It is native to Oregon and northwestern California, and grows from sea level up to 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) in the valleys of the Klamath Mountains, often along streams.

The seed cones are globose, 7–14 millimetres (9⁄32–9⁄16 in) in diameter, with 6–10 scales, green at first, maturing brown in early fall, 6–8 months after pollination.

The male cones are 3–4 millimetres (1⁄8–5⁄32 in) long, dark red, turning brown after pollen release in early spring.

The species is native to southwestern Oregon and northwestern California, and grows from sea level up to 1,500 metres (4,900 ft)[5] in the valleys of the Klamath Mountains, often along streams.

[5] The thick bark provides resistance to wildfires, and the species regenerates well on disrupted land in a variety of soils, but requires consistent moisture.

[5] The old-growth population near Coos Bay, Oregon, was wiped out by logging and wildfires in 1867–1868, and again by fire and root disease in 1936.

[5] In the wild, the species is seriously and uniquely threatened by a root disease caused by the oomycete pathogen, Phytophthora lateralis, accidentally introduced in the early 1950s following the fungus's arrival to the Pacific Northwest on nursery trees.

The United States Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management attempt to prevent Phytophthora spread through road closures, monitoring, research and education.

Commercial preparations of the parasitic fungus Pythium oligandrum are licensed for pest control, and documented to predate many species of Phytophthora.

[8] The extinct Eocene species Chamaecyparis eureka, known from fossils found on Axel Heiberg Island in Canada, is noted as resembling C. lawsoniana and C.

Several hundred named cultivars of varying crown shape, growth rates and foliage color have been selected for planting in parks and gardens.

In the United Kingdom (UK) the following have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017):[10] The species was discovered by Euro-Americans in the 1850s.