Thuja plicata 50 seeds "Western red cedar"

Thuja plicata

50 seeds

"Western red cedar"

Thuja plicata, commonly known as Western Redcedar is an evergreen cypress native to the northwestern US and southwestern Canada,

Western Redcedar is a large tree 50 to 60 m in height and normally with a trunk to 3 m in diameter. The leaves are scalelike, flattened and 1.5 to 3 mm long. The foliage sprays are green above, and green marked white with stomatal bands below. The twigs are flattened, in fanlike sprays and slightly drooping. The bark is thin, fibrous and stringy or shreddy. Thickness varies from 1.3-2.5 cm. The cones are slender, 15 to 20 mm long and 4 to 5 mm broad, with thin, overlapping scales.

The soft red-brown timber is valued for its resistance to decay, being extensively used for outdoor construction in the form of posts, decking, shingles, AND siding. It is also used to line closets and chests, for the pungent aromatic oils from the wood are believed to discourage moth larvae, which can damage cloth by their eating.

It is among the most widespread trees in the north American Pacific Northwest, growing in lush forests, swamps and on streambanks in its range. The tree is shade-tolerant, and able to reproduce under dense shade. It is frost resistant. It is cultivated as an ornamental tree and also (to a limited extent) in forestry plantations and for screens and hedges and has been introduced to other temperate parts of the world.

It makes an attractive bonsai subject.