Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_hesperocyparis_macrocarpa
Monterey Cypress
Hesperocyparis macrocarpa
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About Monterey Cypress
Monterey Cypress (Hesperocyparis macrocarpa) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to a very small coastal area near Monterey, California, in temperate maritime woodland. A 1980 forestry ledger documents Kauaʻi planting within the 1910–1960 forestry program; no species-specific year is available from the reviewed index; 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 1,606 plants under Cupressus macrocarpa across 9 entries dated 1929–1958. 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
- Hesperocyparis macrocarpa
- Common names
- Monterey Cypress
- Other names
- Hesperocyparis macrocarpa · Monterey cypress · Cupressus macrocarpa
- 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
- Wind-borne pollen fertilizes separate seed cones on the same tree; woody cones may remain closed for years before releasing winged seeds. Kauaʻi cone maturation, viability, and recruitment are unknown.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Evergreen coniferous 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
- Monterey Cypress (Hesperocyparis macrocarpa) is a post-contact introduced tree documented on Kauaʻi through historical forestry planting records. The reviewed records do not establish present survival. Native to a very small coastal area near Monterey, California, in temperate maritime woodland. A 1980 forestry ledger documents Kauaʻi planting within the 1910–1960 forestry program; no species-specific year is available from the reviewed index; it does not establish current survival, reproduction, or naturalization.