Plant Family: Cupressaceae
Growth Form: Medium-sized to a potentially large tree, up to 20 meters tall with a pyramidal shape.
Leaves: Quite small and scale-like, overlapping on the twig, leaf sprays are rounded.
Bark: Light gray, peeling in loose, narrow strips that reveals reddish-brown under-bark.
Cones: Spherical, wrinkled, sessile on the twigs, to 1 cm in diameter, light bluish-green, turning brown at maturity.
Habitat: Coastal swamps and bogs, acidic soils, often in pure stands. Atlantic White-Cedar swamps are ecologically important habitats for many plant and animal species, some of which are threatened or endangered.
Range: The coastal plain from Maine south to North Carolina; there is a disjunct population on the Florida panhandle; absent from Vermont.
Similar Species: Northern White-Cedar has similar foliage, but the leaf sprays are more flattened and the cones are longer.
Comments: The wood is prized for its durability and rot resistance, and was heavily harvested in colonial times, when many cedar swamps were clear-cut and drained.
