Chinese Arborvitae

The Chinese arborvitae, also called Chinese thuja, Oriental arborvitae or biota, is the only species of the genus Platycladus, a conifer of the cypress family. It is native to north-eastern East Asia and North Asia, and is naturalised in Korea, Japan, India, Florida and Iran. A small, slow-growing, monoecious tree 15 to 20 metres tall, it has flat sprays of scale-like leaves, bright green but turning brown or coppery in winter, and small cones that ripen to brown. Older books often placed it in Thuja, hence the name oriental thuja, but it is only distantly related, and its foliage is almost scentless. Planted as an ornamental, in parks, gardens and cemeteries and as hedges, it is associated in China with long life and vitality. Its wood is used in Buddhist temples for building and, chipped, for burning as incense. The twigs and leaves hold about 0.12 per cent essential oil.