Western Redcedar

Thuja plicata is native to the Pacific Coast of North America.

• Ranges from southeastern Alaska southward through British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and into northern California
• Also occurs in the interior wet belt of British Columbia, northern Idaho, and western Montana
• Found at elevations from sea level to approximately 2,000 meters in the Cascade Range
• The most important ceremonial and practical tree for the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest
• First described by the American botanist David Don in 1855
• Known as the "Tree of Life" (shared translation of many Indigenous names) to Coast Salish, Haida, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Kwakwaka'wakw, and other Pacific Northwest peoples
• The species epithet "plicata" means "folded" or "braided," referring to the arrangement of the branchlets
• Once formed immense old-growth forests throughout the coastal and interior wet belts, many of which have been logged

Thuja plicata is a massive, long-lived evergreen conifer with a conical crown and drooping leader.

Size:
• Typically 40 to 60 meters tall, with record specimens reaching 65 to 70 meters
• Trunk diameter: 1 to 3 meters, with the largest specimens exceeding 6 meters
• Crown is narrowly conical, often with a drooping or nodding leader
• Trunk often buttressed at the base in old-growth specimens

Bark:
• Thin (1 to 2.5 cm thick), fibrous, reddish-brown to grayish-brown
• Shreds in long, thin, stringy vertical strips
• The fibrous bark was extensively used by Indigenous peoples for rope, baskets, clothing, and blankets

Branches:
• Form flat, fan-like sprays of branchlets
• Branchlets are arranged in horizontal planes, creating distinctive flattened sprays

Leaves:
• Scale-like, flat, 1 to 4 mm long, overlapped like shingles
• Dark glossy green above, often with whitish butterfly-shaped markings beneath
• Strongly aromatic, emitting a sweet, pineapple-like scent when crushed
• Opposite and decurrent on the stem

Cones:
• Small, erect, ovoid, 10 to 18 mm long
• Composed of 6 to 12 thin, leathery scales
• Greenish to purplish when young, turning reddish-brown at maturity
• Seeds are small, flat, with narrow lateral wings

Western redcedar is a foundation species of the Pacific Northwest's temperate rainforests.

Habitat:
• Dominates moist, low-elevation forests west of the Cascade crest
• Also found in the interior wet belt of British Columbia and northern Idaho
• Thrives in areas receiving 1,000 to 4,000 mm of annual precipitation
• Prefers moist, rich, well-drained alluvial soils along rivers and streams
• Extremely shade-tolerant, capable of persisting for centuries in the understory
• Often grows in mixture with Douglas fir, western hemlock, and Sitka spruce

Ecosystem role:
• A foundation species that creates unique microclimates with its dense, year-round canopy
• Old-growth western redcedars develop massive cavities and hollow trunks that provide critical denning sites for bears, martens, and raccoons
• Foliage is a primary winter food source for Roosevelt elk and black-tailed deer
• Seeds consumed by pine siskins, crossbills, and chickadees
• The thick, fibrous bark provides nesting material for birds and nesting substrate for invertebrates
• Fallen redcedar logs decompose extremely slowly, providing nurse logs for tree seedlings and habitat for amphibians and invertebrates for centuries
• Redcedar snags are preferred nesting sites for the Vaux's swift and various woodpeckers