California Incense Cedar (Calocedrus decurrens) is a species of conifer native to western North America, with the bulk of the range in the United States, from central western Oregon through most of California and the extreme west of Nevada, and also a short distance into northwest Mexico in northern Baja California. It grows at altitudes of 160 to 9500 feet.
It is the most widely-known cedar species and is often simply called Incense Cedar without a regional qualifier. It is a large tree, with a trunk diameter up to 10 feet, and with a broad conic crown of spreading branches.
The bark is orange-brown weathering grayish, smooth at first, becoming fissured and peeling in long strips on the lower trunk on old trees. The foliage is produced in flattened sprays with short, scale-like leaves. The leaves are bright green on both sides of the shoots.
Easy to grow in the garden but requires plenty of room. If given deep, infrequent watering when young, it will develop drought tolerance.