Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_cupressus_sempervirens
Mediterranean Cypress
Cupressus sempervirens
Open this record in the interactive Atlas
About Mediterranean Cypress
Mediterranean Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to the eastern Mediterranean through western Asia in temperate, seasonally dry woodland. A 1980 forestry ledger documents Kauaʻi planting in 1928; it does not establish current survival, reproduction, or naturalization.
Kauaʻi evidence
Taxonomic identity, tree form, diagnostic morphology and island occurrence use the linked reviewed sources. Historical planting, cultivation, naturalization and invasive status are separate. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence. The 1918–1959 Kauaʻi reforestation working register records 206 plants under Cupressus sempervirens across 1 entries dated 1928. These are recorded planting quantities, not counts of surviving trees, and they do not by themselves establish current persistence, naturalization, or ecological impact. Source: Kauaʻi Reforestation Plantings 1918–1959 working register (user-supplied; reconciled 6 October 2026).
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Cupressus sempervirens
- Common names
- Mediterranean Cypress · Italian cypress
- Other names
- Cupressus sempervirens · Mediterranean cypress · Italian cypress
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-06
- Evidence limits
- Current survival on Kauaʻi, number of trees, occupied habitat, flowering or fruiting, recruitment, population trend, and ecological effects are all unconfirmed; no naturalization or invasive severity is inferred from the historical planting record.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Monoecious wind-pollinated conifer bearing separate terminal pollen and seed cones on the same tree; woody cones mature over two years and release narrow-winged seeds. Kauaʻi reproductive activity and recruitment remain unknown.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Evergreen conifer tree
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Not yet assessed
- Data gaps
- Current population extent and trajectory · Additional species-specific ecological and conservation sources
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- Mediterranean Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to the eastern Mediterranean through western Asia in temperate, seasonally dry woodland. A 1980 forestry ledger documents Kauaʻi planting in 1928; it does not establish current survival, reproduction, or naturalization.
Sources and further reading
- https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:261974-1
- https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:261974-1/general-information
- https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/47617.pdf
- https://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200005421
- https://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=5&taxon_id=200005421