Italian cypress is a handsome introduced conifer occasionally planted for ornament and in forestry tests. Columnar Italian cypress (var. stricta Alt.), the common variety, is readily identified by the very narrow columnar crown. Medium-sized coniferous evergreen tree, resinous and aromatic, becoming 60 ft (18 m) tall and 1.5 ft (0.5 m) in trunk diameter. In its native home this is a large tree with stout trunk and spreading branches. The variety commonly cultivated has short erect branches. The wood is described as yellow or light brown, moderately hard, fine-textured, aromatic, easily worked, and durable. Elsewhere, it has been used for construction, furniture, and clothes chests. It has not been used much in Hawaii.