82 TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



1. Chamaecyparis thyoides, Britt. White Cedar. 



(Cupressus thyoides, Silva N. Am. x. 111.) 



Leaves closely appressed or spreading at the apex, especially on vigorous leading 

 shoots, keeled and glandular or conspicuously glandular-punctate on the back, dark 

 dull blue-green, at the north becoming russet-brown during the winter, ^'-\' long, 

 dying during the second season and then persistent for many years. Flowers : stami- 

 nate composed of 5 or 6 pairs of stamens, with ovate connectives rounded at\he apex, 

 dark brown below the middle, nearly black toward the apex; pistillate subglobose, 

 with ovate acute spreading pale liver-colored scales and black ovules. Fruit globose, 

 \' in diameter, sessile on a short leafy branch, light green covered with a glaucous 



bloom when fully grown, then bluish purple and very glaucous, finally becoming dark 

 red-brown, its scales terminating in ovate acute, often reflexed bosses; seeds 1 or 2 

 under each fertile scale, ovate, acute, full and rounded at the base, sightly com- 

 pressed, gray-brown, about \' long, with wings as broad as the body of the seed and 

 dark red-brown. 



A tree, 70-80 high, with a tall trunk usually about 2 and occasionally 3-4 

 in diameter, slender horizontal branches forming a narrow spire-like head, 2-ranked 

 compressed branchlets disposed in an open fan-shaped more or less deciduous spray, 

 the persistent gradually becoming terete, light green tinged with red, light reddish 

 brown during the first winter, and then dark brown, their thin close bark separating 

 slightly at the end of three or four years into small papery scales. Bark |'-1' 

 thick, light reddish brown, and divided irregularly into narrow flat connected ridges 

 often spirally twisted round the stem, separating on the surface into elongated loose 

 or closely appressed plate-like scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, close-grained, 

 slightly fragrant, light brown tinged with red; largely used in boat-building and 

 cooperage, for woodenware, shingles, the interior finish of houses, fence-posts, and 

 railway-ties. 



Distribution. Cold swamps usually immersed during several months of the 

 year, often forming dense pure forests, from southern Maine southward only near 

 the coast to northern Florida, and westward to the valley of the Pearl River, Mis- 

 sissippi; most abundant south of Massachusetts Bay; comparatively raTe east of 

 Boston and west of Mobile Bay. 



