Pherosphaera fitzgeraldii

{{Short description|Species of conifer}}

{{Speciesbox

|image = Pherosphaera fitzgeraldii Mt Tomah.jpg

|image_caption = Pherosphaera fitzgeraldii with Blechnum fern in the background

|status = CR

|status_system = IUCN3.1

|status_ref = {{cite iucn |author = Thomas, P. |date = 2013 |title = Pherosphaera fitzgeraldii |volume = 2013 |page = e.T30534A2793882 |doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T30534A2793882.en |access-date = 15 November 2021}}

|taxon = Pherosphaera fitzgeraldii

|authority = (F.Muell.) F.Muell. ex Hook.f.

|synonyms =

{{Plainlist | style = margin-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em; |

• Dacrydium fitzgeraldii F.Muell.
• Microstrobos fitzgeraldii (F.Muell.) J.Garden & L.A.S.Johnson

}}

|synonyms_ref = {{citation

|url = http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-2555609

|title = The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species

|accessdate = 27 December 2016}}

}}

Pherosphaera fitzgeraldii, commonly known as the Blue Mountains pine or dwarf mountain pine is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. It is found only in New South Wales, Australia. The entire natural habitat is in the Blue Mountains, from Katoomba to Wentworth Falls, growing almost exclusively in the splash zones of waterfalls, and on the southern aspect of sandstone nearby.{{NSW Flora Online|genus=Pherosphaera |species=fitzgeraldii |author=G. J. Harden & J. Thompson}}

It was first described by Ferdinand von Mueller in his 1881 work Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae as Dacrydium fitzgeraldii, naming it after its collector, one R. Fitzgerald.{{APNI | name = Dacrydium fitzgeraldii F.Muell. | id = 23307}} It was renamed Microstrobos fitzgeraldii by Lawrie Johnson and Garden in 1951,{{APNI | name =Microstrobos fitzgeraldii (F.Muell.) J.Garden & L.A.S.Johnson | id = 19338}} and Pherosphaera fitzgeraldii by Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1882.{{APNI | name =Pherosphaera fitzgeraldii (F.Muell.) F.Muell. ex Hook.f. | id = 30121}}

Pherosphaera fitzgeraldii grows as a small shrub to 1 m (3 ft) high. The branchlets droop and bear tiny narrow leaves 2 or 3 mm in length.

Only 7 populations, containing a total of 455 individual plants are known. This conifer may be threatened by habitat loss, due to increased urbanization on the plateau. In the past hundred years, stream water quality has deteriorated, due to urban sprawl in the Blue Mountains. However, the population of Pherosphaera fitzgeraldii seems to have been stable over the last fifty years.