374 XE"\y ENGLAND TREES IX "WIXTER. 



COAST WHITE CEDAR 



White Cedar, Cedar. 



Chamaecyparis thyoides (L.) BSP. 



C. sphaeroideo Spach : Cupressus thyoides L. 



HABIT — A small tree. 20-50 ft. in height with a trunk diameter of 

 1-L' ft., further south reaching- 90 ft. in heig^ht and a trunk diameter of 

 4 ft.; trunk tall, erect, tapering g-radually. branches short, slender, more 

 or less horizontal, "U'ith delicate featherj- secondary branches and 

 branchlets loosely enveloping the narrow conical head and surmounted 

 by an airy, pliant, plume-like terminal shoot. 



BARK — Grayish-brown, separating olt in narrow shreddy strips, more 

 or less spirally twisted; on younger and sometimes also on older 

 trunks the bark separates ofC in broader reddish -brown strips, (see 

 pilot (jgraph of young- trunk). 



TAVir.S — Generally less than 1.5 mm. thick, slightly but not 

 prominently flattened, arranged in more or less fan-shaped clusters in 

 plants at \"ari'>iis angles, the last season's gro"u^th bluish-green from the 

 cumplete covering of minute leaves, with death of leaves the second 

 season becoming reddish-bro'U'n. older groT\''th slowly losing its leaves 

 and marked by scars of deciduous branchlets. Photograph of twig is 

 a 1.1 1 HI t -^ 5 natural size. 



LRAA'FS — Minute, scale-like, \-2 mm. long, appressed and closely 

 overlapping, opi.>osite in 4 ranks, but not giving a conspicuously 4-sided 

 appearance to tbe twigs, more or less keeled and with a raised glandular 

 dot at least on leaves of rapidly grown shoots, with spicy aromatic odor 

 when crushed. 



FRUIT — Small, splierical cones, 5-S mm. in diameter. Inconspicuous in 

 winter, opening toward the center never toward the base, maturing 

 the first season and persistent through the T\nnter. SCA^LES — thickened. 

 T\'-oody, shield-sbaped. "^'ith a slight projection in middle, each perched 

 on a stalk connecting it with the center of the cone; seeds winged. 



CO"»rPARISO\S— The Coast "U^hite Cedar resembles the Arbor A'itae 

 as indicated under this species but its twigs are only slightly flattened. 

 the clusters of twigs are less distinctly fan-shaped, the twigs and leaves 

 are smaller and the leaves are of a bluish rather than of a yellowish- 

 green. The cones are distinctive being spherical and with thickened 

 shield-shaped scales perched on stalks connecting them with the center. 

 Aside from the fruit characters which separate ^them. the Coast White 

 Cedar is distinguished from the Red Cedar by the more or less distinct 

 fan-shaped arrangement of its twigs, the absence of two kinds of leaves, 

 the more distinct glandular dot generally present on the leaf and by 

 the fact that the twigs are round or slightly compressed in section 

 and not distinctly 4-sided as are those of the" Red Cedar. 



DTSTRIBl'TIOX — In deep swamps and marshes, which it often fills 

 to the exclusion of other trees, mostly near the seacoast. Cape Breton 

 island and near Halifax. Nova Scotia, perhaps introduced in both; 

 southward, coast region to Florida and west to Mississippi. 



IN NEW ENGLAND — Maine — reported from the southern part of York 

 county; New Hampshire — limited to Rockingham county near the coast; 

 Vermont — no station known; Massachusetts — -occasional in central and 

 eastern parts, very common in the southeast; Rhode Island — common. 



IN CONNECTICUT — Rare in western and central districts: Danbury 

 and New Fairfield, becoming occasional or frequent eastward. 



WOOD — Light, .^oft, not strong, close-grained, slightly fragrant, light 

 brown, tinged with red. largely used in boat building, and cooperage 

 and for wondenware. shingles, the interior finish of houses, fence posts 

 and railroad ties. 



