western redcedar
Thuja plicata
Summary 6
Thuja plicata, commonly called western or Pacific redcedar, giant or western arborvitae, giant cedar, or shinglewood, is a species of Thuja, an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae native to western North America. It is not a true cedar of the genus Cedrus.
Description 7
- Needles are scale-like and appressed to twig. Green above with a white butterfly pattern below.
- Fruits are small, woody cones about 1/2" long; grow upright on twig. Shaped like tiny rose buds or the bowl of a smoker's pipe.
- Bark is thin, reddish-brown, and stringy.
Description 8
Thuja plicata is a large to very large tree, ranging up to 65 to 70 m (210 to 230 ft) tall and 3 to 7 m (10 to 23 ft) in trunk diameter. Trees growing in the open may have a crown that reaches the ground, whereas trees densely spaced together will exhibit a crown only at the top, where light can reach the leaves. It is long-lived; some individuals can live well over a thousand years, with the oldest verified being 1460 years.
The foliage forms flat sprays with scale-like leaves in opposite pairs, with successive pairs at 90 degrees to each other. The foliage sprays are green above and green marked with whitish stomatal bands below; they are strongly aromatic, with a scent reminiscent of pineapple when crushed. The individual leaves are 1 to 4 mm (0.04 to 0.16 in) long and 1 to 2 mm (0.04 to 0.08 in) broad on most foliage sprays, but up to 12 mm (0.5 in) long on strong-growing lead shoots.
The cones are slender, 10 to 18 mm (0.4 to 0.7 in) long, and 4 to 5 mm (0.16 to 0.20 in) broad, with 8 to 12 (rarely 14) thin, overlapping scales. They are green to yellow-green, ripening brown in fall about six months after pollination, and open at maturity to shed the seeds. The seeds are 4 to 5 mm (0.16 to 0.20 in) long and 1 mm (0.04 in) broad, with a narrow papery wing down each side. The pollen cones are 3 to 4 mm (0.12 to 0.16 in) long, red or purple at first, and shed yellow pollen in spring.
The bark is fibrous and longitudinally fissured.
The leaves have white markings on the undersides of the flat foliage sprays.
A shoot with pollen cones.
A shoot with mature seed cones, Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
Sources and Credits
- (c) Nicholas Sly, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Nicholas Sly
- (c) J Brew, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by J Brew, http://www.flickr.com/photos/93452909@N00/820090338
- (c) Mike Patterson, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Mike Patterson
- (c) marek, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by marek
- (c) terrydad2, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by terrydad2
- Adapted by Keri Pidgen-Welyki from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuja_plicata
- (c) N Carson, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/1187854
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuja_plicata
More Info
- iNat taxon page
- Biodiversity Heritage Library
- BOLD Systems BIN search
- Calflora
- CalPhotos
- eFloras.org
- Flora Digital de Portugal
- Flora of North America (beta)
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
- HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
- IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
- Jepson eFlora
- NatureServe Explorer 2.0
- NBN Atlas
- New Zealand Plant Conservation Network
- OregonFlora.org
- SEINet Symbiota portals
- Tropicos
- USDA PLANTS database
- VASCAN by Canadensys
- World Flora Online
