Monterey cypress in Sri Lanka

[doranakandawatta]

For me this one is a magic tree who is whispering to the passing-by visitors. so many stories he is telling!

Cupressus macrocarpa, he must be 150 years old,

[LJG]

This is fascinating to me. This tree has such a small natural area and if this plant is 150 years old, sailing ships would have had to get seed there. I never would have guessed they could handle the tropics. They can live for a thousand years.

[Eric in Orlando]

Is that a higher elevation area ? I have tried that cypress here a few times and it never makes it through the summer.

[fastfeat]

Is that a higher elevation area ? I have tried that cypress here a few times and it never makes it through the summer.

Hakgala BG is at 5400'

This is a fascinating post that I honestly doubted the ID of the species, but appears correct. Thanks for the info and pics.

Even at that elevation, it's truly amazing that C. macrocarpa succeeds there (or that someone decided to try it there). It has a very narrow range of tolerances where native in CA. Save your money; it won't make it in FL anywhere.

Also interesting: Cupressus macrocarpa as Sri Lankan Xmas Tree

[doranakandawatta]

From Wikipedia:

Hakgala Botanical Garden is situated on the Nuwara Eliya-Badulla main road, 16 km from Nuwara Eliya.
The garden has a cool temperate climate because of altitude is 5,400 feet above the sea level.
The mean annual temperature ranges between 16°C to 30°C during course of a year.

From December to February it has a cold climate, while the warm climate persists from April to August.

Garden established in 1861 as an experimental cultivation of Cinchona, a commercial crop thriving at the time.
Once after the Tea replace the Cinchona, it was turned into an experimental Tea cultivation.
In 1884 it transformed to a garden since then many sub tropical and some temperate plants were planted in the gardens.

Sorry, I was wrong: the cypress is not older than 130 years.

[Brian Bruning]

I would suspect it to be C. luisitanica which is native from Mexico to Costa Rica but only at high elevations. It is closely related to Monterey Cypress but has different cultural requirements. The odd name is that the British first saw it in Portugal and thought it was native there. Rather it was a gift from a Spanish botanist who got it in Mexico to a Portuguese botanist.

Has anyone there or elsewhere say Argentina tried Moctezuma Cypress (Taxodium mucronatum)? It should do well with just normal garden water and loves wet soils along rivers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxodium_mucronatum

There is a flowering Cornus florida in Hawaii. Selecting plants from the tropical edge of the range make for success. It is also native to parts of Mexico at elevations. As well there are many trees native to the US south and into Mexico that one would normally not think would be in the subtropics. Liquidambar and Nyssa (Tupelo) would be great in the subtropics if seed was obtained from southern Louisiana, Texas, Florida or Mexico. They'd be a nice althernative to endless London Plane trees and having a variety of trees prevents the usual problems associated with monoculture, that is disease and insect infestations.

[fastfeat]

I would suspect it to be C. luisitanica which is native from Mexico to Costa Rica but only at high elevations. It is closely related to Monterey Cypress but has different cultural requirements. The odd name is that the British first saw it in Portugal and thought it was native there. Rather it was a gift from a Spanish botanist who got it in Mexico to a Portuguese botanist.

Has anyone there or elsewhere say Argentina tried Moctezuma Cypress (Taxodium mucronatum)? It should do well with just normal garden water and loves wet soils along rivers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxodium_mucronatum

There is a flowering Cornus florida in Hawaii. Selecting plants from the tropical edge of the range make for success. It is also native to parts of Mexico at elevations. As well there are many trees native to the US south and into Mexico that one would normally not think would be in the subtropics. Liquidambar and Nyssa (Tupelo) would be great in the subtropics if seed was obtained from southern Louisiana, Texas, Florida or Mexico. They'd be a nice althernative to endless London Plane trees and having a variety of trees prevents the usual problems associated with monoculture, that is disease and insect infestations.

I too was thinking C. lusitanica at first. But the photos in the article I linked about Sri Lankan Xmas trees sure look like typical C. macrocarpa to me.

Liquidambar styraciflua in Mexico to Honduras

[Eric in Orlando]

Ken,

Do you know any sources for the Mexican or Central American Liquidambar ? That is an interesting article.