Chamaecyparis nootkatensis - Alaska Yellow Cedar

Chamaecyparis nootkatensis: Chamaecyparis Chamaecyparis from the Greek chamae, "dwarf, low-growing, or growing on the ground" and kyparissos, "cypress," meaning "dwarf or ground cypress;" nootkatensis of or from the area of Nootka Sound or Nootka Island in Alaska.

Synonyms: Cupressus nootkatensis, Callitropsis nootkatensis, Xanthocyparis nootkatensis. Also known as Nootka Cypress.

Growth rate slow to 80' tall, though often dwarfed at high elevations, and a 25' spread at the base, developing an open, dense, narrowly conical form.

Weeping, flat sprays of blue-green to yellowish foliage have scale-like leaves with sharp, spreading tips.

Cones are similar to C. lawsoniana with wide, flat scales opening to expose the center, but only have four to six scales. Small reddish or brown male flowers appear as swollen bulbs at leave tips, shedding pollen in spring. Tiny green female flowers form small, 1/4" long, round, deep cones with a whitish cast, ripening in fall.

Bark is thin, brown, becoming gray with age, irregularly ad finely broken by shallow seams, with wide, flat scaly ridges, frequent diagonal crossings, peeling in narrow, flat, vertical strips.

Native to the coastal mountains from southeast Alaska to southwestern Oregon, with a few small groves in California's Siskiyou Mountains making up the southern extent of its range. Alaska Yellow Cedars generally grow on north-facing slopes from 4,500 - 6,900' elevation and most often consist of populations of scattered shrubs of this cedar. Longevity estimated to be 200-275 years on average. Canada's oldest known tree is an Alaska Yellow Cedar with 1,636 annual rings. It is said to have perished on Vancouver Island in the early 1990s.

Chamaecyparis lawsoniana - Port Orford Cedar

Chamaecyparis lawsoniana: Chamaecyparis from the Greek chamae, "dwarf, low-growing, or growing on the ground" and kyparissos, "cypress," meaning "dwarf or ground cypress;" lawsoniana named after Charles Lawson (1794-1873), since 1821 the head of Peter Lawson and Son Nursery in Edinburgh, Scotland, a nursery founded in 1770 by his father Peter Lawson. The Lawson cypress was first discovered near Port Orford in Oregon and introduced into cultivation in 1854 by collectors working for the Lawson and Son nursery who sent seeds back to Scotland.

Also known as Lawson's Cypress.

Evergreen native to coastal Oregon and the California coastal ranges. Moderate growth rate to 60' in cultivation, 200' in habitat with 30+' spread, developing a dense pyramidal or columnar shape with branching often to the ground.

Lacy, drooping, flat foliage sprays are variable blue-green with minute flattish scalelike leaves, soft to the touch with short blunt points.

Insignificant reddish or brown male flowers appear a swollen bulbs at leaf tips an dshed pollen in spring. Tiny green female flowers form berrylike, reddish brown, 3/8" long, oval cones among the foliage, maturing in fall of the first season, when the 8 wide flat scales open exposing the center portion when ripe.

Bark is thin, brown, becoming gray with age, with irregular shallow seams and flat, shallow ridges , frequent diagonal crossings, peeling in narrow, flat, vertical strips.

Resinous substance in wood is toxic to termites, making this a valuable timber tree. Originally used for uses as diverse as shipbuilding and match sticks, it is now the most valuable wood harvested in western North America, thanks to past overexploitation. Longevity estimated at 200 years in cultivation and up to 600 years in habitat.

Cupressus macrocarpa - Monterrey Cypress

Cupressus macrocarpa: Cupressus is the Latin name for the Italian Cypressus tree (Cupressus sempervirens); macrocarpa, referring to the species' large cones.

Evergreen cypress native only to the Monterrey peninsula along the California coast, but extensively naturalized in California and around the globe. Famous for its silhouette and cultivated in coastal areas as a dense, fast-growing windbreak, hedge or park tree. Needs a moist, cool climate. Longevity 100 years in cultivation, up to 200 years in habitat.

Moderate to fast growth to 60' tall x 35' wide, with a dense, pyramidal form in youth, broad at the base with strong horizontal branching angled upward to a pointed crown. Lower branches eventually die back on older trees, giving a wider, flat-topped crown.

Foliage is dark or bright green and scale-like, each scale ~1/16" long, with blunt tips, usually without glands.

Male flowers appear as yellowish buds at the ends of foliage and shed pollen in March.

Greenish females form dark brown to grayish 1" round cones, with 4-6 wide, flat scales with blunt knots maturing in August fo the second year, openaing at seams between scales. Cones remain attached to the tree for several years.

Bark is reddish brown, narrowly seamed with a network of narrow vertical ridges and smaller diagonal ones, often taking a grayish cast as it weathers.

Cupressus funebris - Funeral Cypress

Cupressus funebris: Cupressus is the Latin name for the Italian Cypressus tree (Cupressus sempervirens); funebris, Latin meaning 'funereal' -- so named for its pendulous, weeping branch tips.

Also known as Mourning Cypress.

Evergreen. Native to China. Tolerates wet soil, does well around ponds.

30'-60' tall with an equal spread. Heavy, wide-spreading limbs with weeping branch tips.

Foliage is lacy, in flat, drooping sprays of tiny yellow-green scale-like leaves with short, blunt points.

Tiny green female flowers form green, juniper-like cones 3/8" long.

Female cones maturing to brown in the fall of the first season. Male flowers are reddish brown, appearing at leaf tips in spring.

Bark is thin, reddish brown, peeling in thin, hairy strips.

Thuja plicata - Western Redcedar

Thuja plicata: Thuja from the Greek name 'thuia' or 'thyia,' a kind of juniper or other resinous tree; plicata, meaning 'pleated'.

Also known as Canoe Cedar, in reference to the canoes made from its rot-resistant wood by Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest.

Pyramidal form with straight, tapered trunk with a buttressed trunk. Upper limbs are often horizontal; lower limbs droop to the ground, but most have upturned tips. Foliage is lighter green than that of associated conifers. Moderate growth rate up to 200' in its native habitat and 20-60' wide.


Flat, hanging, lacelike, green foliage sprays of small, decussate, scale-like leaves. Delightfully aromatic when crushed.


Sprays of foliage from shady (left) and sunny (right) parts of the same tree.


Cones are 1/2" round, reddish brown, with 6 fertile scales, maturing and releasing 2-3 seeds each in late summer o the first year.


Bark is thin, reddish brown, fibrous, with shallow furrows and long vertical ridges, peeling in long strips and taking on a grayish cast with age. Trunk base is often fluted.

Evergreen. Native to the northwestern U.S. from coastal California to Alaska east to Montana. Western redcedar grows under temperate rainforest conditions alongside Sequoia sempervirens, Picea sitchensis, Tsuga heterophylla and Pseudotsuga menziesii. Summers are relatively cool, winters are mild, rainfall is heavy and supplemented by ample fog-drip. It is sometimes found in boggy soil.

Sequoia sempervirens - Coast Redwood

Sequoia sempervirens: Sequoia named for the Cherokee silversmith Sequoyah who developed his nation's first writing system; sempervirens is Latin meaning always green, referring to the evergreen foliage.

Native to the Pacific coast of California and Oregon.

Growth rate fast to 70-90' in cultivation and up to 150-300' in habitat. with a 15-30' spread, developing an open pyramidal form and horizontal branching from a large main trunk with a broad base. Commonly cultivated as a long-lived, fast growing evergreen lawn, shade or screen tree.

Foliage sprays of feathery, flat, glossy green, needle-like leaves, 1/2-1" long tightly spaced in an alternate, opposite flat plane along green stems. Needles have slighlty prickly ends, lighter undersides, and persist 3-4 years, clinging to branches 1-2 years after drying to dull brown.

Cones are brown, oval 3/4-1" long, with densely spaced woody scales with crape-like, peltate thickened ends, maturing and opening in fall of the first year, but may persist for several months afterward.

Bark is fibrous, dark brown to cinnamon red, becoming very thick and spongy with age, with deep wide furrows and vertical ridges.

Sequoiadendron giganteum - Giant Sequoia

Sequoiadendron giganteum: Sequoiadendron for its similarity to the wood of the Sequoia genus, named for the Cherokee silversmith Sequoyah who developed his nation's first writing system; giganteum giant.

Also known as Sierra Redwood.
Synonyms: Sequoia giganteum, Wellingtonia gigantea

Dense, pyramidal or conical form in the landscape to narrow columnar form in dense mature groves. Symmetrical branches generally horizontal to downward-sweeping with upturned ends.

Narrow, gray-green, flat, lance-like leaves with prickly ends, forming round, rope-like foliage sprays of short, overlapping scale-like needles. Opposite or alternate arrangement.

2-3" long cones mature to dark reddish brown in the second year, but may persist on the tree. Wide, oval cone scales.

Thick, cinnamon red to dark reddish brown spongy, fibrous bark with large ridges and deep, vertical, interconnected furrows.

Large central trunk with a broad, buttressed base. Trees grow up to 300' (90m) with trunks to 35' (11m) diameter.

Per Conifers.org, Sequoiadendron only occurs in groves, so that every place it can be seen, it is found within the native mixed conifer forest as a unique, insular stand of gigantic trees. The stature of the trees, despite their occurrence within one of the world's most impressive mixed conifer forest, is literally awe-inspiring.

Native to the western slopes of California's Sierra Nevada from Placer to Tulare counties at 4,500 to 8,000' elevation.

Chamaecyparis obtusa - Hinoki Cypress

Chamaecyparis obtusa: Chamaecyparis from Greek chamai, meaning 'dwarf', and kuparissos, meaning 'cypress'; obtusa, meaning 'blunt', possibly referring to the leaf tip.

Slow growing formal pyramidal tree will stay small for many years.
Flat sprays of scale-like leaves, often in horizontal tiers.
1/4" female cones produced in fall. 'Aurea' cultivar has yellow new growth in the sun.
Reddish brown bark sheds in long narrow strips.
Often seen as a bonsai specimen.

Cupressus sempervirens 'Stricta' - Italian Cypress