#51 WESTERN RED CEDAR
Thuja plicata
Planted: 1912
This tree is at the eastern end of the American Section, near the Park Drive fence.
| Distribution: | Native to the Pacific north-west of North America. Naturalised in temperate regions. |
| Planting Date: | circa 1912 – planted by Captain Chaplin as part of his Pinetum. |
| Growth Habit: | A large evergreen coniferous tree. |
| Bark: | Thin, gray-brown, and fissured into vertical bands. |
| Leaf: | 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 stomal bands below; they emit a strong aroma reminiscent of pineapple when crushed. The individual leaves are 1 to 4 mm long and 1 to 2 mm wide on most foliage sprays but up to 12 mm long on strong-growing lead shoots. The foliage of individual branch-lets turns orange-brown before falling off in autumn. Branches growing in full sunlight produce denser foliage with more overlap, while shaded branches grow more horizontally, with less self-overlap. |
| Flowers: | The pollen cones are 3 to 4 mm long, red or purple at first, and shed yellow pollen in spring. |
| Fruit: | The cones are slender, 10 to 18 mm long, and 4 to 5 mm wide, with 8 to 12 (rarely 14) thin, overlapping scales. They are green to yellow-green, ripening brown in the autumn, about six months after pollination, and open at maturity to shed the seeds. The seeds are 4 to 5 mm long and 1 mm wide, with a narrow papery wing down each side. |
| Toxicity: | Not Known |
| Potential tree size: | 45 to 70 m |
| Uses: | The soft red-brown timber has a tight, straight grain and few knots. It is valued for its distinct appearance, aroma, and its high natural resistance to decay, being extensively used for outdoor construction in the form of posts, decking, and shingles. Considered the Tree of Life by many of the First Nations of the Pacific north-west, as the tree gave them everything that they needed for life – food, water (in the form of water tight woven cedar bark baskets), clothing, medicine, transportation (they made their canoes from the cedar tree), shelter (boards of wood from the cedar tree were used to build their long houses), and spirituality (in that the boughs were used in many ceremonies). |
| Plant Hunter: | William Lobb |
| Introduction Date: | 1853 |
| Anecdotes and Comments: | The species is long-lived; some trees can live well over a thousand years, with the oldest verified aged 1,460 The species name plicata derives from the Latin plicare which means ‘folded in plaits’ or ‘braided,’ a reference to the pattern of its small leaves. |