This is a large, scale-leaved tree, which reaches a height of 60 m (197 ft). The branches spread or droop, turning up slightly at the ends. The bark is grey to reddish brown and fibrous rather than chunky and hard. The seeds are borne in small, egg-shaped cones. Red cedar usually inhabits moist to wet soils in shaded forests but it may also occur in drier areas and in bogs. It occurs in low to high elevations throughout the coast and also in a band east of the interior plateau of British Columbia.