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Products > Cupressus cashmeriana
 
Cupressus cashmeriana - Kashmir Cypress
   
Image of Cupressus cashmeriana
 
Habit and Cultural Information
Category: Tree
Family: Cupressaceae (incl. Taxodiaceae) (Cypresses)
Origin: Bhutan (Asia)
Evergreen: Yes
Flower Color: NA
Bloomtime: Not Significant
Synonyms: [C. himalaica darjeelingensis, C. tortulosa]
Height: 40-60 feet
Width: 15-20 feet
Exposure: Full Sun
Deer Tolerant: Yes
Irrigation (H2O Info): Medium Water Needs
Winter Hardiness: 15-20° F
Cupressus cashmeriana (Kashmir Cypress) - A beautiful evergreen conifer from south Tibet that typically grows in cultivation to 40 to 60 feet tall but ones measured in habitat are among the tallest trees in the world, exceeding 200 feet! It has a narrowly pyramidal shape with upright main branches and long (often several feet) pendulous branchlets bearing blue-green, aromatic foliage.

Plant in full sun and irrigate occasionally. It is hardy to about 15-20° F but can be damaged in high winds, so is best in less windy areas, in mixed plantings or sheltered locations that offer some protection. It may also be damaged in prolonged dry, hot weather.

Cupressus cashmeriana comes from the eastern Himalaya in Bhutan and adjacent areas of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India. In A handbook of Coniferae and Ginkgoaceae (Dallimore, William, Albert Bruce Jackson, and S.G. Harrison, New York: St. Martin's Press. 1967) it is noted that the tree is not well known in Britain but the most famous tree in Europe was a tree of "remarkable beauty" on the Isola Madre at Lake Maggiore. The largest tree in the United States was a beautiful 60-foot-tall specimen in the lawn adjacent to the succulent garden at the Huntington Botanic Gardens in San Marino, California but this tree was snapped off at the ground by winds during a storm in January 1997 that had microbursts measured in excess of 120 MPH by the nearby Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

The name of this conifer has been disputed for many years. It has gone under the name Cupressus himalaica var. darjeelingensis and C. torulosa var. cashmeriana. In the March 2000 Conifer Registrar by Piers Trehane (adapted from Aljos Farjon's "World Checklist and Bibliography of Conifers" Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 1998) Cupressus cashmeriana Royle Ex Carriere was listed as the correct name for this species but in a subsequent article by John Silba of the State University of New York for the International Conifer Preservation Society (Silba, J. (2009) made a strong argument that the name Cupressus tortulosa Griffith preceded this name and should be the correct name for this species, but in 2016 In Taxon 65: 1154 the Nomenclatural Committee for Vascular plants published its decision to reject this name change and stood by the name Cupressus cashmeriana. It was under this name that it was awarded the prestigious Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society in 1993. We have grown the tree continuously since the year 2000 after getting cuttings of it from Carol Bornstein. 

The information displayed on this page about Cupressus cashmeriana is based on the research we have conducted about it in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about this plant as it grows in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant have performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we have received from others and welcome hearing from anyone with information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information that will aid others to better grow it.

 
San Marcos Growers, established in 1979, closed for regular business on December 23rd 2025 as the property will be developed for affordable housing.
The gates are closed but we will be open by appointment only as we liquidate remaining plants, supplies and equipment. Our remaining plants are listed on our Live Inventory Page.
 
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