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Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas - Radford, Ahles, Bell
Copyright - UNC Press 1998, 1999. All Rights Reserved.



2. THUJA L. ARBOR VITAE



1. T. occidentalis L.,* AMERICAN A. V., EASTERN A. V., EASTERN WHITE CEDAR. Medium sized, monoecious, evergreen tree. Bark gray-brown to reddish, fibrous, and with connected ridges. Leaves small scales 1.5-4 mm long, some long pointed, some rounded, closely imbricate, except on fast growing shoots, closely appressed or adnate to the twig, the small thickly-leaved branchlets looking as if they had been ironed or pressed. Cones borne on the ends of the branchlets, male cones about 1 mm in diam., shedding pollen March-April; male cones 1-2 cm long at maturity, sporophylls closely imbricate, some with a very minute spine at the tip, shedding seeds Sept.-Oct. of 1st year; seeds broadly winged. (n=11) Limestone soils, reported from mts.; doubtful whether any surviving in the Carolinas, except in cultivation and around old homesites. [Va., Ga., Tenn., W.Va.].
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