Italian Cypress

Trees up to 20 m or more tall, narrowly cylindrical. Branches upwardly appressed; branchelets dark green, slender. Leaves closely appressed, c. 1 mm long, ovate. Male cones 6‑9 mm long, terminal on branches. Female cones (mature) ± 20‑25 mm broad, yellowish‑grey. Scales peltate, 8‑14 in number. Seeds brown, compressed, winged, narrow.

Trees to 30 m tall; bark grayish brown, shallowly fissured; branches ascending or horizontally spreading; branchlets not arranged in a plane, ultimate ones 4-angled, ca. 1 mm in diam. Leaves in 4 ranks, densely appressed, dark green, not glaucous, 0.5-1 mm, ridged abaxially, without a conspicuous abaxial gland, apex obtuse or subacute. Pollen cones 4-8 mm. Seed cones yellowish gray when ripe, subglobose or ellipsoid, 2.5-4 × 2-3 cm; cone scales 8-14, each fertile scale with 8-20 seeds.

W. Asia, planted in Himalaya.

Distribution: E. Mediterranean, W. Asia. Widely cultivated.

The `pyramidal cypress' is widely cultivated in the plains and lower hills up to 1000 m. Cones mature in 2 years.

Cultivated. Jiangsu, Jiangxi [native to W Asia, E Mediterranean region]