Port Orford Cedar, Lawson Falsecypress           kam-e-SIP-a-ris la-so-ni-A-na

• Conifer (but not a true cedar), evergreen tree, 40-60 ft (12-18 m) tall, (180 ft in wild), narrow, pyramidal, buttressed trunk.  Short ascending branches, drooping at the tips.  Flattened frond-like twigs are arranged horizontally, developing white "X" markings on the underside.   Leaves closely pressed in opposite pairs, lateral pair keel-shaped and overlapping smaller facial pair.  Male (staminate) pollen cones on the tips of branchlets, ovate to oblong, dark brown to red at pollen release.  Female flowers inconspicuous, solitary, green to blue-green, developing into seed cones that are globose (round or spherical shape), 8 mm across, blue-green then ripening to brown in the first season, with about 8 scales.
• Sun or partial shade.  Prefers well-drained, moist soil; shelter from winds.
• It is being attacked by a root rot fungus, Phytophthora lateralis, which is devastating the species in the US (typical result).  Because of this, and susceptibility to other diseases, it is difficult to grow in much of the US.  Phytophthora lateralis is not wide spread in Europe and Phytophthora does not seem to be a major problem in England, since hundreds of cultivars are thriving there (Am. Nur., Aug., 1995).
• Nearly 300 types or cultivars have been selected from this species, many more than from any other conifer (Krüsmann,"Cultivated Conifers", p. 70).  Some cultivators lose their distinctive characteristics as they age, making them difficult to identify.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 5     Native range is along the coast in southwestern Oregon (the town of Port Orford is in the center of the range) and isolated areas of northwestern California.
• lawsoniana: after Charles Lawson, a nurseryman in Edinburgh, Scotland, raised it from the original introduction in 1845.  Commonly called the Lawson Falsecypress in England and Europe.
• Oregon State Univ. campus: southeast of Ag. and Life Science building.