Red cedar

See also: Yellow cedar

Thuja plicata (Western Redcedar) 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.

Western Redcedar is a large tree, to 50-60 m tall and 3 m (exceptionally 6 m) trunk diameter. 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.

Western Redcedar is the Provincial tree of British Columbia.

Western redcedar has an extensive history of use by the Native American people of the northwest coast of North America, from Oregon to southeast Alaska. Its wood is used to make canoes, totem poles, houses, masks, helmets, armor, boxes, utensils, tools, and many other art and utility objects. Some northwest coast tribes refer to themselves as “people of the redcedar” because of their extensive dependence on the tree for basic materials.

The text in this article excerpt is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Thuja plicata”.