Alternate name: Arborvitae
Family: Cupressaceae, Cypress view all from this family
Description Resinous and aromatic evergreen tree with angled, buttressed, often branched trunk and a narrow, conical crown of short, spreading branches.
Height: 40-70' (12-21 m).
Diameter: 1-3' (0.3-0.9 m).
Leaves: evergreen; opposite in 4 rows; 1/16-1/8" (1.5-3 mm) long. Scalelike; short-pointed; side pair keeled, flat pair with gland-dot. Dull yellow-green above, paler blue-green beneath.
Bark: light red-brown; thin, fibrous and shreddy, fissured into narrow connecting ridges.
Twigs: branching in horizontal plane; much flattened; jointed.
Cones: 3/8" (10 mm) long; elliptical; light brown; upright from short curved stalk; with 8-10 paired, leathery, blunt-pointed cone-scales, 4 usually bearing 2 tiny narrow-winged seeds each.
Habitat Adapted to swamps and to neutral or alkaline soils on limestone uplands; often in pure stands.
Range SE. Manitoba east to Nova Scotia and Maine, south to New York, and west to Illinois; south locally to North Carolina; to 3000' (914 m) in south.
Discussion Probably the first North American tree introduced into Europe, it was discovered by French explorers and grown in Paris about 1536. The year before, tea prepared from the foliage and bark, now known to be high in vitamin C, saved the crew of Jacques Cartier from scurvy. It was named arborvitae, Latin for "tree-of-life," in 1558. The trees grow slowly and reach an age of 400 years or more. The lightweight, easily split wood was preferred for canoe frames by Native Americans, who also used the shredded outer bark and the soft wood to start fires. Today, the wood is used principally for poles, cross-ties, posts, and lumber. Cedar oil for medicine is distilled from the twigs.
