The Incense-cedars, Calocedrus, are a genus of three species of coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae.
| Incense-cedar | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||
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| Species | ||||||||||||
| Calocedrus decurrens Calocedrus formosana Calocedrus macrolepis |
California Incense-cedar (Calocedrus decurrens) is native to western North America, with the bulk of the range in the United States, from central western Oregon through most of California and the extreme west of Nevada, and also a short distance into northwest Mexico in northern Baja California. It is by far the most widely-known species in the genus, and is often simply called Incense-cedar without the regional qualifier.
The wood of the California Incense-cedar is the primary material for wooden pencils, because it is soft and tends to sharpen easily without forming splinters.
Taiwan Incense-cedar (Calocedrus formosana) is endemic on Taiwan. It is very similar to C. macrolepis, and some botanists treat it as a variety of that, C. macrolepis var. formosana.
Chinese Incense-cedar (Calocedrus macrolepis) is native to southwest China from Guangdong west to Yunnan, and also in northern Vietnam, northern Laos, extreme northern Thailand and northeastern Myanmar (Burma).
The Asian species are both rare, and are listed as being of Template:StatusVulnerable.