Thuja plicata 'Zebrina' - Variegated Western Cedar

This cultivar of our native Thuja brightens up almost any landscape. The trees are quite large, perhaps to 50' in our area. They form a nice tight pyramidal form with branches to the ground if grown in the sun, I have seen them used as hedges in the UK.

Kew Gardens

Leaves are small, scale-like and in pairs covering the young stems. The branchlets are long and feather like in arrangement with short narrow lateral branches coming off of the main branches. The lower surface of the branchlets shows bands of white stomates. This cultivar has creamy yellow bands of leaves interspersed with green leaves

Reproductive structures and bark like the species.

Locations:

Aptos

748 Encino Drive on the side of the house up the hill a bit. 

Cupressus forbesii - Tecate Cypress

Evergreen conifer growing 30-50' usually branching low at the base to create a wide spreading multi-stemmed tree. Mature trees tend to be wide spreading and open, while young trees are pretty full as the lower branches are still close to the older ones. Trees have a distinct upward arching of the lateral branch tips. With the renaming of the new world cypress, I think it should be Hesperocyparis forbesii.

Leaves are scale-like, very small, (1/16") light to medium green. Dried resin absent, meaning there are no little white spots on the leaves like you would see on Arizona cypress.

Branches radially around the stems creating a full branching pattern.

You can see the upright arching habit of the ends of the branches.

Cones are 1" diameter, more or less round with 4-5 pairs of scales which have a bump on the scale backs or not very obvious at all. Light brown when mature.

Bark is beautiful. Reddish brown with green and gray colors depending on the season, may get fibrous at the base of old trunks.

This is Cupressus guadalupensis in the California section of the UCSC Arboretum. Plants are much fuller, upright, bark is different as well as the foliage. Native to the Island of Guadalupe off the coast of Baja.

Misidentification:
Where do I begin? Look for the exfoliating bark, its about the best ID characteristic we have for the Cupressus like conifers here.

Location:
Aptos:
Cabrillo College by the Gym along Soquel as well as to the left of the entrance to the gym parking lot.

Scotts Valley:
Lockewood Lane across from the entrance to Oak Tree Villa. Interplanted with Monterey Cypress.

Santa Cruz:
701 High St on the Laurent side of the house
Empire Grade just past the Arboretum at the water tower.

Abies bracteata - Bristlecone Fir

Such a cool native conifer, growing so close to us in it's native Santa Lucia mountain range, and so rare in Santa Cruz landscapes. I have seen it growing nicely in SLO and the pictures below is at Tilden Park. It gets its name from the very long awns on the ends of the cone scales. The tree is an evergreen conifer growing up to 70' tall and 20' wide. Quite a narrow and spire-like shape, full canopy with short lateral branches that weep at the tip. Broad spreading at the base and retaining it's lateral branches at the ground. If you go to Tilden park, especially around the golf course area you will see hundreds planted and lots of and lots of seedlings.

This is the one on Loma Prieta Drive. Rumor has it a huge house is going in and the oak stump is a sign that its happening (5/24/24). The neighbor a few doors down had no idea she has such a rare tree, and was not likely to take it down. Why do odd trees end up almost next door and not anywhere else? There was a California nutmeg (Torreya californica just around the corner years ago but came down.

Leaves (needles) are evergreen, needle like, 1.5 - 2.5 " long, stiff, flat, dark glossy green on the upper surface twisted at the base with a sharply pointed tip. Lower surface has 2 distinct lines of stomates. Leaves appear 2 ranked on lower branches or may be radiating around the stem on vigorous stems.

Cones are held upright on the tops of the trees, They are 2.5 - 3.5" long, almost egg shaped, with long scale tips. Cones are purplish brown at maturity. As with all true firs you will not find full cones on the ground as they mature and fall apart on the tree, unless a squirrel or the wind brought one down. You will find the scales on the ground.

Male cones are small and yellow when mature.

A great characteristic of this tree is the distinct long pointed non resinous buds. Bark is smooth when young, lacking hairs, maturing bark is lightly checked.

Misidentification: The leaves and terminal buds might look doug fir like, but these are way sharper and a bit longer. Obviously look at the ground, you will not find whole cones like a doug fir.

Location: Aptos

507 Loma Prieta Dr, I could not really determine the true address,  I think its across the street from this. While you are there, look at 507 for the Torreya californica (Torreya was removed 2013).

509 Loma Prieta Dr. is the other one.

Pinus torryeana - Torrey Pine

The Torrey Pine is a large native evergreen conifer, growing slowly up to 60 tall and almost as wide. The trees have a nice broad conical habit with strong stout upright primary lateral branches. They have a distinctly  bluish cast to the canopy. The Torrey pine is extremely variable in its native habit. Being so close to the coast it might take on a "picturesque" habit.

This native conifer is also very restricted tree in the "wild" and only found natively growing in a very small area in San Diego County and a few islands off the coast. But like others trees from somewhere else, it grows and reseeds nicely here and grows fast in cultivation. There are lots of seedlings in and around Sea Cliff State Park. This image is at the park over looking the ocean.

The evergreen leaves are in 5's, gray-green color, 5-12" long, stout and prickly at the tips. Generally clustered at the tips of stout branches. Persisting 3-4 years.

Cones are oval, dark reddish brown, 4-5" long and almost as wide. They can be very heavy. Takes 3 years to mature. Scales are strongly 4 sided with a prominent recurving spine. Seeds are edible. Cone falls leaving some of the scales behind. This image shows young cones that will be developing later in the season.

These are recently maturing and have not turned brown yet.

Male cones are 1 - 2" long when open, yellow and in clusters at the tips of lower branches

Stout, rough twigs and often sort of a light gray color looking like they have a waxy coating on them.  Short but persistent leaf sheaths.

Bark is gray scaly ridges showing red-brown between the furrows.  It forms rectangular plates.

Misidentification: Count the needles, this is an "odd" 5 needle pine. Most have long skinny cones and soft leaves with non-persistent bundle sheaths. Most five needle pines have smooth bark as well, at least till they are very old.

Locations:
Aptos
Seacliff: At Seacliff State park upper parking lot overlooking the ocean
608 Seacliff Drive has a nice one. (GONE)

Capitola Area
Along Highway 1 in several places. Two on the N bound lanes heading North, just south of the Drive In/Flea market.

Santa Cruz
225 Marnell Ave - Awesome
Heading South from the River St intersection on the right just by the Ocean St exit.
head.
On the golf course in DeLeveaga

Pinus ponderosa - Ponderosa Pine

The Ponderosa pine is one of my favorite conifers. It is native to parts of SC county as well as the Sierras and into the eastern portions of  the PNW.  Tall columnar shape when older, trunks void of branches for about a third of the trunk showing off the beautiful bark. Lateral branches short, mostly perpendicular to the trunk. As would be expected there are variations of this species as some are found in the Sand Hills area and others at 2000 feet elevation of the inland pacific northwest. Growth rate is medium and has been noted to grow several feet per year when young. The ponderosa pine is also know as bull pine, blackjack pine and the western yellow pine.

Leaves are needle like, in bundles of 3 (there is a botanical variety with 2 or 3 needles P. ponderosa scopulorum) 6-8" long, light to medium green color and very sharp pointed. Needles tend to be restricted to the ends of the branches as they only last 3 years. They are also somewhat droopy on the branch.

Reproductive structures are separate on the trees, males generally dark reddish purple (or can be yellow) before opening and releasing massive amounts of yellow pollen. Generally borne on the lower branches.

Females are red, and borne higher up in the tree.

Immature cones vary in color with subspecies, and can be black to purple as seen in this image from eastern washington to green colored.  All the cones turn dark reddish brown as they mature. They are about 4" long, oblong or ovate shaped, with very sharp prickles on the ends of the scales that reflex backwards (outward, unlike the Jeffery Pine). 

Mature cone. Note the tips of the scales pointing outward.

The cones leave behind a row a scales on branches when they fall. The are not the only ones that do that, its just a helpful characteristic.

Stems are very stout, greenish-brown. 

Trunks with mature bark is one of the most beautiful barks I know. If you look closely the bark bits look like jigsaw puzzle pieces. But it takes a long time to develop this sort of trunk. Orange in color, with black crevices. 

Misidentification: Always look at the needle number first, these have 3.
Jeffery pine for one,
Other 3 needle pines in our area:
P. attenuata, Knobcone Pine is native to the northern county and can be seen in UCSC wild areas. Cones are very different, in large clusters on the main stems and held for years.
P. canariensis, much longer softer needles, longer cones, much fuller habit but more or less the same overall shape but way full.
P. coulteri, longer bluer leaves, more stiff and dont seem to droop on the stems, not as restricted to the ends of the branches as they last 3-4 years. Much broader habit. There are some around.
P. jefferyi, the cones are different in that the prickle on the scale is curved inward and will not stick you and you will not likely see one in SC.
P. radiata, covered earlier, dark green leaves, shorter and softer.

Location: Several nice places,
From the road you can see them on:
Highway 17 between Granite Creek Rd and Mt Herman Exits on the north side,
Highway 1 to the east, lining the area below Cabrillo College
Graham Hill Rd just past Quarry Rd on your way to Ben Lomond on the right is a beautiful one.
Mt Herman Rd as it leaves Scotts Valley area and heads into the Sand Hills area.
Scotts Valley has a great collection, there is a nice big one on the corner of SV Drive and Bean Creek Rd.

In town, you can see one that was supposed to be a P. pinea so its planted with other Italian Stone pines, on Mar Vista Dr in Soquel outside the Seacliff Adult mobile homes on your left.

Thuja plicata - Western Red Cedar

Spectacular native tree, very conical shape, dark green and full if grown in full sun, thinner and more open if shaded. Moderate grower from 50-100' x 40' wide with a large tapering trunk. In its native habit it can reach 200+ feet tall. Lateral branches arching upwards while the secondary branches are weeping. May have branches to the ground if given enough sun. This one is from the Arboretum at UCSC. The Western Red Cedar is native to mostly coastal parts of far northern CA and the western Sierra Mts. They are not very common in our area.

These two to the right of the telephone pole are on Clubhouse Dr.

Leaves are small, scale-like and in pairs covering the young stems. The branchlets are long and feather like in arrangement with short narrow lateral branches coming off of the main branches. The lower surface of the branchlets shows bands of white stomates. There is a resin gland on the facial leaves, this is really small but you can see it in the second picture.

Lower surface of the foliage, showing the area where the stomates are located.

Female cones are small, bore erect on the ends of short shots. They are brown when mature and have several scales, the tips of each have a very small reflexed point.

The bark on very young stems is green, becoming brown within a year or two and eventually gray colored. They will develop a fibrous bark after many years.

Misidentification: Conifers with scale-like leaves can always be difficult to properly identify. Leaves have a pineapple smell when crushed, they are borne in long flat narrow sprays and the leaves have small white areas on the back. Representatives of this genus are not very common around here, so that might help.

Locations:
Aptos
Corner of Club House Dr and Murray Ave. in RDM. At this house you can also see a very large Sequoiadendron gigantea, 2 Chamaecyparis lawsoniana, Cedrus atlantica glauca and a Cornus capitata, and a small Abies grandis, Across the street you will see Sciadoptys verticillata and Pinus wallichiana. Around the corner on RDM Blvd you can see a nice Calocedrus decurrens and down the road toward the highway you can see a large Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata'.

Across the street from 217 Mar Vista Drive in Seacliff just over the fence in the trailer park.

Santa Cruz
216 Marnell Ave
There is one at the Arboretum at UCSC as well.

Calocedrus decurrens - California Incense Cedar

Another beautiful native conifer growing locally in the Santa Lucia Mts. and in the Sierras up into northern CA into Or. Planted extensively as an ornamental tree with a narrowly pyramidal to conical shaped crown. Many specimens are very narrow and very dense, some more broad and open. Slow to medium growing, 70-90' x 20' wide, with a thick trunk base and tapering upwards. Can be used as a Christmas tree, but they are pretty open when young and don't hold enough ornaments, but they sure smell great.

This is from the Arboretum at UCSC, not sure what's up with the glow... camera issues.

These are on Capitola Ave. near Soquel. There are at least 7 ringing the lot.

This must have looked great back in the day before they were drought stressed.

These are at Westonbrit Arboretum in England, the trees at the base are Parrotia persica.

Leaves evergreen, scale-like light green and shiny. They look link they are whorled in groups of 4 but are not. They are arranged in decussate pairs with the bases of the leaf being decurrent, say what? They are opposite in 4 rows. If you pull off the tip of a small shoot you will see 4 leaf tips, so call it what you want, I like the idea they are in groups of 4.

Leaves are dark green, 1/12" to 1/4" long however on elongating stems they may be 1/2" long.  Lateral leaves keel-shaped wrapping around the stem, the facial leaf bases covered by the lateral bases. On elongating stems you can easily see the decurrent leaf bases, hence the name of the plant.

Tips of the leaves reflexed from the twig. Fragrant when crushed, persisting 2 years before falling off and leaving a reddish stem.

Stems are flattened sprays, covered for 2 years with foliage becoming reddish and glossy. Exfoliating gray green to red brown bark.  Mature bark is furrowed with long ridges.

This one is on Spreckles in RDM, showing the bark so typical of members related to "cedars". Fell down in 2017 storm.

Male and female cones, males yellow, small, and non persistent. You can see the young female on the left and the drying up male on the right.

Female cones 3/4 - 1" long, ovoid to oblong shaped, light brown at maturity, with 2 sets of scales (only one fertile) that reflex back leaving a central stalk. Pretty distinct. Have had a hard time finding them around here, but found some great ones at Harvery West Park. Not round like so many others in the family, and more like Thuja cones.

Bark is spectacular, especially on older trees.

Several cultivars 'Argentomarginata' and the below is  'Maupin Glow'.

Misidentification: Others like Thuja plicata which you will not see much of here, Chamaecyparis lawsoniana which is pretty common. When you pull of the end of a small shoot you will see 4 leaf tips and not 2 like Thuja, Chamaecyparis or Cupressus. Also look for cones. Chamaecyparis lawsoniana has little translucent glands in the leaves and little round cones.

Locations: 

Aptos

Corner of Claus Ct and Spreckles Dr in Aptos. Huge one. Gone.... fell down

Soquel

2631 Capitola Ave. nice ring around the lot

Soquel Drive at E. Walnut, 2 on the large lot. Nice looking examples.

Santa Cruz

The two flanking the driveway at or about 160 New Street downtown in SC 

235 May St. Nice large specimen.

Cemetery across from Dominican hospital - an allee.