Hesperocyparis glabra

Hesperocyparis glabra, known as the Arizona smooth bark cypress or smooth Arizona cypress, is a conifer native to the American Southwest, with a range stretching over the canyons and slopes in a somewhat wide vicinity around Sedona, Arizona. It is distinguished from Hesperocyparis arizonica by its very smooth, non-furrowed bark which can appear in shades of pink, cherry, and grey.^[3]

Hesperocyparis glabra
Male pollen cones
Hesperocyparis glabra red bark peeling on trunk, Coconino National Forest, Arizona
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Gymnospermae
Division:	Pinophyta
Class:	Pinopsida
Order:	Cupressales
Family:	Cupressaceae
Genus:	Hesperocyparis
Species:	H. glabra
Binomial name
Hesperocyparis glabra (Sudw.) Bartel
Synonyms[2]
Callitropsis glabra (Sudw.) D.P.Little (2006) Cupressus arizonica subsp. glabra (Sudw.) A.E.Murray (1982) Cupressus arizonica var. glabra (Sudw.) Little (1966) Cupressus glabra Sudw. (1910) Neocupressus arizonica var. glabra (Sudw.) de Laub. (2009)

It is often seen in cultivation, as unlike the Monterey cypress, it has proved to be very resistant to cypress canker.^[4]

Taxonomy

Hesperocyparis glabra was scientifically described by George Bishop Sudworth in 1910 with the name of Cupressus glabra.^[2][5] In 1966 the botanist Elbert Luther Little published a paper where he argued that it was a subspecies of what was then Cupressus arizonica.^[2] Along with the other new world Cupressus species it was transferred to the new genus Hesperocyparis in 2009. At the same time the authors restored it as a species under its present name.^[2][6]

As of 2024^[update] Hesperocyparis glabra is listed as the accepted species name with no subspecies by Plants of the World Online (POWO),^[2] World Flora Online,^[7] and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS database (PLANTS).^[8]