CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.
Bark thin, divided into flat ridges; Branchlets slender, often compressed; leaves dull blue-green, usually conspicuously glandular.1. [C. thyoides] (A, C). Branchlets stout, slightly flattened or terete; leaves dark blue-green, usually without glands.2. [C. nootkatensis] (B, G). Bark thick, divided into broad rounded ridges; branchlets slender, compressed; leaves bright green, conspicuously glandular.3. [C. Lawsoniana] (G).
1. [Chamæcyparis thyoides] B. S. P. White Cedar.
Cupressus thyoides L.
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 or pale below, at the north becoming russet-brown during the winter, 1/16′—⅛′ long, dying during the second season and then persistent for many years. Flowers: male composed of 5 or 6 pairs of stamens, with ovate connectives rounded at apex, dark brown below the middle, nearly black toward the apex: female subglobose, with ovate acute spreading pale liver-colored scales and black ovules. Fruit ¼′ in diameter, sessile on a short leafy branch, light green, covered with a glaucous bloom when fully grown, later 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, ovoid, acute, full and rounded at the base, slightly compressed, gray-brown, about ⅛′ 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, or northward much smaller, slender horizontal branches forming a narrow spire-like head, and 2-ranked compressed branchlets disposed in an open fan-shaped more or less deciduous spray, the persistent branchlets gradually becoming terete, light green tinged with red, light reddish brown during their 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 ¾′—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 wooden ware, 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; near Concord, New Hampshire, southern Maine, southward only near the coast to northern Florida, and westward to southwestern Mississippi; most abundant south of Massachusetts Bay; comparatively rare east of Boston and west of Mobile Bay.
Occasionally planted as an ornamental tree in the eastern states and in the countries of temperate Europe.