Lawson's Cypress

Lawson's cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana), also known by its official USDA name Port Orford cedar, is a large evergreen conifer of the family Cupressaceae that grows up to 50 meters tall, exceptionally to 81 meters, with a trunk 1.2 to 2 meters in diameter. It has silver-brown, vertically furrowed bark and lacy, flat, feathery sprays of blue-green, scale-like leaves 3 to 5 millimeters long. It is native to the valleys of the Klamath Mountains in southwestern Oregon and northwestern California, growing from sea level up to 1,500 meters, usually along streams, and needs consistently moist, well-drained soil. It can live up to about 600 years, and is assessed as Near Threatened, seriously affected by root disease caused by the pathogen Phytophthora lateralis, accidentally introduced in the early 1950s.