Distinctive, small cones that remain on the tree long after their seeds are gone. The Pacific Northwest has four species of trees that are called cedars, but none of them are truly cedars. In fact, they don't even resemble true cedars.
True cedars are native only to the Mediterranean and Himalayan regions of the world.
The Pacific Northwest's false cedars have tiny, scale-like foliage and small cones that remain on the tree long after their seeds are gone. Although we can't be sure, it's probably because of their wood. In ancient Rome, Cedrus referred to a group of trees with fragrant wood. It's easy to recognize our false cedars as a group, but it's more difficult to tell one from another. Their tiny, scale-like leaves overlap like shingles and form flat sprays like a fern.