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Characteristics
 Family-
Cupressaceae--The Cypress Family
- Origin
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Native NC
- Plant Description
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Evergreen tree to 80 feet; leaves small, evergreen scale-like, branchlets flattened and held in one plane; cones round, pea-like.
- Ornamental Characteristics
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Bright green foliage, graceful form.
- Landscape Use
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Screen, specimen tree.
- Horticultural Cultivars
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The cultivar 'Ericoides' is often seen in coastal gardens. It has a narrow, upright form and bears foliage "trapped" in the juvenile state: soft and short needle-like, become plum colored in winter.
- Availability/Propagation
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Cutting grown plants are becoming used in forestry and the nursery trade; dig from the wild (with permission).
- Culture
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Plant in full sun to partial shade in moist to wet soils.
- Coastal Ecology
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Atlantic white-cedar, an obligate wetland species, is a tall conifer found in fresh water wetland areas along the coast from Maine to Florida. Atlantic white-cedar was abundant along the Atlantic coast when the European settlers arrived, but was quickly cut for its valuable lumber used for shingles, pilings and boat construction. It is rare now to see large stands of Atlantic white-cedar along the North Carolina coast due to earlier harvesting and the inability of young trees to produce cones and seeds for replacement. Atlantic white-cedar is extremely resistant to decay; ancient trees lying beneath peat bogs and salt water swamps are still harvested because their wood remains valuable and rot resistant. Coastal residents call this tree "juniper," although it is only a relative of our true juniper, Juniperus virginiana, confusingly called the "Redcedar."
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