| General Description | Columnar form with multiple leaders, appears lustrous green until you get up close and see the underside has white stomatic bands. |
| ID Characteristic | The new bark is reddish-orange with soft dark green slightly curved leaves. There is a pink aril that has the characteristics of its two parent species cuspidata and baccata. |
| Shape | Columnar, growing wider with age, can be pruned to control size or if used as a hedge. |
| Landscape | Used to create a hedge for screening, windbreak, or foundation plantings. Can be pruned for a nice even, thick look or left for the more natural form. It can also be used by itself and can be trained as topiary. |
| Cultivation | Grow in full sun to partial shade, must be well drained soil sandy loam or humus and slightly acidic. Transplants well balled-in-burlap form. |
| Pests | None serious |
| Notable Specimens | The A.M. (Mac) Cuddy Gardens, Strathroy, Ontario, Canada. The Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington, Ontario, Canada. |
| Habitat | Horticultural origin. |
| Bark/Stem Description | New bark dark orange, glossy very soft and malleable, old bark, gray and flaky. |
| Flower/Leaf Bud Description | Globose, orange terminal buds. |
| Leaf Description | Dark green about 3 cm in length and about 5 mm in width with a glaucous underside. The needles are stiff, broader than T. baccata and arranged radially on errect shoots and two-ranked on lateral shoots. |
| Flower Description | 'Hicksii' only produces female flowers. |
| Fruit Description | Round red berries (arial) about 1 cm in diameter with a small hole in the centre where the olive green seed sits. The fruit is eatable and quite sweet while the olive green seed is toxic. |
| Colour Description | Rich dark green from a distance, but on close inspection it appears lighter due to it's bloom. |
| Texture Description | Looks prickly, but is soft to the touch. Not pruned it appears quite rough but is still soft textured. |