Strong-scented, evergreen trees with very small, scale-like or somewhat awl-shaped, closely appressed (except in some cultivated varieties), overlapping leaves and 2-ranked branchlets, almost as in Thuya. Cones globular, with peltate, valvate scales, firmly closed till ripe; the scales thick and pointed at the center.
| * Native trees; leaves light glaucous-green. | 1. | |
| * Cultivated trees from Western America; leaves dark green. (A.) | ||
| A. No tubercle on the backs of the leaves. | 2. | |
| A. Usually a tubercle on the back | 3. | |
| * Cultivated small trees and shrubs from Japan (called Retinospora) | 4. | |
C. sphæroídea.
1. Chamæcýparis sphæroídea, Spach. (White Cedar.) Leaves very small, triangular, awl-shaped, regularly and closely appressed in 4 rows, of a light glaucous-green color, often with a small gland on the back. Cones very small, 1/3 in. in diameter, of about 6 scales, clustered. Tree 30 to 90 ft. high, wild in low grounds throughout; abundant in Middle States. With reddish-white wood and slender, spreading and drooping sprays; bark fibrous, shreddy; sometimes cultivated.
C. Nutkæ̀nsis.
2. Chamæcýparis Nutkæ̀nsis, Lambert. (Nootka Sound Cypress.) Leaves only 1/8 in. long, sharp-pointed, and closely appressed, of a very dark, rich green color; very slightly glaucous, without tubercles on the back. Cones small, globular, solitary, with a fine, whitish bloom; scales 4, rough and terminating in a sharp straight point. Tree 100 ft. high in Alaska, and would make a fine cultivated tree for this region if it could stand our hot, dry summers.
C. Lawsoniàna.