Cedar Identification (Libocedrus bidwillii)

Check Libocedrus bidwillii for its tight, flattened branchlets and scale-like foliage.

• Branchlets form fan-like sprays that hang slightly and look flattened rather than rounded.
• Leaves are tiny overlapping scales, about 1/8 inch (3 mm) long, pressed tightly to the twigs.
• Foliage sits in opposite pairs, making the branchlets look neatly four-sided.
• Cones are small and upright, usually with 2 pairs of scales and a compact, oval shape.

Use the flat sprays and very small scale leaves as the quickest visual check.

Libocedrus bidwillii shows useful age-related shifts in foliage type, branching, and cone visibility.

• Seedling: Early plants carry softer, more spreading leaves rather than the tightly appressed, scale-like adult sprays, giving a looser outline and less obviously flattened branchlets.
• Juvenile plant: Juvenile growth keeps longer, freer leaf tips and more irregular branching, while shoots look less compressed into neat fanlike planes than later stages.
• Mature plant: Mature plants form dense, flattened sprays of closely overlapping scale leaves on pendulous branchlets, with a narrowly conical to columnar crown reaching about 20-60 feet (6-18 m).
• Fruiting stage: Cone-bearing branches show small, woody, erect cones near spray tips, adding distinct hard structures absent on younger sterile plants and making mature branchlets easier to confirm.

A few New Zealand conifers can be mistaken for Libocedrus bidwillii at a glance.

Libocedrus bidwillii is native to New Zealand, mainly on both the North and South Islands. It is most often found in montane to subalpine forest and scrub, especially near the treeline. This setting helps with identification because it points to a cool, upland conifer rather than a lowland garden tree. It commonly occurs on exposed slopes, ridges, and forest margins, often in places with snow or frequent mist.