Identify by feature
Conifer with scales instead of needles: which one is it?
A conifer with small scales pressed close to the twigs is, in gardens and hedges, usually a thuja, a Lawson cypress or a Leyland cypress; a giant with cord-like twigs and thick, soft, reddish-brown bark is a giant redwood.
7 species with this feature
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Lawson cypress Chamaecyparis lawsoniana
Conifer
Scale leaves in flat, fern-like sprays; underneath often with white X- or Y-shaped marks. When crushed they smell resinous, a little like parsley.
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Thuja Thuja
Conifer
Scale-like leaves pressed closely together, in flat, fern-like sprays. When crushed they smell fruity (western red cedar: of pineapple or apple).
Poisonous
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Northern white cedar Thuja occidentalis
Conifer
Scale leaves in flat, fan-like sprays; dull green above, paler yellowish green below without white patches. Crushed, they smell strong and fruity, rather like apple. Often brownish in winter.
Poisonous
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Western red cedar Thuja plicata
Conifer
Scale leaves in flat, slightly drooping sprays; glossy dark green above, with white patches below. Crushed, they smell sweetly of pineapple.
Poisonous
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Leyland cypress × Cuprocyparis leylandii
Conifer
Small scale leaves pressed close to the shoots, dark to greyish green. The shoots do not form flat sprays but stick out irregularly in all directions; no white markings underneath.
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Giant redwood Sequoiadendron giganteum
Conifer
Scale-like needles 4–10 mm long, sharp and awl-shaped, spiralled around round, cord-like shoots; blue-green, with an aniseed scent when crushed.
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Ornamental juniper Juniperus
Shrubby conifer
Young shoots with needles, older ones with scale-like leaves; often blue-grey with a resinous scent.
Tip: Rub a twig and smell: fruity in thuja, like parsley in Lawson cypress. Also look under the twigs: a white X pattern points to Lawson cypress.