Western Arbor Vitae
WESTERN ARBOR VITAE
(Thuja plicata)
Shape narrowly pyramidal, up to 200 ft. tall. Trunk much buttressed. Bark cinnamon red. Branches clothing the stem to the base, short, horizontal, pendulous at tip. Leaves bright and glossy, in the form of long scales closely investing the twigs, each scale marked by a whitish triangular spot, the needles on vigorous leading shoots often not overlapping but remote, bristling, sharp. Cones little over ½ in. long, elliptic-oblong. Range: Alaska to n. Calif. and Mont. The wood differs from the eastern species in being dull red brown, instead of pale yellow. This is a precious timber tree of the Pacific Northwest. The wood is used for interior finish, fences, shingles. Logs last forever and from them Indians made their village totem poles, their plank lodges and dug-out canoes.
Western Juniper
WESTERN JUNIPER
(Juniperus occidentalis)
Shape round headed, 20-60 ft. tall. Trunk often forked half way up. Bark cinnamon, fissured and shreddy, with glossy scales. Branches beginning low on the trunk, very large, horizontal. Scales short, overlapping all around the twig, grayish, glandular. Berry resinous, large. Range: Mt. slopes and high prairies from e. Wash. and w. Ida. to San Bernardino Mts. of s. Calif. The wood of this picturesque tree is red, soft, light, durable, used for fences and fuel. Fond of wind-swept crags, “it dies standing and wastes insensibly out of existence like granite, the wind exerting as little control over it alive or dead as it does over a glacial boulder.” (John Muir.) CALIFORNIA JUNIPER (Juniperus californica) is closely similar, but has gray bark, bushy stem, paler needles and a red brown berry with sweet pulp. Centr. and s. Calif.
Red Cedar