Plantae > Tracheophyta > Pinopsida > Pinales > Cupressaceae > Thuja > Thuja occidentalis

Thuja occidentalis (Eastern White-cedar; Northern White-cedar; White-cedar; American arbor-vitae; Arbor-vitae; Eastern arbor-vitae; Swamp Cedar; Tree of life)

Synonyms:
Language: Chi; Cze; Dut; Fre; Ger; Hrv, Srp; Hun; Ita; Pol; Por; Rus; Slo; Spa; Ukr

Wikipedia Abstract

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.
View Wikipedia Record: Thuja occidentalis

Infraspecies

Thuja occidentalis f. lutescens

Attributes

Air Quality Improvement [1]  Low
Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-High
Carbon Capture [1]  Low
Screening - Summer [2]  Dense
Screening - Winter [2]  Dense
Shade Percentage [1]  83 %
Temperature Reduction [1]  Low
Wind Reduction [1]  Medium-Low
Bloom Period [2]  Mid Spring
Drought Tolerance [2]  Low
Edible [3]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Fire Tolerance [2]  Low
Flower Type [3]  Monoecious
Frost Free Days [2]  3 months 10 days
Fruit/Seed Abundance [2]  Medium
Fruit/Seed Begin [2]  Summer
Fruit/Seed End [2]  Fall
Growth Form [2]  Single Stem
Growth Period [2]  Spring, Summer
Growth Rate [2]  Slow
Hazards [3]  An essential oil from the leaves is poisonous if taken in large doses; This plant should not be used by pregnant women;
Janka Hardness [4]  320 lbf (145 kgf) Very Soft
Leaf Type [3]  Evergreen
Lifespan [2]  Perennial
Pollinators [3]  Wind
Propagation [2]  Bare Root, Container, Cutting, Seed
Root Depth [2]  30 inches (76 cm)
Scent [3]  The wood and the foliage are strongly aromatic.
Seed Spread Rate [2]  Moderate
Seed Vigor [2]  Medium
Seeds Per [2]  345599 / lb (761917 / kg)
Shape/Orientation [2]  Conical
Specific Gravity [5]  0.31
Structure [3]  Tree
Usage [3]  Tolerant of regular trimming, though not into the old wood, it can be grown as a hedge; The fresh branches are used as besoms; Their aromatic smell serves to deodorize the house whilst sweeping; The leaves have been kept in the clothes cupboard as a perfume, incense and insect repellent; The leaves and stems have been used as an incense; An essential oil is obtained from the leaves and branches, it is used in perfumery and in medicines; It is poisonous if taken internally; This essential oil also has insect repellent properties; The tough and stringy bark has been used to weave fibre bags; The bark is a source of tannin; Wood - light, soft, not strong, brittle, coarse grained, very durable, easily worked, does not warp; It weighs 20lb per cubic foot; Used especially where contact with water cannot be avoided, for canoes, garden buildings, shingles, posts etc;
Vegetative Spread Rate [2]  None
Height [3]  49 feet (15 m)
Width [3]  16.4 feet (5 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [1]  USDA Zone: 3 Low Temperature: -40 F° (-40 C°) → -30 F° (-34.4 C°)
Hardiness Zone Maximum [1]  USDA Zone: 7 Low Temperature: 0 F° (-17.8 C°) → 10 F° (-12.2 C°)
Light Preference [2]  Mixed Sun/Shade
Soil Acidity [2]  Neutral
Soil Fertility [2]  Intermediate
Water Use [1]  Moderate
Foliage Color [2]  Green
Fruit Color [2]  Brown
View Plants For A Future Record : Thuja occidentalis

Protected Areas

Predators

Range Map

External References

USDA Plant Profile

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1i-Tree Species v. 4.0, developed by the USDA Forest Service's Northern Research Station and SUNY-ESF using the Horticopia, Inc. plant database.
♦ 2USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
♦ 3Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 4Wood Janka Hardness Scale/Chart J W Morlan's Unique Wood Gifts
♦ 5Forest Inventory and Analysis DB version 5.1, May 4, 2013, U.S. Forest Service
♦ 6HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 7Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
♦ 8Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
♦ 9Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0