Lawson's Cypress - Cupressus lawsoniana

An evergreen tree with a columnar shape reaching up over 40 metres and with leading shoots drooping at the tip. Leaves opposite and scale like, all closely pressed together with white markings beneath. Branchlets flattened. Scented when crushed. Male cones are reddish; female rounded, small, 7 or 8 mm yellow brown when ripe.

Leyland and Nootka Cypress are commonly planted.  Other Cupressus, Juniperus and Thuja also have appressed scale like leaves in opposite pairs.  There are many Lawson Cypress cultivars and identification is difficult.

Cupressus have globose cones with peltate scales (i.e. the stalk arises from the middle of the under surface rather than the base or margin of the scale).  Lawson's, Nootka, Sawara, and some Leyland Cypress have flattened sprays of branchlets, but this is also seen in Thuja.

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Usually planted and then reseeding near parent tree.

All year round.

Perennial evergreen.

Widespread and fairly frequent in Britain but mostly planted.

Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland but usually planted and then seeding near parent tree. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was not recorded.