Northern White Cedar

Thuja occidentalis, also known as northern white-cedar, eastern white-cedar or eastern arborvitae, is a coniferous tree in the cypress family, Cupressaceae, native to eastern Canada and much of the north-central and north-eastern United States. It is a small or medium-sized tree with red-brown bark that peels in narrow strips, fan-like branches and scaly leaves. The name arborvitae is Latin for tree of life, because of the supposed medicinal properties of the sap, bark and twigs. The essential oil has been used for cleansers, disinfectants, hair preparations, insecticides, liniment, room sprays and soft soaps. The Ojibwa reportedly made a soup from the inner bark of the soft twigs, and others have used the twigs to make teas. The tree has important uses in traditional Ojibwe culture. Honoured with the name Nookomis Giizhik, Grandmother Cedar, it is the subject of sacred legends and is considered a gift to humanity for its crafts, construction and medicine. It is one of the four plants of the Ojibwe medicine wheel, associated with the north.