Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word cypress is derived from Old French cipres, which was imported from Latin cypressus, the latinisation of the Greek κυπάρισσος (kyparissos).
Cupressaceae is a conifer family, the cypress family, with worldwide distribution. The family includes 27–30 genera, which include the junipers and redwoods, with about 130–140 species in total. They are monoecious, subdioecious or (rarely) dioecious trees and shrubs up to 116 m (381 ft) tall. The bark of mature trees is commonly orange- to red- brown and of stringy texture, often flaking or peeling in vertical strips, but smooth, scaly or hard and square-cracked in some species.
Hesperocyparis macrocarpa is a coniferous tree. It is commonly known as the Monterey cypress and is one of several species of cypress trees endemic to California. In New Zealand, where it is also widespread, it is simply known as "macrocarpa".
Cupressus sempervirens, the Mediterranean cypress, is a species of cypress native to the eastern Mediterranean region, in northeast Libya, southern Albania, southern and coastal Bulgaria, southern coastal Croatia and Slovenia, southern Montenegro, southern Bosnia and Herzegovina, southwestern North Macedonia, southern Greece, southern Turkey, Cyprus, northern Egypt, western Syria, Lebanon, Malta, Italy, Palestine, Israel, western Jordan, South Caucasus, and also a disjunct population in Iran.
Cupressus dupreziana, the Saharan cypress, or tarout, is a very rare coniferous tree native to the Tassili n'Ajjer mountains in the central Sahara desert, southeast Algeria, where it forms a unique population of trees hundreds of kilometres from any other trees. There are only 233 specimens of this endangered species, the largest about 22 m tall. The majority are estimated to be over 2000 years old, with very little regeneration due to the increasing desertification of the Sahara. Rainfall totals in the area are estimated to be about 30 mm annually. The largest one is named Tin-Balalan is believed to be the oldest tarout tree with a circumference of 12 meters or 36 feet.
Cupressus arizonica, the Arizona cypress, is a North American species of tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to the southwestern United States and Mexico. Populations may be scattered rather than in large, dense stands.
Cupressus bakeri, reclassified as Hesperocyparis bakeri, with the common names Baker cypress, Modoc cypress, or Siskiyou cypress, is a rare species of cypress tree endemic to a small area across far northern California and extreme southwestern Oregon, in the western United States.
Cupressus goveniana, now reclassified as Hesperocyparis goveniana, with the common names Californian cypress and Gowen cypress, is a species of cypress, that is endemic to California.
Cupressus guadalupensis, the Guadalupe cypress, is a species of cypress from Guadalupe Island in the Pacific Ocean off western North America.
The Santa Cruz cypress is a species of North American tree within the Cypress family. The species is endemic to the Santa Cruz Mountains within the Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties of west-central California. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the species on the Endangered Species Act in 1987 due to increasing threats from habitat loss and disruption of natural forest fire regimes. In 2016, the conservation status of the Santa Cruz cypress changed to Threatened. The cited reasoning was a decrease in threats against their habitat.
Cupressus funebris, the Chinese weeping cypress, is a species of cypress native to southwestern and central China. It may also occur naturally in Vietnam.
Callitris columellaris is a species of coniferous tree in the family Cupressaceae, native to most of Australia. Common names include White Cypress-pine, Murray River Cypress-pine, and Northern Cypress-pine. Callitris columellaris has become naturalised in Hawaii and in southern Florida.
Cupressus macnabiana is a species of cypress in western North America.
Cupressus duclouxiana, known commonly as the Chinese cypress or Yunnan cypress, is a species of conifer in the cypress family, Cupressaceae. It is endemic to China, where it is known from Yunnan and Sichuan. It grows in deep river gorges. Its habitat is mountain forest where it occurs alongside the Sikang pine and various oaks, chinquapins, and chestnuts.
Cupressus gigantea, the Tibetan cypress, is a species of conifer in the family Cupressaceae in Asia. C. gigantea was previously classified as a subspecies of Cupressus torulosa because of their similar morphological characteristics and close distribution, but have since been genetically distinguished as separate species.
Cupressus sargentii is a species of conifer in the family Cupressaceae known by the common name Sargent's cypress. It is endemic to California, where it is known from Mendocino County southwards to Santa Barbara County. This taxon is limited to the Coast Range mountains. It grows in forests with other conifers, as well as chaparral and other local mountain habitat, usually in pure stands on serpentine soils. It generally grows 10 to 15 meters tall, but it is known to exceed 22 meters. On Carson Ridge in Marin County, as well as Hood Mountain in Sonoma County, the species comprises a pygmy forest of trees which do not attain heights greater than 240–360 cm due to high mineral concentrations in the serpentine soil.
Cupressus stephensonii is a species of conifer known as the Cuyamaca cypress, and is endemic to southern California. It has been classified as Hesperocyparis stephensonii. It was previously listed as Cupressus arizonica subsp. stephensonii and Cupressus arizonica var. glabra.
Cupressus arizonica var. glabra, known as the Arizona smooth bark cypress or smooth Arizona cypress, is a conifer native to the American Southwest, with a range stretching over the canyons and slopes in a somewhat wide vicinity around Sedona, Arizona. It was first described by George Bishop Sudworth in 1910.
