Cupressus nootkatensis 'Nidifera' is a large, spreading, conical, bushy selection of Nootka cypress with deep, apple-green, loose, feathery foliage, relatively few branches and nodding branch tips. After 10 years of growth, a mature specimen will measure 6 to 7.5 feet (2 - 2.5 m) tall and nearly as wide, an annual rate of growth of 6 to 8 inches (15 - 20 cm).
This cultivar originated as a seedling selected in the late 1880s by Rovelli Brothers Nursery, Pallanza, Italy. Nicholson and Hornibrook suspected that the plant is actually a hybrid of C. nootkatensis and Chamaecyparis lawsoniana, but this was never proven. Now that Nootka cypress has been redescribed under Cupressus, this claim seems even less likely. Nonetheless, the plant bears a great resemblance to Ch. lawsoniana 'Tamariscifolia.'
