Thuja plicata

Taxonomy and name

Thuja plicata shoot with mature cones

Western red cedar is not really a cedar (Cedrus), but belongs to the family Cupressaceae, with cypresses. Is known by many names, Pacific red cedar, cedar, British Columbia, canoe cedar, giant cedar, or just red cedar. Plicata, the species name is derived from a Greek word meaning "folded in pleats," a reference to the shape of small leaves. It is one of the two arborvitaes (Thuja) North American native. Tree of Life comes from the Latin for "tree of life." Coincidentally, the Native Americans West Coast also deal with the cedar as a manufacturer of long life. "

Description

The western red cedar is a large tree, ranging from 40 to 150 feet (12 to 45 meters) tall and up to 22 feet (7 meters) in diameter of the trunk. Trees growing outdoor exhibit a crown that reaches the ground, while the trees are densely spaced together just have a crown on top, where light can reach the leaves. Some people can live nearly a thousand years, if not more. Some specimens in the Queen Charlotte Islands are about 900 years old.

Lake Quinault red cedar, also known as "The Hobbit" Tree "is the largest western red cedar in the world

The Red Cedar Lake Quinault is the largest known western red cedar in the world a timber volume of 500 cubic meters (17.700 cubic feet). By way of comparison, the largest known tree, a giant sequoia named General Sherman, has a volume of 1,480 cubic meters (52.300 cubic feet). Located near the northwestern shore of Lake Quinault north of Aberdeen, Washington, about 34 km from the Pacific Ocean Red Cedar Lake Quinault is high with a diameter of 6.04 m (Van Pelt, 2002), 55m. A red cedar over 74m in height and 800 years old was in the Cathedral Grove on the island of Vancouver, British Columbia, before it was burned and destroyed by vandals in 1972. [Citation needed]

The foliage forms flat sprays with leaves as a scale in opposite pairs, with successive pairs at 90 to each other. Aerosols are green foliage above, and green marked white with stomatal bands below. The Cones are slender, length 1520 mm and 45 mm wide, with 8-12 fine scales, they overlap.

Thujaplicin, a chemical found in trees and serves as a kind of natural fungicide, which prevents wood rot. This effect lasts for about a century, even after the tree is down. However, thujaplicin only found in older trees, and saplings that produce the chemical often rot at an early stage, causing some trees grow with a little hollow, rotten trunk.

Distribution and habitat

Western red cedar is a native of Northwest and Southwest Canada, from southern Alaska and British Columbia south to northwest California and inland to western Montana. Pollen analysis and carbon-14 dating suggests the first tree that grew around the lower Fraser valley 6,600 years ago. They thrive and accounted for nearly half of the vegetation in the area 500 years ago. Today, western red cedar cover about twenty percent of the flora of the region.

Western red cedar is one of the most widespread trees in northwest Pacific, and is associated with Douglas-fir and western hemlock in most places where it grows. Is in the range of sea level rise up to 1370m on sea level. In addition to growing in lush forests and mountain slopes in western red cedar is also a riparian tree, growing in many forests and swamps streams in its range. The tree is shade tolerant, and able to reproduce under dense shade. It has a fine-grained, straight and few knots.

Applications

Canada western red cedar deck in the National Assembly for Wales

Soft wood red-brown color is valued for its distinct appearance, aroma, and high resistance natural decomposition, being widely used for outdoor construction in the form of posts, decking, roofing and siding. It is grown as an ornamental tree a limited role in forest plantations and for screens and hedges. It has been introduced to other temperate areas, including Western Europe, Australia (at least as far north Sydney), New Zealand, the eastern United States and higher elevations of Hawaii. Also used to line closets and chests, their aromatic oils hot is believed to discourage moth larvae and carpet beetles, which can damage cloth by eating wool and similar fibers. This is more effective in a casket well-built red cedar (sometimes made of cedar), because the oils are limited by the labels of shellac and leather. A red cedar chest tightly closed can keep its pungent for many decades, sometimes for more than a century. Its light weight, strength, and the dark warm sound that makes it a popular choice for guitar sound cards.

Role in indigenous societies

Western red cedar has a long history of use by indigenous peoples in the Pacific Northwest, from Oregon to southeastern Alaska. Some northwest coast tribes refer to themselves as "people of red cedar" because of its heavy reliance on source material tree. Cedar wood has been used for housing construction, totems, and crafted in many objects such as masks, utensils, boxes, panels, tools, canoes, vessels and ceremonial objects. Roots and the bark is used for baskets, ropes, clothing, blankets and rings.

Largest

Since 2009, the three largest known western red cedar are:

Quinalt Cedar Lake (Lake of the Rain Forest, Olympic National Park Quinalt) 17,650 cubic feet

Cheewhat Cedar Lake (west coast of Vancouver Island's Pacific Rim National Park) 15,870 cubic feet

Cedar Creek Nolan (Nolan Creek) 15 330 cubic feet

History

A large number of archaeological findings point to the continued use of red cedar wood in the local. tools woodworking dating from 50008000 years ago, such as carved horns, were found in middens on the site Glenrose, near Vancouver. In Yuquot, on the west coast of Vancouver, tools of data 30004000 years old have been found. Musqueam site, also near Vancouver, since bark baskets woven in five different styles, together with ropes ships and dating back 3000 years. In Pitt River, adzes and baskets were dated 2,900 years ago. 1000 year old wooden artifacts were found on the east coast of Vancouver Island.

A legend among the Salish peoples describes the origins of western red cedar. In this legend, was a generous man gave the people everything they needed. When the Great Spirit saw him, he stated that when the generous man died, a large red cedar tree will grow where buried, and cedar will be useful for all people, providing the roots for baskets, the bark for clothing, and wood for housing.

Tools

The wood is worked primarily with the adze, which was preferred over all other tools, including those introduced by European settlers. Alexander Walker, a banner in the fur trade ship Captain Cook reported that indigenous people used an adze elbow, who value the new tools brought by Europeans, like the saw or ax, going so far as to modify the tools of trade again in an adze. Tools were usually made of stone, obsidian, bone, or a harder wood such as hemlock. A variety of hand hammers, wedges, chisels and knives were used. Excavations at Ozette in Washington state was presented iron tools around 800 years ago, long before European contact. When James Cook became the area, noted that almost all the instruments were made iron. There has been speculation about the origin of these iron tools, some theories include wrecks East Asia, or a possible contact with the iron from cultures of Siberia, as hinted in the work of the most advanced wood found in northern tribes like the Tlingit.

Wood

Harvesting red cedar requires a ceremony, and included propitiation of the spirits of the trees, as well as the surrounding trees. In particular, many asked specifically to the tree and his brothers not to fall or drop heavy branches of the harvester, a situation that is mentioned in a number of different stories of people that were not enough care. Some professional loggers Native American descent have said that offer quiet or silent propitiations trees fell, following this tradition.

Logging of large trees like red cedar before the introduction of steel tools was a complex art and requires much time. Usually the bark is removed around the base of the tree above the buttresses, and then a certain amount of cutting and splitting with stone adzes and clubs would take place, creating a triangular cut in width. The area above and below the cut would be covered with a mixture of damp moss and clay a firewall, then cut the filled up of kindling and small wood burns slowly. The process of cutting and burning would alternate until the tree had penetrated mostly through, and then carefully tending the fire fell the tree in the best direction for management. This process can take many days, and the constant rotation of workers involved keep the fire burning through night and day, often in a remote and stunning.

A pole outside a six-position at the University of British Columbia

Once the tree was cut down the work had only just begun, and then had to be stripped naked and dragged to shore. If the tree would become canoe then often divided into sections and worked in a canoe in rough form before shipping, but if were to be used for a totem or building materials would be towed back to the village. Many trees are being felled in this traditional form of use as totems and canoes, particularly by artists who feel that the use of modern tools is detrimental to the traditional spirit of art. Traditionalists do not just buy red cedar logs or timber in factories or lumber yards, a practice that is commonly followed by most working in smaller sizes as masks and suits.

Because logging requires such extraordinary amount of work, if only for housing tables are necessary, they are separated from the living tree. The bark was stripped and saved, and two cuts were made to the ends of the planks. After hitting wedges on the sides and the plates slowly separated from the side of the tree. The trees have been harvested are still visible in some places in the jungle, with obvious chunks taken out of its sides. These trees usually continue to grow very well, as the red cedar is resistant to decay. Planks straightened by a variety of methods, including weight down with stones, tie together with string or forcing them between a line of betting.

wood red cedar is used to make large canoes monoxyla where men went to sea to harpoon whales and conduct trade. One of the boats (a 38-foot boat excavated nearly a century ago), was purchased in 1901 by Captain John Voss, an adventurer. He gave the name of Tilikum (ship) ("friend" in the jargon Chinook), your rig, and took in a troubled three-year journey of British Columbia in London.

red cedar branches are very flexible and have good resistance to traction. They were stripped and used as a strong string of fishing line, rope cores, twine, and other purposes where bark cord was not strong enough or race could. Both the branches and bark rope have been replaced by modern fiber and nylon ropes between the aboriginal peoples of the northwest coast, although the cortex is still in use for the purposes aforesaid.

Cortex

Illustration of women pulling the bark of a tree, indigenous legends Vancouver Island by Alfred Carmichael

The bark is easily removed from live trees in long strips, and is harvested for use in the manufacture of carpets, cordage, basketry, rain hats, clothing and other soft products. The collection of bark should be done carefully because if the tree is completely bare die. To avoid this, the combine usually only crops of trees have been removed before. After harvesting the tree is not used to bark again, but later can be harvested for timber. Bark stripping is usually started with a series of cuts at the base of the tree above any buttresses and the bark is peeled upwards. To remove bark high up, a pair of platforms hanging from the rope around the tree are used, and the harvester climbs by alternating between them for support. From red cedars lose their lower branches as all tall trees do in the jungle, the harvester may climb 10 m or more in the tree for this method. The harvested bark is folded and carried in backpacks. Can be stored for long as the mold does not grow on it, and moistened before unfolding and working. It is then longitudinal incision in the width and woven or braided into shape. Bark harvesting was carried out mainly by women, despite the danger of escalation of 10 m air, because they were primarily responsible for the goods cortex. Today bark rope what is a lost art in many communities, although still practiced for decoration or art in some places. Other uses of bark are still common for artistic or practical purposes.

Notes

Abcde ^ Stewart (1984), p. 22

Ab ^ Stewart (1984), p. 24

Abcdef ^ Stewart (1984), p. 26

^ Stewart (1984), p. 21

Ab ^ Stewart (1984), pp 17-19

Ab c ^ Stewart (1984), p. 27

Abcd ^ Stewart (1984), p. 36

^ Stewart (1984), p. 39

Ab ^ Stewart (1984), pp 37-38

^ Stewart (1984), p. 40

^ Stewart (1984), p. 42

^ Stewart (1984), p. 43

^ Stewart (1984), p. 116

^ Stewart (1984), p. 115

^ Stewart (1984), p. 113

References

Stewart, Hilary. (1984). Cedar: Tree of life on the Northwest Coast Indians. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre. ISBN 0-88894-437-3.

Van Pelt, R. (2001). Forest Giants of the Pacific coast. University Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-98140-7.

External Links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thuja plicata

Conifer Group Specialists (1998). Thuja plicata. 2006. Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on May 12, 2006.

Gymnosperm Database - Thuja plicata

USDA Plant Profile: Thuja plicata

Categories: at least Red List of species of interest | Thuja | Trees Northwest States United States | Trees of Alaska | Trees of British Colombia | Trees of California | Trees of Oregon | Building Materials | Trees of Idaho | Trees Washington (U.S. state) | Trees of mild maritime climate | Provincial symbols of British Colombia | categories refer to less plantsHidden: All Items with no source statements | Articles with statements without power in July 2007 About the Author

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