Western Redcedar (
Thuja plicata) is a species of
Thuja, an
evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family
Cupressaceae, native to the northwestern
United States and southwestern
Canada, from southern
Alaska and
British Columbia south to northwest
California and inland to western
Montana.
The foliage forms flat sprays with scale-like leaves in opposite pairs, with successive pairs at 90° to each other. The foliage sprays are green above, and green marked white with stomatal bands below. The cones are slender, 15-20 mm long and 4-5 mm broad, with 8-12 thin, overlapping scales.
Western Redcedar is a large tree, to 50-60 m tall and 3 m (exceptionally 6 m) trunk diameter. The Quinault Lake Redcedar (left) is the largest known Western Redcedar in the world with a wood volume of 500 cubic meters. Located near the northwest shore of Lake Quinault north of Aberdeen, Washington, about 34 km from the Pacific Ocean, it is 53.0 m high with a diameter of 5.94 m (Van Pelt, 2001). A Redcedar over 71 m tall and 700 years old stood in Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, before it was set on fire and destroyed by vandals in 1972.[citation needed]
It is among the most widespread trees in the Pacific Northwest, and is associated with Douglas-fir and Western hemlock in most places where it grows. In addition to growing in lush forests, Western Redcedar is also a riparian tree, and grows in many forested swamps and streambanks in its range. The tree is shade-tolerant, and able to reproduce under dense shade.
