Bayshore/Atlantic White Cedar
COMMON NAME: American White Cedar
OTHER COMMON NAME(S): False Cypress, Southern White
Cedar, Post Cedar, Swamp Cedar
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Chamaecyparis thyoides
FAMILY: Cupressaceae
COMMUNITY: Maritime Forest
STATUS: Native
LIFESPAN: Perennial (Tree)
HEIGHT: to 80 feet
CONES: Tree has male and female cones ~ Male shed pollen
first three weeks in May
DISTRIBUTION: Maine to Florida ~ Statewide in NJ, most
abundant in part of the Pine Barrens
IDENTIFYING CHARACTERISTICS: Cones subglobose (shaped like globe) about size of pea, woody, dehiscent (opening by definite pores or slits to discharge contents), scales in pairs, cones mature first season and hang on tree throughout winter, contain 5 to 15 gray-brown seeds ~ Flowers minute, male black at tip, brown below, female roundish, reddish-brown scales and black ovule ~ Leaves scale-like, 1/16 to 1/8 inch long, spicy odor when crushed ~ Twigs flattened, fan-shaped clusters ~ Bark reddish-brown
GENERAL
INFORMATION: This family, Cupressaceae, are long-lived evergreen
trees with aromatic, resinous foliage and wood.
In earlier times the American White Cedar was used for fence posts, boxboards,
log cabins, boat building, wooden ware, barrel staves, barn floors, shingles,
siding and for ornamental purposes. The White Cedar takes nearly 100 years
to reach usable size. Most of the roof and siding shingles in early Philadelphia
were made from white cedar from southeast PA and southern NJ. In the American
Revolution, black charcoal of the American White Cedar went into the making
of patriot gunpowder. The tree provided masts for the young American navy.
The cedar trees are responsible for the brown or tan colored water characteristic
of swamps where these trees are found. The color comes from tannins.
From time to time a large White Cedar rises to the surface of a swamp,
not water-logged after decades; or, lumbermen “mine” the swamp
for these valuable trees. They use a sharp-pointed iron rod to locate
and determine the quality of the Cedar. At present the demand for mined
Cedar is greatest in the shipbuilding and shingle industries.