I recently visited Ontario and had time to meet a cousin of the Western Redcedars we have in BC, the Eastern Whitecedar!
Both are species of Thuja that share a common ancestor dating back to the Cretaceous period, yet have diverged as a result of population isolation by the Rocky Mountains as they slowly made their way northward following glacial retreat to become two distinct species, Thuja plicata (Western Redcedar) and Thuja occidentalis (Eastern Whitecedar). While they both share the common name of ‘cedar’, they’re not true cedars, which belong to the Cedrus family, they were just casually named that by Europeans traveling west . Oddly enough, those same Europeans gave the name ‘occidentalis’ to the eastern version, though it actually means ‘western’ because it was “discovered” and catalogued by botanists before they knew of the further-west species of plicata. Kind of silly huh?
Despite all that, it was cool to observe the similarities that still exist between the two that help each survive and thrive, though in remarkably different environments. Thuja plicata prefers temperate climates, lots of moisture and rich soils, whereas occidentalis are able to withstand drier, colder climates in shallow rocky soil, as seen here on these bluffs. While the eastern species doesn’t grow as big or live as long, they share similar characteristics of vegetative regeneration which helps them to survive such as ‘layering’ where they form new roots where a branch makes contact with the soil, to ‘reiteration’ where upper branches become leaders to form new crowns from the same stem.
Pretty awesome to see these trees out here finding ways to keep on keeping on despite the hardships and challenges they face! “Life will find a way” - Dr. Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park, one of the greatest pop-culture philosophers of the 90’s.
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Produced & Directed by Ross Reid
~ I'd like to acknowledge that this video was filmed on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples–Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Nations. ~
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