This species is highly recommended by some nurserymen for ornamental planting. It proves hardy in the southern part of the state. It is a fast growing tree, adapted to a wet soil, but will succeed in drier situations.
Thuja occidentàlis Linnæus. Arbor-Vitæ. [Plate 8.] Small evergreen trees with a conical crown, bark on old trees reddish-brown or dark gray, shreddy; branchlets compressed, reddish-brown; leaves all closely appressed, in alternate pairs, scale-like, about 3 mm. long on young branchlets, on old branches somewhat longer together with a spine 2-3 mm. long; flowers appear early in the spring from the ends of the branches; cones mature the first season, about 1 cm. long and .5 cm. in diameter; wood soft, brittle, weak and durable.
Distribution.—New Brunswick to Manitoba, south to Minnesota and New Jersey thence southward along the Alleghanies to North Carolina and Tennessee. In Indiana it is found native[9] only in Lake and Porter Counties. In Lake County a few isolated specimens have been found in several places near Lake Michigan. In Porter County it is known only in a large tamarack swamp north of the Mineral Springs stop on the Traction line, and about a mile from Lake Michigan. Here about 100 trees are found scattered over an area of less than two acres. The largest specimen measures 70 cm. in circumference. This species is doomed to early extinction in our area. No doubt it already has vanished from Lake County, and it is probable that the colony north of Mineral Springs is the last of the species in Indiana.
Remarks.—While only found in a swamp in Indiana, this species adapts itself to all kinds of soils and exposures. It transplants readily and is used for ornamental purposes, and for windbreaks. Dwarf forms are frequently planted for hedges. The wood is used principally for poles and posts, and is commercially known as white cedar.
Evergreen shrubs or trees, leaves opposite or whorled, sessile, scale-like or short-linear; fruit berry-like; seeds 1-3.
Juniperus virginiàna Linnæus. Red Cedar. [Plate 9.] A small tree, usually 1-2 dm. and rarely up to 5 dm. in diameter; bark shreddy; branches usually more or less ascending which gives the tree a narrow conic appearance; shoots green, soon turning light to reddish-brown and on older branches gray or dark brown; leaves 4-ranked, scale-like and 1.5-2 mm. long, or subulate, decurrent at base and 3-10 mm. long on vigorous branches or very small trees; flowers terminal; fruit ripening the first season, berry-like, globose but longer than wide, with a bloom and a very resinous pulp about the seeds which are usually 1 or 2; wood light, brittle, close-grained, durable and fragrant.