plant
Plants are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all curr ...
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...
of the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Cupressaceae
Cupressaceae is a conifer family, the cypress family, with worldwide distribution. The family includes 27–30 genera (17 monotypic), which include the junipers and redwoods, with about 130–140 species in total. They are monoecious, subdio ...
. It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...
to New Caledonia, where it occurs in small, scattered population along rivers. It used to be placed in its own genus ''Neocallitropsis'' but molecular phylogenetic analysis indicated that it was nested within ''Callitris''.Pye, M. G., P. A. Gadek, and K. J. Edwards (2003). Divergence, Diversity and Species of the Australasian Callitris (Cupressaceae) and Allied Genera : Evidence from ITS Sequence Data. Australian Systematic Botany 16: 505–14.
It is an
evergreen
In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...
tree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...
growing to tall. The leaves are awl-shaped, long, arranged in eight rows in alternating whorls of four; in overall appearance, the foliage is superficially similar to some species of ''
Araucaria
''Araucaria'' (; original pronunciation: .ɾawˈka. ɾja is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae. There are 20 extant species in New Caledonia (where 14 species are endemic, see New Caledonian ''Araucaria ...
'', though they are only very distantly related. ''Callitris pancheri'' is
dioecious
Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproducti ...
, with separate male and female trees; the
seed cones
A conifer cone (in formal botanical usage: strobilus, plural strobili) is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants. It is usually woody, ovoid to globular, including scales and bracts arranged around a central axis, especially in conifers ...
are long, with eight woody scales arranged in two whorls of four.
Neocallitropsis pancheri.jpg, ''Callitris pancheri'' foliage and branch
Neocallitropsis pancheri 2a.jpg, ''Callitris pancheri'' at Chutes de la Madeleine, New Caledonia