po s t e I s i a 195 



but leading shoots; wood dull red, very fra- 

 grant; cone 12-15 millimeters long, usually with 

 six fertile scales each bearing two or three seeds; 

 cone-scales conspicuously mucronate; seeds 

 about 5 millimeters long, with lateral wings. 

 Alaska to northern California, eastward to the 

 Rocky Mountains of British Columbia and 

 Montana. 



Thuja plicata is abundant throughout the 

 Vancouver forest especially at low altitudes. It 

 is one of the largest trees of the region. Al- 

 though it is not as tall as the spruce and Douglas 

 fir, it exceeds them in trunk diameter, which 

 is not infrecjuently five meters at the base. Its 

 trunk tapers rapidly, however, while those of 

 the spruce and fir are almost columnar. 



This tree may be readily distinguished from 

 all the other conifers of the region, with the sin- 

 gle exception of Cupressiis nootkatensis, by its 

 small, scale-like leaves and flat spray. Its bark 

 is smooth and cinnamon red in young trees, 

 becoming gray and shredded with age, and 

 separating from the trunk in long strips. The 

 wood is of a dull reddish brown color and con- 



