Widdringtonia Endl. (1842) contains 4 species from southern Africa, in the family Cupressa. Description Trees to around 30m in height, or shrubs. Upright, bushy, and pyramidal when young, but becoming flat-topped and cedar-like as old trees. The leaves are very small, alternate, scale-like, incurved, around 1.5mm long. The fans of foliage are dark green and rather lax. In the juvenile state the leaves are spirally arranged, needle-like, and spreading. The male flowers are small, 2–3mm long, at the tips of short, lateral branchlets. Pollination is presumed to be by wind. The cones are solitary or clustered, globular, woody when ripe, with 4 scales in 1 whorl and 5–10 winged seeds.
Key Recognition Features The loose fans of foliage and the 4 scales of the cone are characteristic.
Evolution and Relationships Close to Callitris from Australia and Tasmania, which has woody cones with 6 scales in 2 whorls.
Ecology and Geography Widdringtonias are found in mountain valleys. In montane forest in South Africa, W. cedarbergensis J. Marsh, the Clanwilliam cedar, grows in the Cedarberg, and W. cupressoides (L.) Endl. in the Drakensberg. In Malawi, on the high plateau of Mlanje Mountain, are the remnants of great forests of Mlanje cedar, W. whytei Rendle.
Comment The Mlanje cedars are exploited for their excellent timber: hard, scented, and exceptionally resistant to rot even in tropical conditions. Many of the largest trees in the wild are now dead or dying, and festooned with lichens, ferns, and Streptocarpus, but plantations have been started in Malawi and Kenya. Photograph: Widdringtonia schwarzii |
