page_title: Thuja plicata
section_title: Taxonomy and name
hierarchical_section_title: Thuja plicata / Taxonomy and name
caption_attribution_description: English: Captured on Keats Island in May 2017.
context_page_description: Thuja plicata, commonly called western red cedar or Pacific red cedar, giant arborvitae or western arborvitae, giant cedar, or shinglewood, is a species of Thuja, an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae native to western North America. It is not a true cedar of the genus Cedrus.
context_section_description: Thuja plicata is one of two Thuja species native to North America, the other being Thuja occidentalis. The species name plicata derives from the Latin word plicāre and means "folded in plaits" or "braided," a reference to the pattern of its small leaves.
  Most authorities, both in Canada and the United States cite the English name in two words as western redcedar, or occasionally hyphenated as western red-cedar, to indicate it is not a true cedar (Cedrus), but it is also cited as western red cedar in some popular works. In the American horticultural trade, it is also known as the giant arborvitae, by comparison with arborvitae for its close relative Thuja occidentalis. Other names include giant redcedar, Pacific redcedar, shinglewood, British Columbia cedar, canoe cedar, and red cedar. Arborvitae comes from the Latin for "tree of life"; coincidentally, Native Americans of the West coast also address the species as "long life maker".
  One endonymous name for the tree is the Halkomelem word xepá:y, from the roots xíp, meaning "scratch" or "line", and á:y, "bark"; the former root may be in reference to both the lined or "folded/braided" appearance of the bark and the tree's ubiquity in carving and other forms of woodwork.
caption: Western red-cedars on Keats Island, British Columbia, in May 2017
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