[6] Outside of California, Hesperocyparis goveniana has been introduced to Robinson Crusoe Island in Chile.

The seed cones are globose to oblong, 11–22 mm (0.43–0.87 in) long, with 6 to 10 scales, green at first, maturing brown or gray-brown about 20–24 months after pollination.

The cones remain closed for many years, only opening after the parent tree is killed in a wildfire, thereby allowing the seeds to colonize the bare ground exposed by the fire.

[3] It was described from a specimen grown in the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society from seed collected by Karl Theodor Hartweg.

[9] In 2009 genetic research into the relationships of Cupressus and Juniperus lead to the reclassification of almost all the new world species into a new genus, Hesperocyparis by Jim A.