What is s True Cedar?

What is a true cedar?

Trees commonly called cedars are members of the cypress family, including among others redwood, sequoia, incense cedar, cypress, juniper, arborvitae and cryptomeria.

‘True cedars’, Cedrus, are in the pine family. Local examples of true cedars include the Atlas cedar (far east side of Plaza just north of tourist bureau sidewalk) and deodar cedar (just north of the Atlas cedar). True cedars::pine family; false cedars:: cypress family. 

To further muddy the cedar water, a mahogany, Cedrela odorata is called cigar box cedar; the tamarisk is called saltcedar and Torreya taxifolia, in the yew family is called ‘stinking cedar’. Areas of cypress and juniper badlands are called cedar breaks or cedar roughs. There’s plenty of room for confusion.

Cypress family trees commonly referred to as ‘cedar’, the false cedars, include: Western redcedar, Eastern white-cedar, Port Orford cedar, Atlantic white-cedar, Alaska cedar, Incense cedar, Japanese cedar and Eastern redcedar. In order to tell these and other ‘cedars’ apart you have to know the characteristics of the following cypress family genera: Thuja, Chamaecyparis, Cupressus, Calocedrus, Cryptomeria and Juniperus. It takes time and effort to learn these differences and since these trees have many similarities it’s easy to just call them cedars. Keep in mind there is no formal classification of simply ‘cedars’ in the cypress family.

Thuja or Northern white-cedar has over 300 cultivars and is planted locally, mostly as a yard hedge or street tree. These small trees have a yellow tinge to the foliage. Calocedrus or Incense cedar appears similar to sequoia but with flat, broad needle sprays. Just west of Newcomb on the Fryer Creek trail there’s a nice big Incense cedar. There are many local Cupressus, particularly Italian and Monterey cypress. See Watmaugh Road west of Broadway for a nice row of Monterey cypress. The tall, skinny ones are the Italian cypress ‘stricta’ variety. Italian cypress is also known as ‘graveyard cypress’, see the myth of Cyparissus. Hollywood juniper, a Chinese juniper cultivar, is fairly common in town, see a nice planting in front of the development on Blue Wing Drive, north side. Chamaecyparis lawsoniana or Port Orford cedar has many cultivars and is sold as a live Christmas tree at Sonoma Market. Cryptomeria or Japanese cedar is rare in Sonoma. None of the above are native to the North Bay. The urban landscape has many introduced trees.

‘Cedar’ has become a catch-all term for many different cypress family trees because there really is a fundamental similarity. This similarity is: general tree shape and branching pattern, vertical stringy bark texture, wood with a pleasant odor and many times, a flattened, segmented needle profile. When you hear people say ‘cedar’ you are in all likelihood dealing with certain cypress family trees called false cedars. Furthermore, within this false cedar category, cedar could refer to any number of typical Cupressacae or cypress family genera: juniper, cypress, arborvitae (Thuja), Port Orford cedar (Chamaecyparis) or Incense cedar (Calocedrus).