74 



CUPRESSACEAE 



4. CHAMAECYPARIS Spach, Hist. V6g. 11: 329. 1842. 



Tall pyramidal trees or rarely shrubs, with thin scaly or deeply furrowed bark, 

 nodding leading shoots, spreading branches, flattened or ultimately terete branchlets, 2- 

 ranked, in a horizontal plane, light-colored, fragrant wood. Leaves scale-like, ovate, 

 acuminate, opposite in pairs, becoming brown and woody in age; flowers minute, terminal, 

 monoecious ; staminate flowers oblong, bearing numerous stamens, their filaments short and 

 stout, with connectives broader than long, more or less completely covering the 2 globose 

 pollen-sacs ; ovulate flowers subglobose, composed of usually 6 fertile peltate scales, 

 each bearing 2-5 erect ovules; cones small, globose, maturing at the end of the first sea- 

 son, their scales abruptly enlarged and flattened or depressed at the apex, bearing the rem- 

 nants of the flow-er as a short prominent projection; seeds 1-5, erect, ovate-oblong, w^ith 2 

 prominent wings; cotyledons 2. [Name Greek, meaning a low cypress.] 



Six species, one on the Atlantic Coast, two on the Pacific Coast of North America, and three in Japan 

 ajid Formosa. Type species, Chamaccyparis sphaeroidea Spach. 



Bark thin, about 10-20 mm. thick, divided into flat ridges; branchlets scarcely flattened; leaves glandless 

 or obscurely glandular. 1. C. nootkatensis. 



Bark thick, often 15-20 cm. thick, divided into broad, rounded ridges; branchlets slender, flattened; leaves 

 conspicuously glandular. 2. C. lau'soniana. 



1. Chamaccyparis nootkatensis (Lamb.) Spach. 

 Alaska Cypress. Vig. 154. 



Cupressiis nootkatensis Lamb. Pinus 2: 18. 1824 

 Chaniaecyporis nootkatensis Spach, Hist. Veg. 11: 333. 1842. 



Tree frequently 30-40 m. high, with a trunk 1-2 m. in 

 diameter ; branches horizontal, with distichous slightly 

 flattened or terete yellowish branchlets ; bark 15-20 mm. 

 thick, irregularly furrowed into flat, brown-gray ridges, 

 these separating on the surface into thin, papery scales. 

 Leaves faintly glandular-pitted or glandless on the back, 

 dark blue-green, long-pointed, closely appressed except on 

 vigorous shoots ; staminate flowers oblong, 4 mm. long, 

 composed of 3-10 stamens, with light yellow ovate con- 

 nectives ; ovulate flowers light reddish color with the fertile 

 scales bearing 2-4 ovules. Cone subglobose, 12 mm. broad, 

 dark red-brown, with 4-6 scales, each tipped with a promi- 

 nent conical projection; seeds 1-4, ovate. 



Humid Transition and Canadian Zones; southern Alaska southward 

 through western Brilish Columbia and along the Cascade Mountains 

 of Washington and Oregon as far south as the Santiam River. The 

 wood is clear yellow, with a nearly white sapwood, close-grained, 

 verv durable and fragrant. It is used for interior finishing, furniture, 

 and shipbuilding. Type locality: Nootka Sound. 





2. Chamaccyparis lawsoniana (Alurr.) Pari. Lawsoii Cypress. Fig. 155. 



Ciiprcssus lazvsoniana Murr. Edinb. New Phil. Tour. II. 



1: 292. pi. 10. 1855. 

 Ciipressus jragrans Kell. Proc. Calif. Acad. 1: 103. 



1856. 

 Cliamaecvparis Iau'sonia)ia Pari, in DC. Prod. 16-: 464. 



1868." 



Tree 25-50 tn. high, with a trunk abruptly 

 enlarged at the base and above this 1-3 m. in 

 diameter, and horizontal or pendulous branches 

 bearing slender flattened branchlets ; bark dark 

 red-brown, smooth on young trees, on the older 

 often 15-20 cm. thick, separating into large, 

 thin shreds, becoming divided into broad 

 rounded ridges. Leaves bright green above, 

 glaucous below, conspicuously glandular on 

 the back ; staminate flowers oblong : stamens 

 about 12, their connectives red; ovulate flow- 

 ers with pointed scales, each bearing about 4 

 ovules ; cones abundant on the upper branches, 

 globose, 8 mm. broad, reddish brown and some- 

 what glaucous ; scales 8-10, with a flattened or 

 sunken apex, bearing a short conical projection; 

 seeds ovate, slightly flattened, 3 mm. long, 

 chestnut brown, broadly winged. 



Most abundant and reaches its best development on 

 the western slojie of the Coast Ranges in southwestern 

 Oregon, Humid Transition Zone; Coos Bay, Oregon, to 

 Mad River, Humboldt County, California. .As a lumber tree it is known as Port Orford Cedar, and as an 

 ornamental, Lawson Cypress. Type locality: Sacramento River Canon, California. 



