5. Chinese Arborvitae
Platycladus orientalis (synonym: Thuja orientalis) Platycladus orientalis is often known as Thuja or Oriental arbor-vitae and is a popular decorative evergreen tree worldwide. Like the Hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamii), Thuja is a gymnosperm. These are ancient trees which once dominated the plant world, doing better than broadleaf trees during the last Ice Age (around 40,000 to 10,000 years ago). Our Club Thuja is a native Chinese conifer; trees which produce cones instead of flowers. The leaves are scale-shaped and packed in close rows, resembling minute, stacked green triangles. They are beautiful and almost mathematically perfect if you take a moment to examine them through a 10x magnifying lens. Try this! If crushed, these leaves release a pleasant resin which may remind you of muscle liniment. |
Fauna you may find here: