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Cupressus Bakeri

The Cupressus Bakeri is commonly known as Baker Cypress, Modoc Cypress, as well as Siskiyou Cypress

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Growing Regions

Baker cypress is restricted to northern California and southern Oregon. Baker cypress (C. b. ssp. bakeri) occurs in Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, and Siskiyou counties in California [18,25]. Siskiyou cypress (C. b. ssp. matthewsii) has disjunct populations in the Siskiyou Mountains of Josephine County, Oregon, and on Goosenest Mountain in Siskiyou County, California [18,29]. The Bureau of Land Management administers the Baker Cypress Natural Area and Timbered Crater Baker Cypress Natural Area, both in Siskiyou and Modoc counties, California [16].

     

General Information

The currently accepted scientific name of Baker cypress is Cupressus bakeri Jeps. [10,19]. There are no recognized hybrids, varieties, or forms. Two subspecies are recognized by some authors [10,19,25]: Cupressus bakeri ssp. bakeri Jeps. Baker or Modoc cypress Cupressus bakeri ssp. matthewsii Wolf Siskiyou cypress Dodd [5,6] and Rafii [21,22] assert that population studies of morphological and chemical diversity in Baker cypress do not support subspecies status and believe that it should be discontinued. Hickman's [10] taxonomic classification shall be used for this paper. 

Baker cypress is a component of the northern interior cypress forest.
This habitat type is an open, fire-maintained, scrubby forest similar to
the knobcone pine (Pinus attenuata) forest.  It is associated with
serpentine chaparral, and intergrades on less severe sites with upper
Sonoran mixed chaparral, montane chaparral, or knobcone pine forest
community types.  On more mesic sites, the northern interior cypress
forest intergrades with mixed evergreen forest or montane coniferous
forest [11].  Baker cypress rarely forms pure stands [31].  The Timbered
Crater grove is associated with yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa and P.
jeffreyi) forest and suggests a transition zone between several plant
communities, including northern juniper woodland, yellow pine forest,
and sagebrush scrub.  High elevation groves of Baker cypress in Plumas
County, California, are associated with red fir (Abies magnifica)
forest [29].

Species not already mentioned that are commonly associated with Baker
cypress include sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana), Brewer oak (Q. garryana
ssp. breweri), Sadler oak (Q. sadleriana), incense-cedar (Calocedrus
decurrens), Brewer spruce (Picea breweriana), Pacific yew (Taxus
brevifolia), juneberry (Amelanchier pallida), greenleaf manzanita
(Arctostaphylos patula), big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata),
whitethorn ceanothus (Ceanothus cordulatus), wedgeleaf ceanothus (C.
cuneatus), deerbrush (C. integerrimus), Lemmon ceanothus (C. lemmonii),
squawcarpet (C. prostratus), snowbrush ceanothus (C. velutinus),
California redbud (Cercis occidentalis), birchleaf mountain-mahogany
(Cercocarpus betuloides), desertsweet (Chamaebatiaria millefolium), bush
chinquapin (Chrysolepsis sempervirens), low rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus
viscidiflorus), Fremont silktassel (Garrya fremontii), western juniper
(Juniperus occidentalis), bitter cherry (Prunus emarginata), Klamath
plum (P. subcordata), western chokecherry (P. virginiana var. demissa),
skunkbush sumac (Rhus trilobata), baldhip rose (Rosa gymnocarpa)
creeping sage (Salvia sonomensis), antelope bitterbrush (Purshia
tridentata), gooseberry (Ribes spp.), buckwheat (Eriogonum spp.),
honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.), pussy paws (Calyptridium umbellatum),
larkspur (Delphinium spp.), bedstraw (Galium spp.), and goosefoot violet
(Viola purpurea) [2,5,11,27,29].

Much of the information presented here is attributed to:
Esser, Lora. 1994. Cupressus bakeri. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available at USDA Forest Service.

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