Atlantic White Cedar

(Chamaecyparis thyoides)

Atlantic White Cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides)

Identifying Characters: Atlantic White Cedar is the only native species of Chamaecyparis in eastern North America.

Similar Species: None.

Measurements: A tall tree with a rounded crown; height between 75 and 80 feet; diameter usually about 2 feet, but sometimes reaching up to 4 feet.

Cones: Female cones 0.25 to 0.30 inches in diameter, dark red brown when mature; 4 to 6 cone scales.

Leaves: Leaves scale-like arranged opposite in 4 rows; scales small, between 1/16 to 1/8 inches in length, closely appressed to the branchlet, apex not free; color blue-green with conspicuous glandular dots.

Bark: Bark gray to red-brown, divided irregularly into narrow flat, connected ridges, sometimes spirally twisted around the trunk.

Native Range: Atlantic White Cedar grows in a narrow coastal belt 80 to 210 km (50 to 130 miles) wide from southern Maine to northern Florida and west to southern Mississippi. Atlantic White Cedar forests, however, have always been of minor importance because the scarcity of suitable sites makes distribution of the species within the coastal belt exceedingly patchy. Atlantic White Cedar is most important commercially in southeastern New Jersey, southeastern Virginia, eastern North Carolina, and northwestern Florida. (Silvics of North America. 1990. Agriculture Handbook 654.)

Habitat: Atlantic White Cedar is usually found in coastal swamps or bogs, sometimes in nearly pure stands.