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Hinoki false cypress is an evergreen conifer with attractive soft and stringy reddish brown bark, and drooping flat frondlike branchlets bearing small scalelike leaves. The main branches are dense and spreading and may droop to the ground, and the sprays of foliage are held in flat planes. In its native habitat, Hinoki false cypress can get over 120 ft (36.6 m) tall with a trunk diameter of 6 ft (1.8 m), but in cultivation the typical species is usually 50-60 ft (15.2-18.3 m) tall with a broadly conical crown that spreads about 20 ft (6.1 m) or so. Like many members of the false cypress family, this one has two kinds of leaves: adult leaves are like closely adpressed overlapping scales; leaves on juvenile branchlets and young plants don't overlap and are shaped more like tiny awls or broad needles. The scalelike leaves of Hinoki false cypress are borne in pairs of two unequal sizes and shapes, and this is one way to tell Hinoki false cypress from the otherwise similar Sawara false cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera) which has all of its adult leaves the same size and shape. The cones of Hinoki false cypress are about one-half inch in diameter and those of Sawara false cypress are only 1/4 in (0.6 cm) in diameter.
Location
Culture
The various cultivars of Hinoki false cypress are used as specimens and for hedging, screening and windbreaks. These are slow growing evergreens, tolerant of acidic as well as alkaline soils. Hinoki false cypress is moderately tolerant of air pollution, too. The dwarf cultivars are valued in rock and Alpine gardens, as novelty specimens and for bonsai. The intermediate cultivars are used for hedges and foundation plantings, and the larger cultivars as specimen trees.
Features The false cypresses (genus Chamaecyparis) include just eight species, mostly from cool, moist northern latitudes in eastern Asia and North America; the true cypresses (Cupressus) include about 20 species, mostly from warmer regions in western China, western North and Central America, and the Mediterranean region. The baldcypresses (Taxodium) include just two or three species native to the southeastern U.S. and Mexico. Steve Christman 11/10/00; updated 8/30/04, 7/18/05
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