Western red cedar
The great rainforest tree of the Northwest Coast, called the tree of life, used by Coast Salish and other nations for canoes, longhouses, and baskets.
Western red cedar at a glance
Thuja plicata Thuja plicata is THOO-yuh plih-KAH-tuh
- Type
- Plant · tree
- Diet
- Producer
- Size
- One of the biggest trees in the Northwest, up to about 200 feet tall with a trunk several arm-spans around.
- Lifespan
- Often over 1,000 years, and some living trees are far older.
- Conservation
- Not formally assessed as threatened by IUCN; common but slow-growing
A green tree that makes its own food from sunlight in flat sprays of scale-like needles, growing slowly and steadily in the wet, shady rainforest for centuries.
Is it safe to touch?
Safe to be around and to touch. Crush a bit of the flat green foliage and smell the sharp, sweet cedar scent on your fingers. Do not strip bark from a living tree, which harms it and is disrespectful where the tree is culturally sacred.
In the deep forest at Olympic, one tree stands over the others like a grandparent in the room. The western red cedar rises straight and huge, its trunk fluted and wrapped in stringy reddish bark, its top lost somewhere in the canopy. Many of the biggest have stood here more than a thousand years. A cedar you can put your hand on today was already a large tree when much of the modern world had not yet been built.
The Coast Salish, Makah, Quinault, and other nations of the Northwest Coast have called this the tree of life for thousands of years, and they still do. A single trunk becomes an ocean-going canoe. Split planks from the same tree wall a longhouse and rise into a totem pole. Peel back the soft inner bark and it turns into rope, baskets, watertight hats, and clothing woven fine enough to wear against the skin. Cedar has carried these people across the water, sheltered them, and clothed them since long before this land was a park, and it still does.
Crouch and crush a bit of its flat green foliage between your fingers and you will carry the smell of it out of the forest, sharp and sweet at once. That scent comes from oils that also keep the wood from rotting, which is why a fallen cedar can lie whole and sound on the forest floor for a hundred years, feeding the seedlings that root along its length. Leave the living bark alone, breathe in your fingers, and look up the trunk until you lose the top of it.
Did you know?
- Northwest Coast peoples call it the tree of life. From one tree came canoes, house planks, totem poles, baskets, rope, hats, and even soft clothing woven from the inner bark.
- Its flat sprays of foliage smell sharp and sweet when crushed, and the wood resists rot so well that fallen logs can lie sound on the forest floor for a century.
- The biggest ones have lived more than a thousand years, meaning a cedar standing today was already old when many countries were founded.
Common questions
Why is western red cedar called the tree of life?
Because Northwest Coast nations have used every part of it for thousands of years, for canoes, houses, totem poles, baskets, rope, and clothing. It has been central to daily life and ceremony, and it still is.
How old can a western red cedar get?
Very old. Many live more than a thousand years, so a big cedar in an old-growth forest may have been alive for a dozen human lifetimes or more.
Why does cedar smell so good?
Its wood and foliage contain natural oils with a sharp, sweet scent. Those same oils help the wood resist rot, which is one reason it lasts so long.