toni_rigatoni's Identifications

Pt. Reyes Nat’l Seashore, on the Estero Trail that runs parallel to Limantour Beach. Tree is growing about one mile from the trailhead, about 10 feet to the south of trail. Tree 10-15 feet tall, its lower branches extended to the trail with foliage and cones as shown in photo. Cones are globular about one inch diameter, grow in clusters. I identify it as Gowen Cypress (Hesperocyparis goveniana, aka Cupressus goveniana). According to the CA Native Plant Society website, This is an endangered species and only a few sightings are reported. If my identification is correct, then this is the furthest north this species has been found.
“Introduction to Trees of the San Francisco Bay Region” (Glenn Keator, Natural History Guides, Univ. CA Press, Berkeley, 2002) states it is found at Pt. Lobos Reserve and on the Huckleberry Hill loop trail near Monterey. A variant species has been identified further north, at Salt Point and Van Damme State Parks. This is the subspecies C.g. pygmaea and grows to less than ten feet in height. The tree we observed exhibited vigorous growth and did not look like a pygmy variant.