46 Tree Names Starting With C

Our experienced writers spend hours deep researching, considering both scientific and experimental info to bring the insights you can trust.  

This comprehensively researched guide will help you identify all trees whose names begin with the letter C.

Let’s get right into it.

1. California Shrub

This shrub or tree grows from 2 to 7m tall and has a smooth gray bark with compound leaves that are hairless and dark green.

The flowers are distinctly two-petaled and without fragrance, borne in dense hanging clusters.

The fruit is a flat, oval samara.

2. Cabbage Tree, New Zealand

The New Zealand Cabbage Tree is up to 20m tall and has stout branches with flexible and broad strap-shaped leaves.

The flowers are sweetly scented, white, and borne numerously in dense clusters.

The fruit is a berry and is a bluish-white color.

3. Cactus, Giant

This cactus grows to 16m tall with many branches and an elliptical areole with needlelike spines.

The flowers are borne on the tip of the stem and are fragrant with the odor of ripe melon.

The sepals are greenish-white and petaloids white. The fruit is elliptical and fleshy.

4. Catclaw, Roundflower

This deciduous shrub or tree grows from 1 to 9m tall with many stiff branches and clustered leaves on scaly twigs.

The flower is borne in dense white and cream-yellow spikes from April to October.

The fruit is a red, hairless legume with a papery texture borne abundantly.

5. Cedar, Incense

The Incense Cedar grows to 50m tall with a single stem and a red-brown bark with flattened twigs and scalelike fragrant leaves with lustrous green color.

The tree bears a pale green to golden brown seed cone.

6. Chamise

This shrub or small tree is 1 to 4m tall with a gray to black bark. The leaves are borne in dense dark-green clusters.

The leaves are distinctly linear.

The flower is also borne in clusters with oval petals from May to June. This plant is usually found in dry ridges and slopes.

7. Cherry, Black

This tree reaches heights from 15 to 40m tall with a single trunk that is 80 cmin diameter.

It’s bark is reddish-brown, and the leaves are leathery, elliptical, and shiny green.

The flower is borne in white clusters of about 20. The fruit is a round drupe, red to purplish black.

8. Chestnut, Golden

This evergreen tree grows to 45m tall with thin bark and simple, flat, leathery leaves.

The flower is a small structure-borne in spikes that have a fishy odor.

It’s fruit is around 3 nuts enclosed in a spherical capsule enclosed with spines.

9. China Tree, Wild

This large shrub or small tree is 3 to 15m tall with ascending branches and veiny leaves that are yellow-green and hairless.

The flowers are borne in white clusters.

It’s fruit is a berry with a leathery exterior. It is golden-colored and translucent, darkening upon maturity into a shriveled structure.

10. Chinaberry-tree

This tree grows to 15m tall with a single trunk and compound, broad leaves that have several leaflets. The tree bears many flowers in clusters that are pinkish-purple and fragrant.

Its fruit is a round yellowish or greenish-yellow drupe.

11. Chittam-wood

This large shrub grows to 30m tall and has multiple trunks.

The leaves are oval to round with a tapered bottom and a dark green upper surface. The flower is yellowish to greenish-white, borne in clusters with numerous flowers.

Its fruit is a flattened, kidney-shaped drupe.

12. Chokecherry

This shrub or small tree is 4 to 10m tall with a trunk 10 to 15cm in diameter. The leaves are thin, with a papery texture and oval shape.

The upper surface is dark green and hairless.

Its flowers are borne in numerous white clusters. The fruit is a round, red or purple drupe.

13. Christmas Berry

This shrub or tree has a thin gray bark with dark red twigs and simple, leathery leaves that have a dark green upper surface. Its flowers are small and borne in white clusters.

The fruit is a pear-shaped bright red pome.

14. Cliff rose, Stansbury

This small tree grows to 7.5m tall and has clustered leathery leaves with a dark green upper surface. Its flower is scented and has a white-to-yellow color with 5 petals.

Its fruit is borne in numbers of 4 to 10 with a body about 5mm long.

15. Coffeeberry, California

This shrub or small tree is 1 to 5m tall with green to reddish-brown twigs and elliptical leaves that have a dark green upper surface.

The flower is small and yellow, borne in clusters of 2cm long. Its fruit is a round, elongated drupe that is black in color.

16. Coma

This shrub or small tree grows from 6 to 15m tall. It has a reddish-brown bark, grayish-brown twig, and simple leaves in dense clusters.

It has distinguishable branches with thorny tips and leaves that have a hairy lower surface.

The flowers are creamy yellow and borne in clusters, while the fruit is a shiny blackberry.

17. Copal Tree

This fast-growing tree is 25m tall and often forms colonies. The leaves of this tree are broad and sickle-shaped and the upper surface is medium green.

The flowers are cuplike, greenish-yellow, and 5-petaled. The fruit is a 5cm long samara.

18. Coralbean

This shrub or small tree is usually 1 to 10m tall with several trunks and a leathery leaf with a hairy upper surface when young that later becomes hairless and dark green.

The flower is a colorful blue-purple borne in drooping clusters. The fruit is a woody legume.

19. Cordia, White

This plant grows both as a shrub and as a tree of heights up to 8 meters with a 20cm diameter. It has hairy, harsh leaves and 5-petaled flowers in clusters of 6 to 8.

They are trumpet-shaped and white with a yellow throat.

Its fruit is small, shiny, and ovoid.

20. Cornel, Blackfruit

This shrub or small tree of 1 to 5m tall is restricted to northern California.

The leaves are oval and light green, turning red in the autumn. The flower is small and yellow.

The tree bears a whitish ellipsoid fruit when young, darkening as it matures to a purplish-black.

21. Cotton, Arizona Wild

This shrubby tree is easily identifiable with its deep bowl-like leaves and cream or whitish flowers. It is also known as dessert cotton.

The tree is usually a shrub but sometimes grows into trees up to the height of 4.5 meters with up to a 10cm diameter.

22. Cottonwood, Black

This tree grows from 40 to 60m tall with a straight trunk and a simple leaf that has a dark green upper surface and pale white lower surface.

The flowers are catkins, usually 5 to 10cm long, and the fruit is a thick, papery capsule that is round.

23. Coyotillo

This shrub to a small tree grows to 8m tall and has distinct black dots and dashes on its flowers, leaves, and twigs.

The leaves are oval and the yellowish flowers are borne in small clusters.

The fruit is typically a round drupe that may be brown, black, or dark blue.

24. Cadaga

This tree is 20 to 30m tall and has a trunk 1m in diameter. It has leathery oval leaves with a green to pink upper surface.

The flower has buds up to 1cm long and about 10 creamy white stamens.

The fruit is a round capsule 1.3cm in diameter.

25. Cajeput

This tree is 15 to 30m tall with a single trunk and stiffish leagues that are oval-shaped and have a grayish-green upper surface.

The flowers are small, 5-petaled, white, and circular with several stamens.

They blossom year-round. The fruit is a round or square capsule.

26. Canistel

This evergreen tree is 25m tall and 1m in diameter, with a single trunk and grayish bark.

The leaves are elliptic, tapered, and wedge-shaped with a yellow-green upper surface.

Its flowers are produced in clusters of 1 to 9 and are greenish-white. The fruit is a large pear-shaped berry.

27. Caper, Bay-leaved

This shrub or small tree grows to 8m tall with simple, leathery leaves with a pale or dark green upper surface.

The flowers are scented and nocturnal with 4 white or yellowish petals.

Its fruit is an elongated capsule that is typically reddish-brown or yellowish.

28. Christmas Bells

This tree grows from 5 to 10m tall with a thick gray bark and compound leaves that have a finely notched tip.

The flowers are conspicuous and large, usually pink, white, or yellow-colored in clusters of 2 to 5.

The fruit is a brown legume with numerous dark brown seeds.

29. Cinnamon, Wild

This shrub or small tree is 10 to 15m tall with a single trunk and simple tapered leaves that have a shiny, dark green upper surface.

The flower is 5-petaled and deep red. Its fruit is a red berry that is fleshy and matures in autumn.

30. Cinnecord

This small shrub grows to 9m tall with a single trunk and alternate leaves that have a dark green upper surface.

The tubular flowers are small and borne in a dense yellow cluster around 8mm in diameter.

The fruit is a flattened legume with numerous brown seeds.

31. Cockspur

This tree is 4 to 5m tall and has a low-branching dense crown. The leaves are simple, leathery, and stiff with a lustrous upper surface and paler lower surface.

The flower is greenish-white, tubular, or urn-shaped.

The fruit is a nutlet that matures in summer and ripens quickly.

32. Council Tree

This tree grows from 25 to 30m tall and has many secondary trunks. The leaf is a simple oval leaf with a dark green upper surface and yellow veins.

The fruit is a round or egg-shaped fig with a fleshy texture, typically orange or red, and borne year-round.

33. Crabwood

This shrub or small tree is about 20m tall with simple, leathery dark green leaves with a pale lower surface.

The flower is unisexual without petals and sepals. The flowers are borne in racemes about 5cm long.

The fruit is a dark brown rounded capsule.

34. Crapemyrtle

This shrub or small tree grows to 7m tall with a single trunk, orange-brown bark, and alternate elliptic leaves that have a lustrous green upper surface.

The flower is bisexual with white, pink, purple, reddish, or lavender petals. Its fruit is a round brown capsule.

35. Cryptomeria

This evergreen tree is frequently grown ornamentally and reaches heights of 20m tall with diameters of around 80cm.

Its bark is reddish brown or dark gray, and the twig is green and turns brown as it matures.

The leaf is needlelike and the seed cone is brown. ^[26]

36. Cucumber-tree

This tree grows to 30m tall with a 1m diameter and has a brown furrowed bark and a stout red-brown twig.

The leaves are broadly oval with a yellow-green upper surface turning yellow in the autumn. The flower is creamy white or pale yellow.

Its fruit is a clump of follicles in the shape of a cone.

37. Cunninghamia

This tree grows to 30m tall with a width of 70cm. The bark is red-brown or gray and aromatic on the inside.

Its leaves are shiny deep green, and needle-like.

The seed cone is red-brown and made of leathery pointed bracts.

38. Carrotwood

This slender tree is about 10m tall and has a gray-brown bark.

The leaf has an even number of leaflets and large compound leaves. The flowers are white or green, borne in a pendant panicle.

Its fruit is shaped as yellowish capsule.

39. Catalpas (Genus)

This genus consists of 12 species distributed across the world. The trees are fast growing with whorled, heart-shaped leaves.

The flowers are bell-shaped and have crinkled petals, usually white or pale-yellow colored.

Its fruit is typically a long capsule that has several seeds.

40. Ceanothus (Genus)

This genus consists of 55 species that occur across a variety of terrains. The genus bears conical clusters of flowers resembling lilacs.

The species are mostly shrubs with a few small trees. The flower is a small sky blue structure with typically 5 petals.

Its fruit is a small capsule.

41. Chastetrees (Genus)

This genus has more than 250 species widely distributed in tropical areas of the world. They are grown for ornamental reasons as well as for lumber.

The leaves may be toothed or lobed.

Its flowers are tiny, blue-white, or yellowish. The fruit is a drupe.

42. Cheesewoods (Genus)

Pittosporum or cheesewoods are a genus of 150 tree species distributed across moist, tropical, or moderate climates.

The flowers are borne in clusters and the fruit has a resinous pulp and sticky seeds.

Valuable oil is extracted from some species while the wood is used for lumber.

43. Chollas (Genus)

This genus has 25 species that occur in deserts and woodlands. These trees are commonly found in arid lands of western North America.

They have barbed spines and showy flowers with colorful petaloids.

Its fruit is usually egg-shaped, dry, and fleshy.

44. Citrus (Genus)

This genus has 12-25 species cultivated across the world for their edible fruit. They have leathery leaves and bisexual flowers that are white or pinkish-red.

The fruit has a thick, leathery rid with several cells inside.

The rind has oil glands and has a citrus fragrance.

45. Cypresses (Genus)

This genus has 25 species that strongly resemble junipers. These species are large shrubs or evergreen trees with fibrous or scaly barks and bright green scale-like leaves.

The seed cone is a round structure composed of scales. The Mediterranean Cypress is commonly grown ornamentally.

46. Condalias (Genus)

This genus has 18 species, most of which are shrubs with thorny twigs.

The leaves are simple and the flowers are small and greenish in color. They typically have five petals and the fruit is a small drupe.

Many trees secrete a blue dye that is commercially used.

Bottom Line

In conclusion, trees starting with C offer beauty and functionality.

I hope this list of 46 tree names starting with C has been helpful to you and that you’ve learned something new.

Do you have any other favorite tree names starting with C? Please feel free to share!

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