Species Brief
Chamaecyparis lawsoniana, Port Orford-cedar
Written
July, 2026
Contributors
Leila Duchac - 1st Compiler, Ilana L. Abrahamson - 1st Editor
Duchac, Leila S., compiler. 2026. Species Brief: Chamaecyparis lawsoniana, Port Orford-cedar. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis/species-briefs/chalaw
Scientific Name
Chamaecyparis lawsoniana
Common Names
Port Orford-cedar
port orford cedar
Oregon cedar
white cedar
ginger pine
Oregon-cedar
false cypress
Lawson false-cypress
Lawson cypress
Port-Orford white-cedar
Port Orford-cedar
FEIS Lifeform Type
Tree
Kingdom
Plantae
Class
Pinopsida (Conifer)
Order
Pinales
Family
Cupressaceae
Genus
Chamaecyparis
Nativity
Native
Invasiveness
Noninvasive
This Species Brief is a concise summary of the biological, ecological, and fire‑related characteristics of an individual species derived from a Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) Species Review. Table 1 is derived from a standardized template and highlights these characteristics.
| Attribute | Characteristic | Justification | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biological characteristics | |||
| Life form | Tree | Port Orford-cedar is a large, long-lived coniferous tree growing in a cone or pyramid shape, typically 40 to 60 m tall. | FEIS: Botanical Description [1] |
| Typical lifespan | 201+ years | Port Orford-cedars can live for centuries. Mature stands frequently include trees over 400 or 500 years old, and the oldest known individuals are nearly 600 years old. | FEIS: Plant Growth and Mortality [1] |
| Life cycle | Perennial | Port Orford-cedar is a long-lived tree. | FEIS: Botanical Description; Plant Growth and Mortality [1] |
| Drought tolerance | Low | It has very little drought resistance and often occurs on landforms with a perennial source of water. | FEIS: Site Characteristics [1] |
| Rooting depth | Shallow | Roots are generally shallow, fibrous, and of small diameter. There is no taproot, only vertical sinkers extending down from the shallow root network near the soil surface. | FEIS: Botanical Description [1] |
| Bark thickness at maturity | Thick | Bark is thick (10-25 cm), fibrous, and ridged. In a comparison of 29 western conifers, Port Orford-cedar had thicker bark than all other species except giant sequoia and redwood. | FEIS: Botanical Description; Fire Adaptations [1] |
| Sheds low branches | Often | Large trees growing in forested conditions can self-prune up to 46 m, protecting live branches and needles from surface fires. Trees growing in open environments may not self-prune, and branches often bend downward to reach the ground. | FEIS: Fire Adaptations [1] |
| Reproduction and Regeneration | |||
| Adventitious buds | Yes, unspecified* | Port Orford-cedar generally does not reproduce vegetatively, although it may occasionally reproduce by layering in bogs, sand dunes, and some high-elevation forests. It does not resprout vegetatively after injury or top-kill by fire. | FEIS: Vegetative Reproduction and Regeneration; Immediate Fire Effects [1] |
| Time to reproductive maturity | 6-10 years; 11-20 years | Port Orford-cedar produces seeds annually beginning at roughly 5 to 20 years old. Seed production may peak around 100 years old. | FEIS: Seed Production and Predation [1] |
| Soil seed bank longevity | Transient (<1 year) | Port Orford-cedar has a transient seed bank. Most seeds are only viable for the first year after dispersal. | FEIS: Seed Banking [1] |
| Serotinous cones | No | Cones open to release seeds from fall through spring. They open at maturity, with no fire-stimulated opening described. | FEIS: Seed Dispersal [1] |
| Seed dispersal mechanism | Gravity; Wind; Water | Seeds have small wings and are dispersed by gravity, wind, and water. They are not dispersed far by wind and fall more directly to the ground, but the wings appear to help them float in water. | FEIS: Seed Dispersal [1] |
| Seed dispersal distance | Short (mostly under parent plant)* | Although Port Orford-cedar seeds have wings, they are not dispersed far by wind and fall more directly to the ground. Estimated dispersal distance into clearcuts ranges from 50 to 110 m, or one to three tree heights. | FEIS: Seed Dispersal [1] |
| Optimal conditions for seedling establishment | Bare soil*; Litter and/or duff; Shade; Sun | Seedlings can establish in shaded or open conditions, although establishment rates may be higher in the open. It establishes on a variety substrates, including organic soils. One study reported all Port Orford-cedar seedlings growing on rotten wood. | FEIS: Seedling Establishment and Mortality; Germination [1] |
| Successional Status | |||
| Shade tolerance | Moderately shade tolerant | Port Orford-cedar is generally classified as moderately shade-tolerant and can regenerate in shaded forests to open, recently burned areas. Although seedlings grow slower in shaded than open conditions, shade tolerance may be highest for seedlings, and decrease as trees mature. | FEIS: Shade Tolerance; Seedling Establishment and Mortality [1] |
| Successional status | Early; Mid; Late | Port Orford-cedar is generally considered an early establisher after clearcutting or fire and may be a dominant or codominant species during all stages of succession. Its relative abundance and dominance may change over time, depending on plant communities and site characteristics. | FEIS: Succession [1] |
| Fire | |||
| Primary fire response(s) or adaptation(s) | Resist | Large trees resist surface fire through thick, undulating bark, self-pruning, and decay-resistant wood. While classified as a colonizer after fire, it does not resprout, has only a transient seed bank, and short seed dispersal distance, so postfire recruitment is limited. The one study that quantified its establishment after fire found that establishment was highly variable. | FEIS: Fire Adaptations; Immediate Fire Effects; Plant Response to Fire [1] |
| Germination is fire stimulated | Rarely/No | Seeds typically germinate in spring, and warmth may trigger a germination burst, but no heat- or smoke-cued germination is described. An experimental study found no survival of 89 germinants on burned litter after 1 year. | FEIS: Germination; Fire Adaptations [1] |
| Flowering/fruiting is fire stimulated | Rarely/No | The source does not provide explicit information about fire-stimulated flowering or fruiting. | FEIS [1] |
| Season when it is most sensitive to fire | Insufficient Information | Information was not available about seasonal differences in Port Orford-cedar's sensitivity to fire. Its postfire mortality likely depends on the degree of injury sustained, such as the amount of cambium killed or the percentage of crown scorch. | FEIS: Immediate Fire Effects [1] |
| Plant flammability | Medium | Compared to 28 western conifers, its litter ranks relatively low for flame length and percentage consumed and mid-range for flame duration. However, its needles remain on twigs and do not collapse on the forest floor, so logging slash can dry quickly and ignite explosively. Because it decays slowly, it can lead to heavy fuel loads. | FEIS: Fuel Characteristics [1] |
| Early colonizer/recolonizer of burned or disturbed sites | Sometimes* | Port Orford-cedar is classified as a colonizer after fire or logging and seeds can germinate in the first postfire year, but seedling survival is low, and its short dispersal distance (50-80 m) limits establishment in large, high-severity burned patches where no mature trees survive. | FEIS: Fire Adaptations; Plant Response to Fire; Seedling Establishment and Mortality [1] |
| Effect of fire exclusion on population | Varies throughout habitat or range | Port Orford-cedar occurs in plant communities with varied historical fire regimes, thus fire exclusion is likely to have different effects among communities. For example, Port Orford-cedar can establish and spread into fens if fire is excluded. However, excluding fire from frequent-fire forests has densified stands and shifted them toward more high-severity fire that is more likely to kill Port Orford-cedar than low-severity surface fire. | FEIS: Plant Communities; Fire Regimes [1] |
| Is this species typically managed with prescribed fire? | Rarely/No | Information is not available on the use of prescribed fire in Port Orford-cedar stands, though it has been suggested as a possible treatment for managing the root pathogen Phytophthora lateralis. | FEIS: Fire Management Considerations [1] |
| Predominant historical fire frequencies of ecosystem where it most commonly occurs | Frequent*; Mid-frequency*; Infrequent | Port Orford-cedar occurs in communities with a range of historical fire frequencies. Where Port Orford-cedar is most common (North Pacific forests), LANDFIRE models estimate historical mean fire intervals over 400 years. Elsewhere in its range, estimated fire intervals are much shorter, from 9 to 68 years. In drier forests with short estimated fire intervals, Port Orford-cedar mostly occurs in streamsides and other moist microsites, where fires may be less frequent than the surrounding area. | FEIS: Fire Regimes; 2020 LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings [1] |
| Predominant historical fire severity where it most commonly occurs | Low*; Mixed*; Replacement | Where it is most common (North Pacific forests), LANDFIRE models characterize historical fire regimes as replacement severity. Elsewhere in its range, models estimate that most fires were mostly low- or mixed-severity. In drier forests, Port Orford-cedar mostly occurs in streamsides and other moist microsites, where fires may be of lower severity than surrounding areas. | FEIS: Fire Regimes; 2020 LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings [1] |
| Predominant historical fire regime group where it most commonly occurs | 1*; 3*; 5 | Port Orford-cedar is most common in plant communities with historically infrequent, stand-replacing fire (group 5), but also occurs in areas with historically frequent low/mixed-severity fire (group 1) and moderately frequent, mostly mixed-severity fire (group 3). | FEIS: Fire Regimes; 2020 LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings [1] |
| Alters historical fuel characteristics of ecosystems where it occurs | Rarely/No | Port Orford-cedar does not have a history of altering fuel characteristics where it occurs. However, its wood is decay-resistant, thus mortality agents, particularly the pathogen Phytophthora lateralis, may increase the volume of dead wood. Over a century of fire exclusion has altered fire regimes and forest structure across much of Port Orford-cedar’s range; however, Port Orford-cedar density was not described. | FEIS: Fuel Characteristics [1] |
| Biophysical Setting | Mean Fire Interval (years) | Fire Severity Percent (%) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Code | Fire Regime Group | Low | Mixed | Replacement | All | Low | Mixed | Replacement |
| Series 10150 - California Coastal Redwood Forest | ||||||||
| 10150_2_3_4 | I-C | 32 | 408 | 30 | 93 | 0 | 7 | |
| Series 10280 - Mediterranean California Mesic Mixed Conifer Forest and Woodland | ||||||||
| 10280_2_3 | I-B | 25 | 47 | 237 | 15 | 61 | 33 | 6 |
| 10280_4_6_7_12 | I-C | 33 | 46 | 148 | 17 | 51 | 37 | 12 |
| Series 10320 - Mediterranean California Red Fir Forest | ||||||||
| 10320_2_3_7 | I-C | 58 | 58 | 189 | 25 | 43 | 43 | 14 |
| Series 10321 - Mediterranean California Red Fir Forest - Cascades | ||||||||
| 10321_6 | I-C | 58 | 176 | 149 | 34 | 58 | 19 | 23 |
| Series 10322 - Mediterranean California Red Fir Forest - Southern Sierra | ||||||||
| 10322_6 | III-A | 78 | 317 | 294 | 52 | 66 | 16 | 18 |
| Series 10210 - Klamath-Siskiyou Lower Montane Serpentine Mixed Conifer Woodland | ||||||||
| 10210_2_3_6_7 | I-B | 11 | 70 | 229 | 9 | 82 | 13 | 5 |
| Series 10220 - Klamath-Siskiyou Upper Montane Serpentine Mixed Conifer Woodland | ||||||||
| 10220_2_3_6_7 | I-B | 11 | 70 | 231 | 9 | 82 | 13 | 5 |
| Series 10360 - North Pacific Hypermaritime Sitka Spruce Forest | ||||||||
| 10360_1_2 | V-B | 657 | 657 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| Series 10390 - North Pacific Maritime Mesic-Wet Douglas-fir-Western Hemlock Forest | ||||||||
| 10390_1_2_3_7 | V-A | 404 | 404 | 0 | 0 | 100 | ||
| Summary | ||||||||
| Minimum | 11 | 46 | 148 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| Maximum | 78 | 317 | 657 | 657 | 93 | 43 | 100 | |
| Mean | 38 | 112 | 295 | 125 | 54 | 17 | 29 | |
| Median | 33 | 70 | 234 | 28 | 60 | 15 | 13 | |
| Percentage of fires in 3 fire severity classes, derived from LANDFIRE succession modeling. Replacement-severity fires cause >75% kill or top-kill of the upper canopy layer; mixed-severity fires cause 26%-75%; low-severity fires cause <26%. | ||||||||
| LANDFIRE. 2020. Biophysical settings models and descriptions, [Online]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service; U.S. Department of the Interior; U.S. Geological Survey; Arlington, VA: The Nature Conservancy, (Producers). Available: https://www.landfirereview.org/search.php [96496] | ||||||||
1. Duchac, Leila S. 2023. Chamaecyparis lawsoniana, Port Orford-cedar. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis/species-reviews/chalaw
Last updated August 20, 2026