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Vascular Plants of California
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Chamaecyparis
FALSE CYPRESS

Higher Taxonomy
Family: CupressaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key

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.
Chamaecyparis
Habit: Single-trunked tree, pyramidal in youth; monoecious. Stem: young shoots flat, in drooping or pendent clusters, in 1 plane. Leaf: opposite, 4-ranked, scale-like, overlapping, of 2 kinds (facials smaller, appressed, laterals with tips spreading above facials). Pollen Cone: terminal. Seed Cone: 5--14 mm, woody, +- spheric to widely cylindric, maturing 1st year, open at maturity; scales 8--12, peltate, abutting, shield- or wedge-shaped, projection generally present, <= 1 mm, pointed, base depressed from edge. Seed: (1)2--5(7) per scale, flat, wings 2, narrow; cotyledons 2. Chromosomes: n=11.
Species In Genus: 5 species: western and eastern North America, eastern Asia. Etymology: (Greek: dwarf or on-the-ground cypress)
Jepson eFlora Author: Jim A. Bartel
Reference: Farjon 2005 Monograph Cupressaceae Sciadopitys. RBG, Kew
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

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Citation for this treatment: Jim A. Bartel 2012, Chamaecyparis, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=9025, accessed on August 14, 2022.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2022, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on August 14, 2022.