Also called:
- Alaska yellow cypress (botanically, a more accurate name from 2010–2021), and
- Nootka cedar and Nootka cypress (which come from a European misunderstanding of the name of the local Nuu-chah-nulth people).
Also called:
-
Cupressus
nootkatensis (its official name from 2010–2021), and
-
Chamaecyparis
nootkatensis and
- Xanthocyparis nootkatensis (other former names).
Some taxonomists consider the 1–4 species of
cedar genus Cedrus,
(found from the Mediterranean Sea to the 🗻︎ Himalaya mountains) to be the only true cedars. But the common name
cedar is used to describe at least 32 species, in 20 genera, in 9 families
(found 🌍︎🌎︎🌏︎ globally except Antarctica). Regardless, this plant is …
The species-specific name nootkatensis comes from a European misunderstanding of the name of the local Nuu-chah-nulth people.
Since 2021, the only species in new
genus Callitropsis.
From 2010–2021, this species was part of
cypress genus Cupressus
Regardless, still part of
cypress / juniper / redwood family Cupressaceae
in
🌲︎ conifer order Pinales.
Native to 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 Canada and USA's Pacific Northwest (Cascadia).
🗺 Map (scroll down),
🗺 map by county (🇺🇸 USA-48)
(color key).
Further south lives the former-sister-species
Port Orford cedar Chamaecyparis lawsoniana,
and on the East Coast lives another former-sister-species
■ Atlantic white cedar Chamaecyparis thyoides.
Uses by native peoples
(Ethnobotany database)
🪵 Its wood is used to make sculptures [invariably awesome!], and 🎸︎ guitars. Note the very fine grain.