Western Red Cedar

Thuja Plicata

Digital photograph of a multi-stemmed Western Red Cedar

Thuja Plicata

Digital photograph of a multi-stemmed Western Red Cedar

Common Name: Western or giant redcedar, Giant arborvitae.

Description: The Western Redcedar can grow in excess of 70m in height. It is often buttressed at the base and multi-stemmed, so individual tress can look more like a grove containing impressive volumes of timber. The foliage is bright green, cones, small ovoid, with 8-14 seeds per cone. The bark is reddish brown.

Origin: The species has a wide distribution from Alaska to California along the coast. A second distribution is in the Western Rockies from British Columbia to Idaho and Montana. This tree was hugely important to Native Americans. It was used for canoe making. It has suffered from indiscriminate logging especially in the USA.

The Western Redcedar grows well in Ireland liking the mild climate and high rainfall. It is still used as a hedging tree as it clips well. Introduced in 1853 by William Lobb.

Of the many Thuja Plicatas in Woodstock, the largest is in excess of 39M in height, many are mult-stemmed.