It has only one species, Austrocedrus chilensis, native to the Valdivian temperate rain forests and the adjacent drier steppe-forests of central-southern Chile and western Argentina from 33°S to 44°S latitude.

It is a member of subfamily Callitroideae, a group of distinct southern hemisphere genera associated with the Antarctic flora.

[2] It is a slow-growing, narrowly conical evergreen tree which grows from 10 to 24 m in height, with scale-like leaves arranged in decussate pairs.

[5] Cordilleran cypress is found in the evergreen mountain forests of the Andes, usually on drier sites near the temperate rainforest, in open pure woods (where it is often locally dominant on the eastern slopes of the Andes in southwestern Argentina) or in association with Araucaria araucana and Nothofagus species.

[2][6] Young plants grow best in conditions of 8% or higher soil humidity and intermediate to high solar radiation.