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Thuja occidentalis Linnaeus 1753
Common NamesNorthern white-cedar, thuier cèdre, cèdre-thuya occidental (1), eastern whitecedar, American or eastern arborvitae.Taxonomic notesDescriptionTrees to 15(38) m tall and 90(180) cm dbh, "stunted or prostrate in harsh environments; trunk sometimes divided into 2-3 secondary stems, often reproducing by layering or forming erect, rooted branches from fallen trunks; crown conical. Bark reddish brown or grayish brown, 6-9 mm thick, fibrous, fissured. Leaves of branchlets (1.5)3-5 mm, acute, dull yellowish green on both surfaces of branchlets. Pollen cones 1-2 mm, reddish. Seed cones ellipsoid, (6)9-14 mm, brown; fertile scales usually 2 pairs, each minutely mucronate. Seeds ca. 8 per cone, 4-7 mm (including wings), reddish brown. 2n = 22" (1).RangeCanada: Manitoba, Ontario, Québec; Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia; USA: Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine; at 0-900 m elevation on mostly calcareous substrates, neutral to basic swamps, shores of lakes and rivers, uplands, cliffs, and talus. Isolated stands occur north and east of its general range in Canada (to 51° 31' N latitude in Ontario, 50° N in Quebec). In the United States south of the Great Lakes and in southern New England, it occurs locally in scattered stands and is rare or extirpated at numerous former sites. In some areas, heavy winter browsing by deer greatly reduces reproductive success through elimination of seedlings or saplings (1).Big TreeDiameter 175 cm, height 34 m, crown spread 13 m, located in Leelanau County, MI (2).OldestA crossdated age of 1032 years for a specimen from Ontario collected by Larson and Kelly in 1991 (3). I believe this is from a living tree.DendrochronologyEthnobotany"Thuja occidentalis is widely utilized in ornamental silviculture and has more than 120 named cultivars. It was probably the first North American tree introduced into Europe (ca. 1566). It is an important timber tree; the wood is used for applications requiring decay resistance" (1).ObservationsRemarksCitations(1) Kenton L. Chambers at the Flora of North America web page.(2) American Forests. 1996. The 1996-1997 National Register of Big Trees. Washington, DC: American Forests. (3) Brown, Peter M. 1996. OLDLIST: A database of maximum tree ages. P. 727-731 in Dean, J.S., D.M. Meko and T.W. Swetnam, eds., "Tree rings, environment, and humanity." Radiocarbon 1996, Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson. See also: Burns, R.M. and B.H. Honkala. 1990. Silvics of North America, Vol. 1, Conifers. Washington DC: U.S.D.A. Forest Service Agriculture Handbook 654. http://willow.ncfes.umn.edu/silvics_manual/Table_of_contents.htm. Anantha M. Prasad and Louis R. Iverson. 1999. A Climate Change Atlas for 80 Forest Tree Species of the Eastern United States. http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/delaware/atlas/. Delaware, Ohio: USFS Northeastern Research Station. |
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