Thuja occidentalisL.

northern whitecedar

WFO wfo-0000407772 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h

Thuja occidentalis, photographed by agbelliveau
fig. a agbelliveau, CC0 1.0 / 2022-06-08 / obs. 204506235
Thuja occidentalis, photographed by Tom Scavo
fig. b Tom Scavo, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 202438278
Thuja occidentalis, photographed by Pierre Cartier
fig. c Pierre Cartier, CC0 1.0 / obs. 202061570
Thuja occidentalis, photographed by Henry "Nick" Robertson
fig. d Henry "Nick" Robertson, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 198996961
Thuja occidentalis, photographed by Alexis Godin
fig. e Alexis Godin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 202451209
Thuja occidentalis, photographed by Mary Krieger
fig. f Mary Krieger, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 201220342
Thuja occidentalis, photographed by Alexis Godin
fig. g Alexis Godin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 202451489
Thuja occidentalis, photographed by Henry "Nick" Robertson
fig. h Henry "Nick" Robertson, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 198993611

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Confused withby our own model

These are not lookalikes we guessed at. Each one is a species our identification model genuinely mistook for this plant, and how many times. The error rate is published.

Also published as 91 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Chamaecyparis boursieri Carrière
  • Cupressus arborvitae O.Targ.Tozz.
  • Cupressus nobleana (Beissn.) Lavallée
  • Juniperus ericoides Mast.
  • Retinispora devriesiana Mast.
  • Retinispora dubia Carrière
  • Retinispora ellwangeriana Carrière
  • Retinispora glaucescens Hochst. ex Beissn.
  • Retinispora keteleeri Beissn.
  • Retinispora meldensis Carrière
  • Retinispora nobleana Beissn.
  • Retinispora pygmaea Beissn.
  • Thuja bodmeri Beissn.
  • Thuja canadensis K.Koch
  • Thuja caucasica Gordon
  • Thuja compacta Standish ex Gordon
  • Thuja devriesiana Carrière
  • Thuja ellwangeriana Carrière
  • Thuja ericoides Gordon
  • Thuja globosa Beissn.
  • Thuja hoveyi Gordon
  • Thuja minor Carrière
  • Thuja nana Carrière
  • Thuja obtusa Moench

and 67 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice, no toxicity claim and no native range, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.