June 7,
Blue Hills Reservation, Randolph
It's not often that white cedar demonstrates the original
bright colors of its bark not modified by microorganisms. The young bark
exfoliating in narrow stripes leaves you with the impression that the tree has
been just peeled and totally deprived of its bark by some enormous moose. This
tree was growing singly in a red-maple swamp, on a tussock together with yellow
birch; it was about 25 m tall and 20 cm in diameter at breast height.