Himalayan Cypress is probably the only species of Cupressus indigenous to India. It is an elegant, evergreen tree 15-25 m tall. Crown is large oval to broadly conical. Bark is thick, grey brown or brown, peeling off in longitudinal strips. Branches are slender, drooping, with thin, whip-like tips. Branchlets are cylindrical, nearly quadrangular, branching in whorls. Shoots lie in a single plane. Leaves are scale-like, closely pressed along the shoots, blunt, dark green. Male cones are nearly spherical, 5-6 mm across. Female cones are spherical or elliptic, grouped on very short stalks, 1-2 cm across, hanging at the end of shoots, green or purple when young, later turning dark brown, composed of 6-8 scales, with a small central depression. Seeds are 6-8 to each scale, red-brown. Wood is pale yellow with pale brown heartwood, hard and durable. Himalayan Cypress is found in the Himalayas, from Himachal Pradesh to Centeral Nepal, at altitudes of 1800-3300 m. Flowering: February-March.