Baker Cypress, Modoc Cypress, Siskiyou Cypress
- Evergreen conifer, small tree, usually less than 50 ft (15 m) but record trees reach over 70 ft (21 m),
slow growing, open, spreading branches, aromatic twigs. Bark on the main trunk is reddish-brown,
smoothish, often peeling in curling plates. Mature scale-like leaves are flat, closely appressed, short, 2 mm
long, pointed, noticeable resin gland, in opposite, alternating pairs, forming 4 rows, gray-green. Cones gray or dull brown,
squarish to nearly spherical, about 2 cm across, commonly with 6 scales.
- Note: The scale-like leaves are in opposite, alternating pairs (decussate) and their associated bud have
the same arrangement, hence branchlets derived from these buds are arranged similarly, resulting in four
vertical rows. In contrast, Western Juniper, Juniperus occidentalis, has scale-like leaves
that are usually in whols of three, thus its branchlets are vertically arranged in rows of three rather than
four (see comparison).
- Sun. Needs well-drained soil.
- Hardy to USDA Zone 5 The most northern and hardiest cypress in North America. Native to southwestern Oregon (Jackson and Josephine counties) and northern California, mostly at elevation between 3,500 and 7,000 ft (1,060-2,100 m).
- bakeri: after Milo Samuel Baker (1868-1961), California botanist who discovered the species in 1898.
- Oregon State Univ., Peavy Arboretum and south of Peavy Hall (2011)
- Portland, Oregon: Hoyt Arboretum