The family CUPRESSACEAE
This family of trees and shrubs (consisting of 16 genera and over 100 species) is widely distributed, but mainly in the Southern Hemisphere. The evergreen foliage may consist of two kinds, juvenile leaves, which are awl-shaped and usually in whorls of three or four, and adult ones, which are decussate, scale-like and closely appressed to the stem: the adult foliage is never developed in some species and varieties (the latter often still labelled Retinospora). The pollen grains of the staminate cones are not winged. In this family the ovuliferous and the bract scales of the ovulate cones are fused together. The ripe cones are usually woody, but may be fleshy and berry-like (cf. Juniperus).
Cupressaceae includes the genera:
Cupressus