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West Virginia Trees

Chapter 40: ARBOR VITAE
By A. B. Brooks
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Nature/Gardening/Animals

About This Book

A practical field guide to the native and introduced trees of West Virginia, providing keys based mainly on leaves and fruits, concise family and species descriptions, and detailed line drawings for about 101 native species. It organizes trees by botanical families, gives brief flower notes, a glossary of terms, and suggestions for identifying specimens; occasional introduced species and shrubs are noted. The bulletin emphasizes simplicity for non-specialists, offers measurements and habit descriptions for each species, and includes administrative prefatory material. Its aim is to aid lay readers and students in tree identification and to encourage local interest in forestry.

ARBOR VITAE

Thuja occidentalis, L.

Form.—Height 40-50 feet, diameter 1-2 feet; trunk often divided; crown compact, pyramidal.

Leaves.—In 4 ranks on the stems, scale-like, ⅛-¼ inch long, longest and long-pointed on leading shoots, yellow-green, aromatic.

Flowers.—April-May; monoecious; staminate round, small, yellow; pistillate larger, oblong, reddish.

Fruit.—Cones maturing in early Autumn, oblong, about ½ inch long, reddish-brown, and persisting through the following winter.

Bark.—On trunk reddish-brown, slightly furrowed, and separating in ragged and twisted strips.

Wood.—Light, soft, brittle, durable, fragrant, yellowish-brown; sapwood whitish and thin.

Range.—Labrador, Manitoba and Minnesota, southward along the mountains to North Carolina.

Distribution in West Virginia.—Small trees on the South Branch of the Potomac River and on the North Fork of the South Branch in Pendleton County. Reported from Grant and Mineral counties.

Habitat.—River banks, swamps, rocky hillsides.

Notes.—This tree, often called white cedar, is so rare in West Virginia, and of so small a size that it has but little value, except from the standpoint of the botanist. It is commonly planted throughout the State for hedges and other ornamental purposes.