Chamaecyparis thyoides (Atlantic white cedar)

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Chamaecyparis thyoides (L.) Britton Sterns & Poggenb.

Atlantic white cedar, Atlantic white-cedar, Atlantic white cypress, southern white-cedar, white-cedar, swamp-cedar

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Coniferophyta	Conifers—cone-bearing trees (and a few shrubs)
Class	Pinopsida	Gymnosperms such as cedars, Douglas-firs, cypresses, firs, junipers, kauri, larches, pines, hemlocks, redwoods, spruces, and yews
Order	Pinales	Cone-bearing plants: cedar, cypress, fir, juniper, larch, pine, redwood, spruce, yew, and others
Family	Cupressaceae	Cypres family, including junipers and redwoods
Genus	Chamaecyparis	From the Greek chamae, “dwarf, low-growing, or growing on the ground” and kyparissos, “cypress,” meaning “dwarf or ground cypress.” Herbalist John Dunne-Brady adds that the genus Chamaecyparis was named “by the French botanist Edouard Spach (1801-1879) and published in 1841 in the eleventh volume of Historie Naturelle des Vegetaux Phanerogames.” He states further that this is “an inaccurate and inappropriate description because all species are erect and some grow as high as 120 feet”
Species	thyoides	A reference to the leaves, which resemble those of Thuja

About plant names...

Atlantic white cedar is native to the east coast of North America.

Identification: Trees are 66-92' (20-28 m) tall, bushy and roughly conical in shape. Bark is light gray to reddish brown, thin, fibrous, often peeling. Foliage consists of flattened sprays of scaly needles, green or bluish-green, with sharp tips. Crushed foliage has a strong cedar smell. Flowers are inconspicuous, about ⅛" (3 mm) in size. Red to yellow male flowers and green female flowers occur on the same tree. Cones are spherical in shape, about ⅛" (6 mm) in diameter, bluish when young, turning yellow-brown, and oddly shaped, like flared bells.

Online References:

Www.carolinanature.com

The Virginia Tech Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation

The USDA Forest Service's Silvics of North America site

About.com: Forestry

The USDA Forest Service's Fire Effects Information Database