Cedary with 5-6” Soft needles

terrifictimbersllc · February 03, 2023, 09:56:11 AM

Need help identifying. SE Connecticut, About a mile from the coast.
Cedary looking bark. Tree is about 30 feet tall, 1.5 feet diameter or so at the base. Needles are about 5 to 6 inches long very soft.

Jeff · February 03, 2023, 10:11:47 AM

Deodar Cedar | University of Redlands

terrifictimbersllc · February 03, 2023, 10:26:11 AM

The deodar description says needles are 1-2 inches. Not sure what to make of that.

Jeff · February 03, 2023, 10:48:03 AM

Just a stab in the dark.

beenthere · February 03, 2023, 10:53:39 AM

Am thinking Eastern white pine, if there are 5 needles to a bundle. Can't quite tell in the pic.

terrifictimbersllc · February 03, 2023, 11:07:29 AM

Definitely not EWP. We have loads of that around here. The needles are thin in one dimension, and 3 to 4 mm wide in the flat dimension, See the photo, and they have a yellow green stripe down the center.

Old Greenhorn · February 03, 2023, 11:24:03 AM

I tried to count the bundles when Dennis put the photos up but it does not look like traditional typical needle bundles for what I can make out. Dennis, can you count specific bundle groups? That would help narrow it down. The group bases seem a little different also. Not EWP for sure, but I could see why you'd guess that.
I am guessing it's size (height to diameter ratio) coupled with being coastal would lend some good clues. That is a very different microclimate.

terrifictimbersllc · February 03, 2023, 11:59:08 AM

If by bundle groups, you mean how many needles are at each juncture along the stem, I counted three of them and got 19, 21, and 26.

These needles are very soft and smooth. For example, if you didn't have any fig leaves, and you had to make a cloak to cover yourself up with some of these branches, For the most part, it would be quite comfortable. I wouldn't try that with EWP boughs.

Jeff · February 03, 2023, 12:42:40 PM

My luck would be the worlds worst contact allergy, with minimal swelling. ;)

Ianab · February 03, 2023, 06:53:42 PM

My guess is Japanese Umbrella Pine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sciadopitys_verticillata

That's the closest in my "introduced conifers" book anyway....

terrifictimbersllc · February 04, 2023, 07:04:58 AM

Sure looks like it. Thank you. I'll run this by the customer to see what he thinks.

Ianab · February 04, 2023, 07:19:50 PM

I figured it wasn't a Nth American species, but it gets planted as an ornamental because of its unusual needles. I have seen a few around NZ, but never looked up what it actually was. A casual glance would just write it off as some sort of cedar.

SwampDonkey · February 11, 2023, 04:34:18 AM

First glance without scale of the needles made me think of larch, until I saw that the needles were not on short shoots and that they were several inches long. :D I'd never guess cedar though. Of course what we call cedar here is actually the cypress family or Cupressaceae and not really a true cedar, which is the Cedrus family. True cedar is more needle like, where cypress is scale like. When talking about cedar, when your used to it having scale-like needles, it throws the conversation into confusion. :D