Hesperocyparis sargentii, Sargent's cypress
Esser, Lora L. 1994. Hesperocyparis sargentii, Sargent's cypress. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis/species-reviews/hessar
| Abbreviation | Common Name | Scientific Name | Classification | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plants | ||||
| HESSAR | Sargent's cypress | Hesperocyparis sargentii | Life Form: Plants/Tree Kingdom: Plantae Class: Conifer Order: Pinales Family: Cupressaceae Genus: Hesperocyparis | Fed. Protected: No Nativity: Native Invasiveness: Noninvasive |
Taxonomy
The currently accepted scientific name of Sargent's cypress is Hesperocyparis sargentii (Jeps.) Bartel (Cupressaceae) [27,36].
Natural hybridization between Sargent's cypress and McNab's cypress (Hesperocyparis macnabiana) has been hypothesized, but evidence for it is inconclusive [18,29].
Synonyms
- Callitropsis sargentii (Jeps.) D.P. Little [39]
- Cupressus sargentii Jeps. (Cupressaceae) [4,11,23,38]
- Cupressus sargentii var. sargentii
- Cupressus sargentii var. duttonii Jeps. [23,30]
- Neocupressus sargentii (Jeps.) de Laub. [37]
Other Common Names
None
General Distribution
Sargent's cypress occurs only in California and has the widest distribution of all of the coastal California cypress [20]. Numerous scattered groves occur in the Coast Ranges from northern Mendocino County south to Santa Barbara County [5,15,29]. Sargent's cypress is cultivated in Hawaii [35].
States and Provinces
- United States: CA HI
Site Characteristics
A mature stand of Sargent's cypress, Sonoma County, California. (CC BY 4.0)
Sargent's cypress most often occupies rocky outcrops or formations, usually in serpentine soils [3,4,22,29]. Soils are usually well-drained and less than 1 foot (0.30 m) deep [22]. Sargent's cypress is commonly found on dry slopes, exposed hillsides, and ridgetops, but also grows along streambanks, creek bottoms, and lower canyon slopes [22,29]. Sargent's cypress occurs at elevations from 660 to 3,300 feet (200-1,000 m) [11,30,31].
Plant Communities
Sargent's cypress is a component of the northern interior cypress forest. This community is an open, fire-maintained, scrubby forest similar to the knobcone pine (Pinus attenuata) forest. Sargent's cypress occurs in widely scattered, isolated groves throughout its range. It occurs in dense thickets as well as in open groves and sparse stands [30]. Dense thickets are common in burned areas [29]. Sargent's cypress is associated with serpentine chaparral, and intergrades on less severe sites with upper Sonoran mixed chaparral, montane chaparral, or knobcone pine forest community types. On more mesic sites the northern interior cypress forest intergrades with mixed evergreen forest or montane coniferous forest [12,16]. Sargent's cypress is associated with redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)–Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) forest and associated North Coast forests in Mendocino County, California [8,33]. It is commonly associated with chaparral and gray pine (Pinus sabiniana) throughout its range [4,16,29]. In some areas, Sargent's cypress is associated with yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa and P. jeffreyi) forests, closed-cone coniferous woodlands, and pine-cedar-cypress pygmy forests [11,26,33]. Sargent's cypress occurs sympatrically with McNab’s cypress in Lake County, California, where it is larger and tends to occupy lower slopes than McNab’s cypress [22,29].
Publications naming Sargent's cypress as a community dominant are listed below.
- California chaparral [10]
- The closed-cone pines and cypress [29]
- Preliminary descriptions of the terrestrial natural communities of California [12]
Other species commonly associated with Sargent's cypress include sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana), Coulter pine (P. coulteri), bigcone Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga macrocarpa), incense-cedar (Libocedrus decurrens), bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum), California scrub oak (Quercus dumosa), leather oak (Q. durata), huckleberry oak (Q. vaccinifolia), musk brush (Ceanothus jepsonii), wedgeleaf ceanothus (C. cuneatus), coyote ceanothus (C. ferrisae), dwarf ceanothus (C. pumilis), bigberry manzanita (Arctostaphylos glauca), whiteleaf manzanita (A. viscida), serpentine manzanita (A. obispoensis), Tamalpais manzanita (A. pungens var. montana), hoary manzanita (A. canescens), Mariposa manzanita (A. mariposa), chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum), interior silktassel (Garrya congdonii), boxleaf silktassel (G. buxifolia), California bay (Umbellaria californica), chaparral yucca (Yucca whipplei), tree poppy (Dendromecon rigida), yerba santa (Eriodictyon californicum), California juniper (Juniperus californica), and twistflower (Streptanthus spp.) [4,10,12,16,29].
Botanical Description
Sargent's cypress is a native, evergreen tree with a slender main trunk. On exposed sites, it assumes a shrubby growth form [4,23]. It normally grows from 33 to 50 feet (10-15 m) tall, but in mesic canyons of northern and central California it can grow up to 75 feet (22.5 m) tall [4,15,23]. Mature leaves are 0.08 inch (2 mm) long, although they can be up to 0.4 inch (10 mm) on vigorous shoots [4,23]. Ovulate cones are solitary, up to 1.0 inch (25 mm) long. Staminate cones are 0.12 to 0.16 inch (3-4 mm) long [11,23]. The bark is furrowed and fibrous, 1.2 inches (3 cm) thick, splitting into longitudinal strands [4,23,30]. A well-defined taproot and numerous laterals are formed the first year [15,30].
Raunkiaer Life Form (Raunkiaer 1934)
- Phanerophyte
Seasonal Development
Cypress pollination occurs in late fall and spring [30]. Seeds mature 15 to 18 months after pollination. Ovulate cones remain closed until opened by heat or age [15,30].
Sargent's cypress cones, Marin County, California. (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Regeneration Processes
Sargent's cypress reproduces exclusively from seed. Cone production is abundant. Staminate cones are produced on trees that are 6 to 7 years old [30]. Ovulate cones are produced on trees that are 5 to 6 years of age or older [4,29,30]. The cones require 2 years to mature [4]. They contain about 100 seeds each [4,23]. Cypress cones are closed; they persist on the tree until opened by the heat of a fire or from desiccation due to age [15,29]. Seeds are shed gradually over several months after the cones are opened [29]. Detached cones will open, but they rarely result in seedling establishment, usually due to lack of a suitable seedbed [4]. Seed dispersal is primarily by wind and rain [29].
Cypress seeds require bare mineral soil for germination and establishment. Seedling mortality is high on shaded sites with abundant litter because of damping-off fungi [4,29]. Seedlings are sensitive to excessive moisture [30].
Successional Status
Site requirements for cypress seedlings are typical of those for pioneer conifers. Seedlings are shade intolerant and survive best in full sunlight on bare mineral soil [4,29]. Most chaparral species inhibit the establishment of cypress seedlings on most sites due to competition. However, most chaparral species are less able to compete on serpentine soils where Sargent's cypress is often found. Sargent's cypress is favored over nonserpentine-adapted chaparral species on these sites [4].
On Red Mountain in Mendocino County, California, there exists a pine-cypress climax community on serpentine soil. An abrupt boundary with more typical Douglas-fir-hardwood forest exists on adjacent soils derived from sedimentary rock. It is hypothesized that the climax vegetation would be different on these adjacent sites if the parent material was derived from peridotite instead of sedimentary rock [33].
Immediate Fire Effects
Most severe fires probably kill Sargent's cypress. Cypress thickets are conducive to crown fires, which usually kill most trees in the burned area, although fire may be patchy [29]. At the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in southern California on October 8, 1943, a severe fire killed all Sargent's cypress trees [30]. Some large trees could probably survive surface fires; however, most large trees in burned areas are located on bare or rocky sites that may have been left unburned [29]. Cones of the California cypress open as the resin melts and boils. Rapid charring of the thick cone scales extinguishes the flames, leaving seeds unburned [4].
Postfire Regeneration Strategy (Stickney 1989)
- Tree without adventitious-bud root crown
- Crown residual colonizer (on-site, initial community)
- Initial-offsite colonizer (off-site, initial community)
Fire Adaptations
Sargent's cypress is a fire-adapted, fire-dependent species [20,29]. It has slightly fire-resistant bark and serotinous cones, although its low branching habit makes it susceptible to crown fires [1,4,30]. Successful cypress (Hesperocyparis spp.) reproduction is generally restricted to burned sites [29]. The serotinous cones persist on the trees for years [1,32]. Some Sargent's cypress cones have remained closed on trees for over 8 years [29]. Cone opening is erratic, slow, and almost negligible except when cones are exposed to extreme heat; then it is rapid and uniform [22,32]. When opened by the heat of a fire, the seeds fall on exposed mineral soil [19,30]. Most seed falls in the first few months following fire [32]. Fires that occur in late summer and fall and are followed by winter rains ensure seed dissemination on bare mineral substrates and moist conditions for germination [29].
Sargent's cypress regenerating 6 years postfire, Lake County, California. (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Plant Response to Fire
Sargent's cypress release large quantities of seed after fire [30]. In Lake County, it occurs on recently burned areas with McNab’s cypress [22]. Sargent's cypress commonly forms thickets of dwarfed trees following chaparral fires [22,30].
Fire Regimes
No information was available on fire-free intervals for communities dominated by Sargent's cypress. However, Tecate cypress (Hesperocyparis forbesii), a cypress found in southern California, has an average interval between fires of 25 years, ranging from 15 to 63 years [4]. In southern California, Sargent's cypress trees generally reach cone-bearing age before another fire occurs [29,30].
For fire regime information, search FEIS for this species by entering the species name on the Advanced Search page and selecting “Fire Regime” as the publication type.
Fire Management Considerations
Fires occurring too frequently in Sargent's cypress groves may destroy them, as reproduction could be eliminated before it had a chance to produce cones. Conversely, fire suppression could threaten the species [4,5].
Federal Status
No special status.
Other Status
No entry.
Importance to Wildlife and Livestock
Rodents and deer consume cypress seedlings [30]. Cypress are considered undesirable forage for livestock, although young Sargent's cypress are grazed by cattle [4].
Palatability and Nutritional Value
No entry.
Cover Value
Dense thickets of Sargent's cypress provide cover for deer [30].
Value for Rehabilitation or Restoration of Disturbed Sites
No entry.
Other Uses
Cypress (Hesperocyparis spp.) wood is generally durable and stable. It is suitable for a wide range of exterior uses including joinery, shingles, and boats. Possible interior uses include moulding and paneling [34]. Cypress shelterbelts provide good fuel. Most cypress species develop a large proportion of heartwood, which splits well, dries quickly, and is clean-burning. Cypress wood is moderately fast burning because of its medium density. As cypress woods are prone to sparking, they are recommended only for enclosed fires [34].
Other Management Considerations
Grazing and trampling by livestock are detrimental to cypress seedlings [1]. Fire followed by intensive grazing could eliminate a cypress grove [5].
Sargent's cypress is unsuitable for use in windbreaks or hedges near the coast or in areas that are waterlogged, because waterlogged soils may result in dwarfed trees [29,30].
Seedlings are susceptible to damping-off fungi [29]. Sargent's cypress is moderately susceptible to coryneum canker (Coryneum cardinale), which can kill trees. Mistletoe (Phoradendron pauciflorum) often forms dense clusters on bushy Sargent's cypress trees in Marin County, California [30].
Sargent's cypress is largely restricted to serpentine soils. Using cypress wood to fuel the furnaces used to extract mercury from serpentine soils has reduced California's cypress forests [2].
Table A1— Forest and range ecosystems, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) physiographic regions, Kuchler plant associations, Society for American Foresters (SAF) forest cover types, and Society for Rangeland Management (SRM) rangeland cover types in which this species occurs.
Forest and Range Ecosystems (Garrison et al. 1977)
- FRES20 Douglas-fir
- FRES21 Ponderosa pine
- FRES27 Redwood
- FRES28 Western hardwoods
- FRES34 Chaparral - mountain shrub
BLM Physiographic Regions (Bernard and Brown 1977)
- 3 Southern Pacific Border
Kuchler Plant Associations (Kuchler 1964)
- K005 Mixed conifer forest
- K006 Redwood forest
- K009 Pine - cypress forest
- K029 California mixed evergreen forest
- K030 California oakwoods
- K033 Chaparral
SAF Cover Types (Eyre 1980)
- 229 Pacific Douglas-fir
- 231 Port-Orford-cedar
- 232 Redwood
- 234 Douglas-fir - tanoak - Pacific madrone
- 244 Pacific ponderosa pine - Douglas-fir
- 247 Jeffrey pine
- 248 Knobcone pine
- 249 Canyon live oak
- 250 Blue oak - gray pine
SRM Rangeland Cover Types (Shiflet 1994)
- No entry
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