Northern White Cedar

The Thuja Occidentalis is commonly known as Arbor Vitae, Arborvitae, Eastern Arborvitae, Eastern White-cedar, Northern White Cedar, Northern White-cedar, Swamp-cedar, White Cedar, as well as White-cedar

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Growing Regions

Northern white-cedar occurs in southeastern Canada and the adjacent northern United States. It is distributed from southwestern Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec, and Anticosti Island in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence; west to northern Ontario and southeastern Manitoba; south to southeastern Minnesota and northern Illinois; and east through extreme northwestern Indiana, Michigan, and the New England states. Island populations occur in the Appalachian Mountains in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, and eastern Tennessee. Local populations also occur in west-central Manitoba, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and Ohio [26,33]. Historical evidence indicates that northern white-cedar is native to North Carolina as well, but no known native population occurs there now [10].

     

General Information

The currently accepted scientific name for northern white-cedar is Thuja occidentalis L. [33]. There are no recognized subspecies, varieties, or forms.

Northern white-cedar is an important species in the wet-mesic coniferous
forests of the northern lowlands [14].  It is often present in the
ecotone between sphagnum bog and upland hardwood communities [15].  It
may dominate rich swamp forests, poor swamp forests, and the cedar
string bog and fen complex [24].

The following published classifications list northern white-cedar as
dominant or codominant:

The vegetation of Wisconsin [14]
Virgin plant communities of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area [37]
Plant communities of Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota, U.S.A. [30]
Habitat classification system for Upper Peninsula of Michigan and
  northeast Wisconsin [11]
Classification and gradient analysis of forest vegetation of Cape
  Enrage, Bic Park, Quebec [49]
The principal plant associations of the Saint Lawrence Valley [16]

• More Northern White Cedar Information

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