Conifer in need of a name!

[davidbr]

I'm hoping someone who's better at conifers than I am can help me put a name to this one

[treecreeper]

I don't know conifers very well but flicking through Roger Phillips' Trees in Britain, Europe and North America this looks very like genus Anthrotaxis. Closest visual match is Summit Cedar (Anthrotaxis laxifolia) with King William Pine (Anthrotaxis selaginoides) a close second.

[davidbr]

Originally Posted by treecreeper

I don't know conifers very well but flicking through Roger Phillips' Trees in Britain, Europe and North America this looks very like genus Anthrotaxis. Closest visual match is Summit Cedar (Anthrotaxis laxifolia) with King William Pine (Anthrotaxis selaginoides) a close second.

Thanks for the reply, but apparently Athrotaxis are endemic to Tasmania and pretty much unknown in cultivation outside of the main botanic gardens. It'd have been a nice find, but after looking at the pictures online unfortunately I don't think that's what it is

I've e-mailed these pictures to an old birding friend who always used to be pretty good on trees, and her opinion is that it's a Sawara Cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera), albeit one that's suffered from not being looked after for a very long time It seems OK to me, especially the white underside pattern on the scales, but like I said a lot of these conifers all look the same to me - I'm going to have to find a decent book and get some practice in