The bark of mature trees is commonly orange- to red-brown and of stringy texture, often flaking or peeling in vertical strips, but smooth, scaly or hard and square-cracked in some species.

The pollen cones are more uniform in structure across the family, 1–20 mm long, with the scales again arranged spirally, decussate (opposite) or whorled, depending on the genus; they may be borne singly at the apex of a shoot (most genera), in the leaf axils (Cryptomeria), in dense clusters (Cunninghamia and Juniperus drupacea), or on discrete long pendulous panicle-like shoots (Metasequoia and Taxodium).

[5] Most habitats on land are occupied, with the exceptions of polar tundra and tropical lowland rainforest [citation needed] (though several species are important components of temperate rainforests and tropical highland cloud forests); they are also rare in deserts[citation needed], with only a few species able to tolerate severe drought, notably Cupressus dupreziana [who?]

The former Taxodiaceae genus, Sciadopitys, has been moved to a separate monotypic family Sciadopityaceae due to being genetically distinct from the rest of the Cupressaceae.

Molecular evidence supports Cupressaceae being the sister group to the yews (family Taxaceae), from which it diverged during the early-mid Triassic.

[6] The oldest definitive record of Cupressaceae is Austrohamia minuta from the Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian) of Patagonia, known from many parts of the plant.

[7] The reproductive structures of Austrohamia have strong similarities to those of the primitive living cypress genera Taiwania and Cunninghamia.

[8] The earliest appearance of the non-taxodiaceous Cupressaceae (the clade containing Callitroideae and Cupressoideae) is in the mid-Cretaceous, represented by "Widdringtonia" americana from the Cenomanian of North America, and they subsequently diversified during the Late Cretaceous and early Cenozoic.

[18][19] Cunninghamia Taiwania Athrotaxis Metasequoia Sequoia Sequoiadendron Cryptomeria Glyptostrobus Taxodium Austrocedrus Papuacedrus Libocedrus Pilgerodendron Widdringtonia Diselma Fitzroya Neocallitropsis Actinostrobus Callitris (sometimes including Actinostrobus and Neocallitropsis) Thuja Thujopsis Chamaecyparis (sometimes including Fokienia) Calocedrus Tetraclinis Microbiota Platycladus Cupressus (sometimes split into Callitropsis, Cupressus, Hesperocyparis, and Xanthocyparis) Juniperus A 2021 molecular study supported a very similar phylogeny but with some slight differences, along with the splitting of Cupressus (found to be paraphyletic):[6] Cunninghamia Taiwania Athrotaxis Metasequoia Sequoia Sequoiadendron Cryptomeria Glyptostrobus Taxodium Austrocedrus Papuacedrus Libocedrus Pilgerodendron Widdringtonia Diselma Fitzroya Neocallitropsis Callitris Thuja Thujopsis Chamaecyparis Fokienia Calocedrus Tetraclinis Microbiota Platycladus Cupressus (sensu stricto) Juniperus Xanthocyparis Hesperocyparis Callitropsis Many of the species are important timber sources, especially in the genera Calocedrus, Chamaecyparis, Cryptomeria, Cunninghamia, Cupressus, Sequoia, Taxodium, and Thuja.

Dawn redwood is widely planted as an ornamental tree because of its excellent horticultural qualities, rapid growth and status as a living fossil.

[31][32] Coast redwood and giant sequoia were jointly designated the state tree of California,[33] and are major tourist attractions where they grow naturally.

Bald cypress "knees" are often sold as souvenirs, made into lamps, or carved to make folk art.

Some sesquiterpenoids (e.g. bisabolanes, cubenanes, guaianes, ylanganes, himachalanes, longifolanes, longibornanes, longipinanes, cedranes, thujopsanes) also present in Pinaceae, Podocarpaceae and Taxodiaceae.

Several genera are an alternate host of Gymnosporangium rust, which damages apples and other related trees in the subfamily Maloideae.

[43] Highly allergenic species of cypress with an OPALS allergy scale rating of 8 out of 10 or higher include: Taxodium, Cupressus, Callitris, Chamaecyparis, and the males and monoicous variants of Austrocedrus and Widdringtonia.