thuja

‖n. [ NL., from Gr. qyi`a an African tree with sweet-smelling wood. ] (Bot.) A genus of evergreen trees, thickly branched, remarkable for the distichous arrangement of their branches, and having scalelike, closely imbricated, or compressed leaves. [ Written also thuya. ] See Thyine wood. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Thuja occidentalis is the Arbor vitae of the Eastern and Northern United States. Thuja gigantea of North-western America is a very large tree, there called red cedar, and canoe cedar, and furnishes a useful timber. [ 1913 Webster ]