northern whitecedar (Trees (and some shrubs) of Canada)

northern whitecedar

Thuja occidentalis

Summary ¹¹

Thuja occidentalis, also known as northern white-cedar or eastern arborvitae, is an evergreen coniferous tree, in the cypress family Cupressaceae, which is native to eastern Canada and much of the north, central and upper Northeastern United States, but widely cultivated as an ornamental plant. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, and the binomial name remains current.

Description ¹²

Unlike the closely related western red cedar (Thuja plicata), northern white cedar is only a small or medium-sized tree, growing to a height of 15 m (49 ft) tall with a 0.9 m (3.0 ft) trunk diameter, exceptionally to 38 metres (125 ft) tall and 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) diameter. The tree is often stunted or prostrate in less favorable locations. The bark is red-brown, furrowed and peels in narrow, longitudinal strips.
Northern white cedar has fan-like branches and scaly leaves. The foliage forms in flat sprays with scale-like leaves .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}3–5 millimetres (1⁄8–3⁄16 in) long.

The seed cones are slender, yellow-green, ripening to brown, 9–14 millimetres (3⁄8–9⁄16 in) long and 4–5 millimetres (5⁄32–3⁄16 in) broad,^{[citation needed]} with 6-8 overlapping scales. They contain about 8 seeds each. The branches may take root if the tree falls.

Trunk

Foliage

Cones

Sources and Credits

(c) Donna Pomeroy, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Donna Pomeroy
(c) Owen Clarkin, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Owen Clarkin
(c) Joe Walewski, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Joe Walewski
(c) riversedge, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by riversedge
(c) botanygirl, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by botanygirl
anonymous, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), https://eol.org/media/7109040
(c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://eol.org/media/6773224
anonymous, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), https://eol.org/media/7109039
(c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://eol.org/media/7109041
(c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://eol.org/media/7109042
Adapted by Keri Pidgen-Welyki from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuja_occidentalis
(c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuja_occidentalis

More Info

iNaturalist.ca Map

‹ › ×