Arbor Vitae (tree of life), a small evergreen, coniferous tree, from ten to fifty feet high. Arbor vitae is related closely to cedar and, in fact, is sometimes, though incorrectly, called white cedar. The spray of the arbor vitae is very flat and two-ranked. This evergreen is a favorite in dooryards. The native home of the common species is in swamps and on cool rocky shores from New Brunswick to Pennsylvania, along the mountains to North Carolina, and westward to northeastern Minnesota. To succeed in dooryards, arbor vitae must be mulched heavily with chips, and even then it is apt to winter-kill. Five species occur in North America and Asia out of which gardeners have succeeded, so they say, in developing fifty varieties. An oil is obtained from the twigs by distillation. The wood of the stem is soft and light, but tough and durable, and bears exposure to the weather very well. In Great Britain it is planted as an ornamental tree, but it does not grow so well as in America. An arbor vitae, a native of China and Japan, is also used for ornamental purposes in Europe, but is more sensitive to cold than is the American species. Hedges of arbor vitae are unsurpassed for beauty. See CONIFER.