confronting vegetation: Neocallitropsis pancheri

I've been contacted by Arkive, an organization devoted to making an online photographic catalogue of endangered flora and fauna, asking to use photos from my posts on the New Caledonian conifers Dacrydium araucariodes and Araucaria muelleri.  The first was interesting close-up, the latter is one of the most striking conifers I've ever seen (and having grown up in the North American west, I've seen a few.)

My contact at Arkive appears to be a conifer specialist.  While looking for photos for her I stumbled on some shots of Neocallitropsis pancheri that I took but never posted, so I'm them putting them up now for her reference. All were taken at the small botanical garden at Chutes de la Madeleine (the "Niagara Falls of New Caledonia").

Neocallitropsis is Latin for "this new thing we just found that sorta kinda looks like a Callitris, if you squint."  To me, it doesn't look like a Callitris at all.  If I were accusing this plant of impersonation, I'd say it was trying to resemble Araucaria heterophylla, the "Norfolk Island Pine."  But botany is an act of imagination, and never more than in conferring those ominous scientific names.

Comments

[Xavier]

It does look a little like a Callitris macleayana, which is the most basal member of the Callitris genus and looks remarkably different from the other members.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackdiamondimages/2880670130/lightbox/