Divisio: Tracheophyta
Divisio: Pinophyta
Classis: Pinopsida
Ordo: Pinales

Familia: Cupressaceae
Subfamilia: Cupressoideae
Genus: Cupressus
Species: Cupressus austrotibetica
Subspecies: C. a. subsp. austrotibetica – C. a. subsp. tongmaiensis
Name

Cupressus austrotibetica Silba, Phytologia 65: 334 (1988).
Synonyms

Homotypic
Cupressus duclouxiana subsp. austrotibetica (Silba) Silba, J. Int. Conifer Preserv. Soc. 12: 62 (2005).

Distribution
Native distribution areas:
References
Primary references

Silba, J. 1988. A New Species of Cupressus L. From Tibet (Cupressaceae). Phytologia 65(5): 333–336. BHL Reference page.

Additional references

Little, D.P. 2006. Evolution and circumscription of the true Cypresses (Cupressaceae: Cupressus). Systematic Botany 31(3): 461–480. DOI: 10.1600/036364406778388638 Paywall BioOne Paywall JSTOR Hybrid open access journal Reference page.

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2020. Cupressus austrotibetica in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2020 Sep 27. Reference page.

Cupressus atlantica, the Moroccan cypress, is a rare coniferous tree endemic to the valley of the Oued n'Fiss river in the High Atlas Mountains south of Marrakech in western Morocco.[2] The majority are old, with very little regeneration due to overgrazing by goats, and they are critically endangered.[3]

This species is distinct from the allied Cupressus sempervirens (Mediterranean cypress) in its much bluer foliage with a white resin spot on each leaf, the smaller shoots often being flattened in a single plane. It also has smaller, globose cones, only 1.5-2.5 cm long. Cupressus dupreziana (Saharan cypress) is more similar, and C. atlantica is treated as a variety of it (C. dupreziana var. atlantica) by some authors. Moroccan cypress does not however share the unique reproductive system of male apomixis found in Saharan cypress.[4]
References

Gardner, Martin; Griffiths, Alexander (7 March 2012). "Cupressus dupreziana var. atlantica". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 7 March 2012.
"Cupressus atlantica description". 2006-05-01. Archived from the original on 2006-05-01. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
"The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
Youssef, Sfairi; Lahcen, Ouahmane; Abdelaziz, Abbad (September 2012). "Breaking seed dormancy in Cupressus atlantica Gaussen, an endemic and threatened coniferous tree in Morocco". Journal of Forestry Research. 23 (3): 385–390. doi:10.1007/s11676-012-0274-0. ISSN 1007-662X. S2CID 14998564.