Common Name: CYPRESS FAMILY
Habit: Shrub, tree, generally evergreen; monoecious or dioecious. Leaf: simple, cauline, alternate or opposite (either +- 4-ranked) or whorled in 3s (6-ranked), linear or scale-, awl- or needle-like (sometimes linear and awl-like on 1 pl, or on juvenile or injured plants), generally decurrent, covering young stems. Pollen Cone: axillary or terminal. Seed Cone: +- fleshy to generally woody, generally hard at maturity; scales opposite or whorled, peltate or not. Seed: 1--many per scale, angled or lateral winged, generally wind-dispersed. Chromosomes: n=11.
Genera In Family: 30 genera, 130+ species: +- worldwide, especially North America, Eurasia. Note: Incl (paraphyletic) Taxodiaceae. Taxa of (polyphyletic) Cupressus in TJM (1993) now in Callitropsis, Chamaecyparis, Hesperocyparis.
eFlora Treatment Author: Jim A. Bartel, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.

Common Name: WESTERN CYPRESS
Habit: Large shrub, 1- or multi-trunked tree, often pyramidal in youth; monoecious. Stem: young shoots or branches generally cylindric (sometimes +- 4-angled or flat), generally in 3-dimensional clusters. Leaf: opposite, 4-ranked, of 1 kind, scale-like, closely appressed, overlapping. Pollen Cone: terminal, 2--6.5 mm, 1.3--3 mm diam, generally yellow. Seed Cone: 10--50 mm, woody, +- spheric to widely cylindric, maturing 2nd year, generally closed and attached beyond maturity (> 2 years); scales (4)6--12, peltate, abutting, shield- or wedge-shaped, projection generally > 1 mm especially 1st year, pointed, base level with or rising from edge. Seed: 60--150 per cone, flat, wings generally 2, vestigial; cotyledons generally 3--5. Chromosomes: 2n=22(23,24).
Species In Genus: 16 species: western and central North America, Central America. Etymology: (Greek: western cypress)
Reference: Adams & Bartel 2009 Phytologia 91:287--299; Adams et al. 2009 Phytologia 91:160--185; Little 2006 Syst Bot 31:461--480
Unabridged Reference: Bartel et al. 2003 Biochem Syst Ecol 31:693--702