Chamaecyparis thyoides

''Chamaecyparis thyoides'' , is a species of ''Chamaecyparis'', native to the Atlantic coast of North America from Maine south to Georgia, with a disjunct population on the Gulf of Mexico coast from Florida to Mississippi. It grows on wet sites on the coastal plain at altitudes from sea level up to 50 m, more rarely in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains up to 460 m altitude. The common name "Atlantic White Cedar" has been rejected by the American Joint Committee on Horticultural Nomenclature, as it is a cypress, not a cedar. However, it is still the most widely used name for this species.


It is an evergreen coniferous tree growing to 20-28 m tall, with feathery foliage in moderately flattened sprays, green to glaucous blue-green in color. The leaves are scale-like, 2-4 mm long, and produced in opposite decussate pairs on somewhat flattened shoots; seedlings up to a year old have needle-like leaves. The seed cones are globose, 4-9 mm diameter, with 6-10 scales, green or purple, maturing brown in 5–7 months after pollination. The pollen cones are purple or brown, 1.5–3 mm long and 1–2 mm broad, releasing their yellow pollen in spring.

There are two geographically isolated subspecies, treated by some botanists as distinct species, by others at just varietal rank:
*''Chamaecyparis thyoides'' subsp. ''thyoides'' . Atlantic coast, Maine to Georgia. Leaves and cones usually glaucous blue-green; facial leaves flat, not ridged; cones 4-7 mm long.
*''Chamaecyparis thyoides'' subsp. ''henryae'' E.Murray Little; ''Chamaecyparis henryae'' H.L.Li). Mexican Gulf coast, Florida to Mississippi. Leaves and cones always green, not glaucous; facial leaves with a longitudinal ridge; cones 6-9 mm long.

Older gypsy moth caterpillars sometimes eat the foliage, whereas young ones will avoid it.