I Need to know how to identify Cypress from cedar.?

Question

I NEED to know how to identify cypress from cedar.

Here is a picture of cypress : http://www.bonsaiprimer.com/suitable/Cypress/cypress1.jpg

and here is cedar:

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/952/5002320.JPG

They look EXACTLY the same. There is no way to differentiated the two. Some people say that cypress is different from cedar. A book i have says Cedar is in the Cypress family. I need a STRAIGHT answer, I am pissed cuz I've been looking this up for a week and still nothing! UURGH! :@

Answer 1

Well, first of all, there are different types of cedar as well as different types of cypress. And while there is a variety of cedar known as the "Cyprus Cedar" ( Cedrus libani var. brevifolia Hook.f. (syn. Cedrus libani subsp. brevifolia (Hook.f.) Meikle) cedar and cypress trees are of different families.

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Cypress is the name applied to many plants in the conifer family Cupressaceae (cypress family).

Cedar (Cedrus) is a genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae. They are most closely related to the Firs (or Abies) then Cypress.

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I live in the north central region of the USA, have both cypress and cedar growing on my land.

In the case of my cypress, which grows rather slowly, it's bark is smooth and it's needles turn a beautiful mahoganey brown in the fall and drop off in the spring before growing all new needles.The cones are "globose", about 2-3.5 cm diameter, the male (pollen) cones are produced in pendulous racemes..

My cedars have grown faster and have a thick ridged or square-cracked bark, they do not lose their needles and the needles retain their color year round in my area. Their seed cones are larger then the cypress cones (6-12 cm long and 3-8 cm around) and are "barrel-shaped",