The Arbor Vitaes 



or pointed, glandular, aromatic. Flowers, May, monoecious on tips 

 of side twigs, but separate; staminate, a globose cluster of stamens; 

 pistillate, a red cone of 8 to 12 scales with ovules on lower or central 

 ones only. Fruit oval, pale brown, erect cone, annual, with 

 6 to 12 oblong scales. Preferred habitat, low, swampy ground 

 near streams. Distribution, New Brunswick to Manitoba; Min- 

 nesota, Michigan and northern Illinois; south along Atlantic 

 States into New Jersey, along AUeghanies to North Carolina and 

 eastern Tennessee. Uses: Valuable ornamental and hedge tree. 

 Wood used for telegraph poles, posts, railroad ties and shingles. 

 Bark rich in tannin. 



The flat leaf spray of the arbor vitae of the Northern States 

 sets it apart from other evergreens, and its use in hedges makes it 

 familiar to most people. Children as well as grown people gen- 

 erally know it. Unfortunately the name, white cedar, has become 

 attached to this tree, confusing it with another genus, Chamse- 

 cyparis, in which this name reappears. 



Through years of cultivation this arbor vitae has produced a 

 great number of garden varieties. Their slow growth and com- 

 pact habit adapt them to use in formal gardens. They are hardy, 

 they submit to severe pruning and late transplanting, and they 

 are easily propagated from seed these traits of character com- 

 mend them to nurserymen and planters. They are planted with 

 profit for telegraph poles and posts, as the wood, though soft, is 

 very durable in soil. As windbreaks they do good service, and 

 have unique ornamental value when massed on stream borders or 

 grouped on rocky slopes. 



Giant Arbor Vitae, or Red Cedar (Thuya plicaia, D. 

 Don.) A pyramidal tree, 150 to 200 feet high, with a stout, 

 often corrugated and buttressed trunk. Bark scaly in narrow 

 strips, thin. Wood light, brittle, reddish brown, soft, coarse, 

 durable. Leaves minute, close, blunt, scale-like, with pale mark- 

 ings, longer on leading shoots. Flowers dark brown, monoecious, 

 very small. Fruit erect clustered cones, with 6 fertile scales, each 

 bearing 2 to 3 winged seeds. Preferred habitat, rocky stream 

 banks and rich bottomlands. Distribution, coast regions from 

 Cape Mendocino in California north into Alaska; mountains east 

 into Idaho and Montana. Uses: A handsome ornamental tree, 

 grown in Europe and occasionally in the Middle and North Atlantic 

 States. Wood used for interior fmish of houses, sashes, doors, 



92 



