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| ## Northern White cedar {#northern-white-cedar .Title-Header}         |
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| *Thuja occidentalis* L.                                               |
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| Plant Symbol = THOC2                                                  |
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Contributed by: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center & the Biota of
North America Program

### 

### Alternate Names 

Eastern arborvitae, American arborvitae, eastern white-cedar,
swamp-cedar, Atlantic red cedar, swamp cedar

### Uses

*Conservation*: More than 120 named cultivars of northern white cedar
have been named and used as ornamental trees and shrubs, where the name
"arborvitae" is usually applied. Selections offer variety in habital
form, color, cold hardiness, heat tolerance. It is often used for hedges
and other types of border or shelter plantings. The species was
introduced into Europe for cultivation in the 16th century.

*Wildlife*: Stands of northern white cedar also are valuable for
wildlife habitat, particularly in severe winters for white-tailed deer,
which use it for both shelter and browse. These trees also provide
habitats for many species of birds.

*Industry*: The wood's light weight and resistance to decay makes it
useful for a number of applications. The principal commercial uses of
northern white-cedar are for rustic fencing and posts; other important
products include cabin logs, lumber, poles, and shingles. Smaller
amounts are used for paneling, piling, lagging, pails, potato barrels,
tubs, ties, boats (especially canoes), tanks, novelties, and woodenware.
The timbers were used to make the ribs in birchbark canoes. \"Cedar leaf
oil\" is distilled from boughs and used in medicines and perfumes.
Boughs are also used in floral arrangements.

*Ethnobotanic*: The essential oil of northern white cedar is used in
cleansers, disinfectants, hair preparations, insecticides, liniment,
room sprays, and soft soaps. The Ojibwa are said to have made soup from
the inner bark of the young twigs. The twigs are used by some to make
teas for relief of constipation and headache.
![](media/image2.jpeg){width="2.2916666666666665in"
height="1.5305555555555554in"}

### Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status, such as, state noxious status
and wetland indicator values.

### Description

*General*: Cypress family (Cupressaceae). Native shrub or tree growing
to 15 (-38) meters tall, the crown narrowly conic to broadly pyramidal,
with spreading, densely crowded branches; branchlets flattened, in
fan-shaped sprays. Bark is gray to reddish-brown, 6-9 mm thick, fibrous,
separated into flat, connected ridges. Leaves are evergreen, scale-like
and abruptly pointed, 2 mm long, opposite in alternating pairs (in 4
rows), bright green above and pale green below, sometimes becoming
yellow-brown in winter, with a spicy fragrance when crushed. Seed cones
are ellipsoid, (6-)9-14 mm long, brown; seeds ca. 8 per cone, 4-7 mm
long, with lateral wings about as wide as the body. The common name
pertains to its northern distribution, cedar-like appearance, and white
wood.

*Variation within the species*: ecotypic variation within the species
has been documented but no naturally occurring variants have been
formally recognized. Significant genetic variation has favored the
artificial selection of many cultivars, which differ primarily in leaf
color and growth habit.

Northern white cedar differs from western red-cedar (*Thuja plicata*) in
leaf color (dull yellowish-green on both surfaces), minutely mucronate
scales of the seed cones, and geography.

*Distribution*: The primary range of northern white-cedar is in
eastern-southeastern Canada (west to Manitoba) and adjacent states of
New England and the Great Lakes region (west to Minnesota); south of the
main range, it occurs in scattered stands and southward along the
Appalachians into North Carolina and Tennessee, where it is generally
rare or extirpated. For current distribution, please consult the Plant
Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

### Adaptation 

It commonly grows in cool, moist, nutrient-rich sites, on mostly
calcareous soils that are neutral or nearly so \-- lakes and river
shores, uplands, cliffs, and talus, at 0-600 (-900) meters elevation.
Although it grows best on well-drained sites, it may be dominant in
swamps. In cultivation, it grows in a wide variety of soils.

### Establishment

Cones may be produced by northern white-cedars as young as 6 years old,
but seed production in large quantities begins when the trees are about
30 years old and is best after 75 years. Good seed crops are produced at
intervals of 2 to 5 years, or more frequently in local areas.

Seedbeds of moss-covered, decaying logs and stumps account for more than
70 percent of the northern white-cedar seedlings in undisturbed areas.
Seedlings can be established on burns, if the burn was severe enough to
expose favorable, mineral soil seedbeds on uplands or to improve moss
seedbeds in swamps. Best root and shoot development occur in full light,
but drought-caused mortality of northern white cedar seedlings may be
extremely high under any light condition.

Layering may account for a significant portion of northern white-cedar
reproduction in swamps, because adventitious roots can be produced from
any branch or stem. It is most common in young stands and those with
leaning trees, where the lower branches become covered by moss. New
trees also develop vegetatively from uprooted trees where roots are
formed from vertical branches.

Northern white cedar grows relatively slowly in swamps or on other
saturated lowland sites, but it apparently reaches ages of 400 years and
greater in these habitats. An individual from Ontario has been dated at
more than 1650 years old.

### Management

Northern white-cedar forests are stable without major disturbance such
as fire, because the trees are long-lived and balsam fir is the only
important associate sufficiently shade tolerant to grow in competition.
In stands that have been opened by timber harvesting or severely browsed
by white-tailed deer, succession is often to balsam fir or swamp
hardwoods, especially black ash. Northern white-cedar responds well to
thinning-release after successful establishment, although it is shade
tolerant and can withstand severe suppression for several years.

Even-aged management, through shelterwood cutting or clear cutting is
recommended for maximum benefit to deer. Satisfactory reestablishment
after clearcutting often requires some kind of site preparation,
particularly broadcast burning of slash. In some areas, however, heavy
winter browsing of seedlings and saplings by deer greatly reduces
reproductive success.

### Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

These plant materials are readily available from commercial sources.
Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil
Conservation Service) office for more information. Look in the phone
book under "United States Government." The Natural Resources
Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading "Department of
Agriculture."

### References

Chambers, K.L. 1993. *Thuja*. Pp. 410-411, IN: *Flora of North America,
north of Mexico*. Vol. 2, *Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms*. Oxford Univ.
Press, New York.
\<http://hua.huh.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/Flora/flora.pl?FLORA_ID=12395\>

Johnston, W.F. 1990. *Thuja occidentalis*. Pp. 580-589, IN: R.M. Burns
and B.H. Honkala. *Silvics of North America*. *Volume 1. Conifers*. USDA
Forest Service Agric. Handbook 654, Washington, D.C.
\<http://willow.ncfes.umn.edu/silvics_manual/Table_of_contents.htm\>

### Prepared By

*Guy Nesom*

Formerly BONAP, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

### Species Coordinator

*M. Kat Anderson*

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, c/o Plant Sciences Dept., Davis,
California

Edited: 19jun02 jsp: 04jun03 ahv; 060818 jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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