sprays...

Dax

'Reptilian'?

I've never seen any term other than 'scale-like' used; even Farjon uses it in his Cupressaceae monograph, and he usually uses technical terms extensively.

Resin

Short, flat, appressed, overlapping needles? But it may not tell the whole story. The source I pulled that from also adds "scale-like" in most of the descriptions. I do like the sound of appressed, though. Gotta work that into a conversation soon :)

What about dolabrata? As in Thujopsis dolabrata.
Mike

Well Bot, you had me checking to see if there was such a word as "dolobrate". Just like my spellchecker is saying, no such thing! Looks like we're stuck with scale-like. I still like the plants though!

+oM

+om, I looked it up.(should have done it before) Dolabrata refers to the shape of the stomata and means hatchet-like.
My mistrake.
Mike

OK, this might be it.
squam- or squamo- [Latin squama scale] Scale, scalelike (Squamata).

Mike

Hey, so squamous would be the adjective then! Now when people hear me talking about some trees I like, they'll be wondering how these trees ended up with skin cancer! I like it.

+oM

I've heard "retain their juvenile foliage" which I find very romantic...several pines have blue scale-like foliage in sprays before the green needles start coming, it's basically a mature plant with juvenile foliage.

I forgot to mention my "king" of conifers of this type, Juniperus scopulorum 'Tolleson's Blue Weeping Juniper', its foliage literally looks and hangs exactly like Spanish Moss, only it's blue! For those of us in sunny dry climates it makes a perfect substitute if you want to achieve that bayou or tropical humid Florida garden look. Even if I wasn't a big epiphyte fan I'd have my pair of Tolleson's in my garden for 2 reasons, first I love all things blue, second, it's a really beautiful tree.

Yeah but.....juvenile foliage on arbs is not the kind I'm saying I like! It's the mature, flattened, scale-like sprays...I mean the squamous stuff!

+oM

How about cupressoid leaves?

On a related topic, how many people knew there's a specialist term for the cones of Cupressaceae, galbulus, plural galbuli?

Resin

"flattened, scale-like sprays"

I'm afraid you're gonna have to get over your scale-like phobia then, you're obviously not into fish, reptiles, and amphibians. My pair of Leopard tortoises 1.1 is outraged...;-)

Haha, no, I love reptiles and amphibians. Now THEY have scales! I like 'cupressoid'.

+oM

Amphibians don't have scales ;-)

Resin

Good catch, Res. Man, my younger self would be disgusted with me now. As a child, I read all I could about reptiles and amphibians.

+oM

In my wild youthful days as a snake breeder (both egg layers and live bearers) I was a member of the local herp club the Bay Area Amphibian and Reptile Society, BAARS (pronounced like the places you go to get alcoholic beverages, bars). Our slogan was "Get behind BAARS!" for those of you unfamiliar it's an American prison reference! Boy we were a witty bunch, lol...