Shrubby trees to 12 m; crown broadly conical, dense. Bark rough, furrowed, fibrous. Branchlets comblike, 0.5--1 mm diam. Leaves with conspicuous, pitlike, abaxial gland that produces drop of resin, sometimes glaucous. Pollen cones 2--3 ´ 2 mm; pollen sacs 3--5. Seed cones globose, mostly 1.5--2.5 cm, brown or gray, not glaucous; scales 3--4 pairs, smooth except for erect conic umbos, 2--4 mm. Seeds 2--5 mm, light to medium brown, sometimes slightly glaucous.

Chaparral and foothill woodland, often on serpentine; 300--850 m; Calif.

In the inner north Coast Ranges Cupressus macnabiana and C . sargentii produce the only known natural hybrids in Cupressus (L. Lawrence et al. 1975).