The Kashmir Cypress is one of the most beautiful trees that you might encounter. Grown as a container plant by Suncrest Nursery, it seems to be hard to find in the landscape. The pictures below are from the UCSC arboretum.
The tree reminds me of Chamaecyparis nootkatensis with its upright leader and primary scaffold branches and its weeping secondary branches. Growing to 40' by 20' in our area, it makes a wonderful focal point.
The primary scaffold branches are weekly vertical while all of the secondary branches are totally pendulous. They are arranged in flattened sprays like you see on Thuja plicata.
Leaves are somewhere between awl-like and the typical scale-like leaves of Cupressus. They very are aromatic. White lines of stomates show the margins of the leaves.
Cones are round, scales peltate, about 1/2" diameter, brown maturing in 2 years. You can see the light green one year cone as well as the 2nd year cone.
Immature female stroboli
Bark is beautiful like so many Cupressus species. Furrowed, slightly stringy or fibrous.
Like many plants, this one comes with several names. Two common synonyms are Cupressus tortulosa and Cupressus darjeelingensis.
Misidentification:
Thuja plicata maybe due to the flattened sprays of foliage and the cones are different.Location:
Santa Cruz
UCSC arboretum
412 Escalona is a very nice one.
119 Effey St in a container.
