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Plant Profile

Tecate Cypress (Hesperocyparis forbesii)

Photo Credit: Damien Lasater @ San Diego Zoo

Global Rank: G2 - Imperiled
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Cupressaceae
State: CA
Nature Serve ID: 131138
Lifeform: Tree
Categories of Interest: Conifers
Date Inducted in National Collection: 01/17/2019

Description:

Where is Tecate Cypress (Hesperocyparis forbesii) located in the wild?

States & Provinces:

Tecate Cypress can historically be found in California

Which CPC Partners conserve Tecate Cypress (Hesperocyparis forbesii)?

California Botanic Garden

Not Sponsored

Assigned 06/09/17

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance

Not Sponsored

Conservation Actions

Assigned 06/13/17

University of California-Santa Cruz Arboretum & Botanic Garden

Not Sponsored

Assigned 01/17/19

CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Conservation Actions

Joe Davitt

03/07/2022

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance helped to establish and manage a conservation grove of Tecate cypress at the Rancho Jamul Ecological Reserve beginning in 2012. Seed was collected from the Otay Mountain population, grown in screen houses at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido, and then 500 trees were planted in a large plot at Rancho Jamul. Over the first 4 years, trees were watered monthly during late spring and summer, and dead seedlings were replaced. By 2017, roughly 450 trees were established and the grove was largely self-sustaining. In 2021, we checked on the grove and found some large trees nearly 9 feet tall that were already producing male and female cones.

Joe Davitt

03/07/2022

In 2021, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance recollected seed from a section of the Otay Mountain population as part of an IMLS-funded seed longevity experiment. We collected 5 to 6 mature, closed cones from 57 different trees. The seed accession has a total of about 19,000 seeds. Cones were soaked in water that was just below boiling and allowed to cool to room temperature. The heat loosens or melts the resinous seal in between the cone segments and allowed us to rub and pop the segments open using pliers, releasing the seeds within.

Center for Plant Conservation

08/18/2021

In 2021, CPC contracted the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance to recollect seed from a population currently held in long term orthodox seed storage as part of an IMLS-funded seed longevity experiment. The National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation will evaluate how germination tested viability and RNA Integrity of seed lots decline over time in storage.