Pilgerodendron

Pilgerodendron uviferum is a species of conifer belonging to the Cypress family, Cupressaceae. It is the only species in the genus, and is endemic to the Valdivian temperate rain forests and Magellanic subpolar forests of southern Chile and Argentina. It is a member of subfamily Callitroideae, a group of distinct southern hemisphere genera associated with the Antarctic flora. It is very closely related to the New Zealand and New Caledonian genus Libocedrus, and many botanists treat it within this genus, as Libocedrus uvifera. It is known locally as the Ciprés de las Guaitecas.

Pilgerodendron is a slow-growing, narrowly conical evergreen tree which grows from 2-20 m in height, with scale-like leaves arranged in decussate pairs. The leaves are all equal in size, giving the shoots a square cross-section (unlike the other Libocedrus species, where pairs of larger leaves alternate with pairs of smaller leaves, giving a somewhat flattened shoot). The cones are 5-10 mm long, with four scales, two sterile basal scales and two fertile scales; each scale has a slender spine-like bract, and each fertile scale has two winged seeds 3-4 mm long.

Pilgerodendron is found in the evergreen coastal lowland forests along the Pacific coast of the ecoregion, in association the broadleaf evergreens Nothofagus betuloides and Drimys winteri. It is also found in open stands in sheltered bogs further inland, where it is often locally dominant, and ranges as far as the eastern slopes of the Andes in southwestern Argentina. At the northern end of its range it is found in association with Fitzroya cupressoides.

The species is considered threatened by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Much of its original lowland habitat has been cleared.

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