Western redcedar sightings are surging across Canada this week
iNaturalist Community
Native Plants
If you're on a trail in British Columbia or coastal Canada right now, the tall, droopy-branched conifer with lacy, scale-like needles everywhere you look is this week's most-logged tree, so it's a good time to learn to identify it.
Western redcedar is a big, long-lived evergreen tree common in Pacific coastal forests, and right now people on iNaturalist are photographing and logging it more than almost any other plant in Canada. Observations rose from 141 to 152 in a single week. It's likely a mix of the tree simply being abundant and visible this time of year and more people getting outside to notice it.
Key Findings
152 observations of western redcedar (Thuja plicata) were logged in Canada in the past 7 days
That's an increase of 11 observations, up from 141 the prior week
It ranks among the most-observed plant species in Canada for the period
chevron_right Technical Summary
Nature-watchers across Canada logged 152 sightings of western redcedar last week, up from 141 the week before, making it one of the most-observed plants in the country right now.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Trending: western redcedar (Thuja plicata) — 152 observations this week
Western redcedar (Thuja plicata) is a species in the family Cupressaceae. iNaturalist users recorded 152 observations of it in Canada in the 7 days before today, among the most for any plant there....
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
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Thuja plicata is a large coniferous tree in the cypress family, Cupressaceae, native to the Pacific Northwest of North America. Its common name is western redcedar, although it is not a true cedar. It is also less commonly called western red cedar, pacific red cedar, giant arborvitae, western arb...