Botanical Family · Pinales

Cupressaceae

Cypress Family

9 speciesOrder Pinales8+ well-known plants

The Cupressaceae family (Cypress Family) is a botanical family placed in the order Pinales. In the SASYA catalogue it spans 9 species across 4 genera. Its members are predominantly trees. Well-represented genera include Cupressus, Juniperus and Platycladus. Several members are valued in traditional medicine. Familiar examples include Rough-barked Arizona Cypress, Mourning Cypress and Portuguese Cypress.

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Representative specimen · Cupressaceae

Key pattern

Small, scale-like or needle-like leaves pressed tightly against the twig in overlapping ranks; reproduction is by cones rather than flowers — the tiny, often berry-like seed cones, as in juniper, are actually fused fleshy cone-scales, not a true fruit.

As conifers, the family has no flowers, petals, or fruit in the true sense — 'berries' like juniper's are botanically cones, their scales fused and fleshy instead of woody.

Identify the species

Which Cupressaceae species is this?

Answer what you can see and narrow it down to a single Cupressaceae species.

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HabitWhat is the plant's growth habit?

Shrub

Tree

Family identification method

To check whether a plant belongs to Cupressaceae, compare the leaf arrangement, leaf type, flower symmetry, fruit type, and one distinctive marker together. A single feature can mislead; the family pattern is the combination.

Learn the full family-identification method