Chamaecyparis thyoides

Atlantic white cedar or Atlantic white cypress is a species of conifer in the cypress or Cupressaceae family. It is native to Atlantic coast of North America from Maine to Georgia, and also the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Mississippi. It grows quite close to the coastline and at low elevations and is considered a wetland species, favoring soils saturated with water. It can reach up to about 30 m tall.

The species is somewhat important in horticulture, with cultivars including 'Aurea' (yellow foliage), 'Heatherbun' (dwarf, purple in winter), 'Andelyensis' (dwarf, dense foliage), 'Ericoides' (juvenile foliage), 'Glauca' (strongly glaucous foliage) and 'Rubicon'.

• Leaves are in flat sprays, and are scale-like, 2—5 mm long, and arranged in decussate pairs (intersecting to produce an 'x'), blue-green with a white band at the base of each scale; seedlings up to a year old have needle-like leaves.
• Species is monoecious. Female flowers are small, green; males pollen cones are yellow, 1.5—3 mm long, 1—2 mm across, and at the ends of tips, releasing their pollen in the spring.
• Seed cones in the fall are globose (round), 4–9 mm in diameter, with 4-6 scales per cone, green and maturing to brown in about 7 months after pollination.
• The tree is bare of branches for 3/4ths of the trunk height; bark is ash-gray to reddish brown, somewhat peeling. It is smooth on juveniles, but has deep ridges and is up to 5 cm thick on mature trees.
• Twigs are covered in tight green scales, turning brown.