Description
It is a large to very large tree, ranging up to 65–70 metres (213–230 ft) tall and 3–4 metres (9.8–13 ft) in trunk diameter, exceptionally even larger. Trees growing in the open may have a crown that reaches the ground, whereas trees densely spaced together will only exhibit a crown at the top, where light can reach the leaves. It is long-lived; some individuals can live well over a thousand years, with the oldest verified being 1,460 years.
The foliage forms flat sprays with scale-like leaves in opposite pairs, with successive pairs at 90° to each other. The foliage sprays are green above, and green marked with whitish stomatal bands below; they are strongly aromatic, with a scent reminiscent of pineapple when crushed. The individual leaves are 1–4 mm long and 1–2 mm broad on most foliage sprays, but up to 12 mm long on strong-growing lead shoots.
The cones are slender, 10–18 mm long and 4–5 mm broad, with 8–12 (rarely 14) thin, overlapping scales; they are green to yellow-green, ripening brown in fall about six months after pollination, and open at maturity to shed the seeds. The seeds are 4–5 mm long and 1 mm broad, with a narrow papery wing down each side. The pollen cones are 3–4 mm long, red or purple at first, shedding yellow pollen in spring.
Read more about this topic: Thuja Plicata
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“Once a child has demonstrated his capacity for independent functioning in any area, his lapses into dependent behavior, even though temporary, make the mother feel that she is being taken advantage of....What only yesterday was a description of the child’s stage in life has become an indictment, a judgment.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)
“An intentional object is given by a word or a phrase which gives a description under which.”
—Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe (b. 1919)
“Whose are the truly labored sentences? From the weak and flimsy periods of the politician and literary man, we are glad to turn even to the description of work, the simple record of the month’s labor in the farmer’s almanac, to restore our tone and spirits.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)