Alaska Cedar, Nootka Falsecypress, Yellow Cedar           kam-e-SIP-a-ris noot-ka-TEN-sis

• Conifer (but not a true cedar), evergreen tree, 60-90 ft (18-27 m) tall, slender conical, with drooping branches and flattened sprays.  Leaves tightly appressed, dark bluish or grayish green, in 4 rows of similar size (3-6 mm long), an unpleasant, mildewy odor when bruised.  Cones globose (round or spherical shape), 10 mm across, ripening in the second year.
• Sun or partial shade.  Prefers well-drained, moist soil.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 4     Native range is along the coast of Alaska and British Columbia, then in the Cascades of Washington and Oregon, just reaching northern California.
• Recently a new conifer was discovered in northen Vietnam, it was described scientifically in 2002 (Farjon et al.).  The tree was classified in a new genus in the family Cupressaceae as Xanthocyparis vietnamensis (Golden Vietnamese Cypress), its closest relative appears to be the Alaska Cedar.  Apparently a good deal of evidence justifies placing both species in the same genus, and hence Alaska Cedar has been renamed as Xanthocyparis nootkatensis.  The following from (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callitropsis_nootkatensis)  Little et al. (Amer. J. Bot. 91:1872[2004]), while confirming the above relationship with further evidence, pointed out that an earlier nomenclatural combination in the genus Callitropsis existed, as Callitropsis nootkatensis (D.Don) Oerst., published in 1864 but overlooked or ignored by other subsequent authors.  The correct name for these species under the ICBN when treated in a distinct genus.   The name Xanthocyparis has now been proposed for conservation, but until that is decided on, it is correctly classified in Callitropsis.  It was thought that at decision would be made at 2011 International Botanical Congress, but for some reason the proposal did not make it to the committee which decides taxonomic conflicts (John Russell, 2011).  However there is more, Eckenwalder (2009) states that leaf chemistry and DNA sequences show that Alaska Cedar belongs in Cupressus.
• Leaves similar to Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata), but the 4-rows of scale-leaves are of similar size, whereas in Red Cedar the 2 opposite pairs have a dissimilar appearance (not folded and folded).  When branchlets of Alaska Cedar are stroked away from the tip, they feel prickly, those of Red Cedar do not.  Leaves of Western Red Cedar have a pleasing odor when crushed, not the mildewy or raw potato of Alaska Cedar (Pojar and MacKinnon, 1994).
• Chamaecyparis nootkatensis (Alaska Cedar) is also often confused with Chamaecyparis lawsoniana (Port Orford Cedar, Lawsons Falsecypress).  Click here for a table of distinguishing characteristics.
• Several cultivars available, including:
  • ‘Aurea’  -  foliage bright yellow, slow growing
  • ‘Variegata’  -  white to creamy-white variegation
  • ‘Pendula’  -  strongly weeping form with branchlets hanging vertical
• nootkatensis: after Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, where the tree was first described by Europeans.
• Oregon State Univ. campus: northside of LaSells Stewart Center.