# Incense Cedar (Calocedrus decurrens)

> Incense cedar, Calocedrus decurrens: its height and zones, when it sheds pollen and bears cones, how fast it grows, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/incense-cedar/

![Open incense cedar cones, their scales spread like a duck's bill, hanging among flat sprays of scale leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/incense-cedar-1000.jpg?v=d22c6ae3 "Ripe incense cedar cones, opened wide, on October 9, 2022. The species can live up to 1,000 years.")
*Photo: Schurdl, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACalocedrus_decurrens9474.jpg))*

Large tree, 30 to 80 feet where planted, zones 5 to 9; full sun, part shade or shade; dry, average or wet ground.

We do not grow incense cedar, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Incense Cedar |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | California incense cedar, California white cedar, California post cedar, post cedar, California calocedar, pecky cedar |
| Form | Large tree |
| Height, feet | 30 to 80 where planted; up to 229 in its native stands |
| Spread, feet | Up to 20 |
| Zones | 5 to 9 |
| Sun | Full sun, part shade or shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry, average or wet ground |
| Growth | Slow |
| Leaves | Evergreen |
| Traits | Wildlife value, hedge or screen, erosion control |
| Pollen | February to May |
| Fruit | Cones, August to November |
| Pollination | Not known whether one bears alone |
| Lifespan | Lives up to 1,000 years, and the oldest dated one reached 533. Only a tiny share of trees has ever been ring-counted or cross-dated. |
| Planting season | Spring. Near Lake Tahoe, spring seedlings did better than fall ones, the Fire Effects Information System reports; the NRCS plant guide sets seedlings out in late spring or early summer. |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Dry uplands, stream banks and the forest understory |
| Native in | 3 states |

Incense cedar is native in 3 states: [California](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CA), [Nevada](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NV) and [Oregon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OR). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America and the Jepson eFlora.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=incense-cedar): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=incense-cedar): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=incense-cedar&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=incense-cedar): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=incense-cedar): the planting-window tool
- [When it sheds pollen and bears cones, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=incense-cedar): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=incense-cedar): the seed sowing planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=incense-cedar): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=incense-cedar): the tree age calculator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=incense-cedar): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Balsam Poplar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/balsam-poplar/index.html.md) (*Populus balsamifera*): large tree, 30 to 100 feet, zones 2 to 5. Shares stream banks in the wild.
- [Peachleaf Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/peachleaf-willow/index.html.md) (*Salix amygdaloides*): medium tree, 35 to 60 feet, zones 2 to 8. Shares stream banks in the wild.
- [Chokecherry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/chokecherry/index.html.md) (*Prunus virginiana*): small tree, 20 to 30 feet, zones 2 to 10. Shares stream banks in the wild.
- [More natives for this ground in the tree finder](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md?size=large-tree&sun=full&moisture=average)
- [Every companion of incense cedar in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=incense-cedar)

## Read from

Its figures come from Silvics of North America, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, the USDA PLANTS Database, NC State Extension, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Wildflower Center, Cal Poly's SelecTree, Oregon State University's Landscape Plants, Utah State University Extension, the Gymnosperm Database and Rocky Mountain Tree-Ring Research.