arborvitae

ar·bor·vi·tae also ar·bor vi·tae  (ärbr-vt) n. 1. a. Any of several North American or eastern Asian evergreen trees or shrubs of the genus Thuja, having flattened branchlets with opposite, scalelike leaves and small cones. They are grown as ornamentals and for timber. b. Any similar plant of the genus Platycladus or Thujopsis. Also called thuja. 2. Anatomy The white nerve tissue of the cerebellum, which has a treelike outline in a median section. [From New Latin arbor vtae, tree of life : Latin arbor, tree + Latin vtae, genitive of vta, life; see vital.]

arborvitae American arborvitae Thuja occidentalis

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

arborvitae - any of several Asian and North American conifers of the genera Thuja and Thujopsis canoe cedar, red cedar, Thuja plicata, western red cedar - large valuable arborvitae of northwestern United States American arborvitae, northern white cedar, Thuja occidentalis, white cedar - small evergreen of eastern North America having tiny scalelike leaves on flattened branchlets Oriental arborvitae, Platycladus orientalis, Thuja orientalis - Asiatic shrub or small tree widely planted in United States and Europe; in some classifications assigned to its own genus hiba arborvitae, Thujopsis dolobrata - slow-growing medium-large Japanese evergreen used as an ornamental conifer, coniferous tree - any gymnospermous tree or shrub bearing cones