Platycladus

Common name: Oriental arborvitae, Chinese thuja
Dutch: Chinese levensboom

Identifying Features

  • Habit: Small evergreen tree or large shrub with vertical foliage sprays
  • Leaves: Scale-like, in opposite pairs, forming flattened vertical fans
  • Bark: Reddish-brown, thin, shredding
  • Cones: Distinctive fleshy, blue-green before maturity, with hooked scale tips
  • Distinguishing: Foliage sprays held vertically (not horizontally like Thuja)

Species Encountered

SpeciesPhotoDateLocation
P. orientalis

Parent: Cupressoideae