Eastern White Cedar 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     If you were walking through wetlands and came upon a tree of the 
     
     following description, what species would you have before you? Spiny 
     
     aromatic evergreen, 6 to 10 m high; branchlets very flat, the tiny 
     
     scale-like leaves overlapping in 4 rows; some branches terminating in 
     
     small nodding ovoid cones, and some with minute staminate inflorescences. 
     
     Obviously, you would have encountered eastern white cedar (Thuja 
     
     occidentalis L.), also called Arbor-Vitae, the Tree of Life. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Numerous articles have been written on the medicinal uses of this 
     
     tree. Many mention its use in treating scurvy. gout. fevers and 
     
     rheumatism. The latter plagued the natives living in their damp wood— 
     
     lands. and scurvy was the horror of early white explorers. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Every canadian is familiar with the hardship endured by Jacques 
     
     Cartier and his crew while wintering on the St. Lawrence in 1535—36. 
     
     Scurvy almost finished off the entire crew. However. as Cartier wrote 
     
     to Francis I, King of France. a Huron—Iroquois medicine man gave his 
     
     men a decoction of familiar scent. and all miraculously recovered from 
     
     their stupor, gout and scorbutus. Equally familiar is the fact that 
     
     Clusius of Fontainebleau, a courtier of Francis I, gave the name Arbor 
     
     Vitae to Thuja. Ironically, the explorers who introduced the Tree of 
     
     Life into France and Europe failed to learn its antiscorbutic use, and 
     
     scurVy continued to threaten every explorer's life. In time, the 
     
     British Navy discovered that citrus fruit was very antiscorbutic, and 
     
     cedar lost its scurvy—treating place in medicine. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The natives, who displayed admirable ingenuity, made ointments 
     
     of cedar leaves with bear's fat for treating coughs and rheumatism due 
     
     to colds. During the course of time, the colonial laity learned to use 
     
     the ointment for soothing relief from these discomforts. In 1978, 
     
     North Americans buy plastic jars of similar compounds under brand names 
     
     such as "Vick's Vaporub". Take a look at the label: "contains 4% oil 
     
     of cedar leaf". The camphor—like compound responsible for the soothing 
     
     effect is called sabinol (4 10 -Thujen-3-ol) or ericinol. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Today, Thu a has three major uses: as fenceposts, oil of cedar for 
     
     ointments and as an ornamental. 
     
     Marc Forget 
     
    
   
   
    
     Reprinted from: 
     
    
   
   
    
     Trail and Landscape 
     
     Vol 12(4): 109, Sept.-Oct. 1978 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Crow Predation on a Snake 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     On May 4, 1978, at Nail Pond, West Prince County, I observed the 
     
     unusual behavior Of a crow preying on a garter snake. I first noticed 
     
     the crow when it was under attack by a number of other crows and red— 
     
     winged blackbirds. In an attempt to dodge its pursuers, it flew down 
     
     and landed on the ice of the pond. At this point, I saw the snake 
     
     writhing in the crow's beak. Since it was still early spring and rather 
     
     cool out (+2°C) the snake was presumably sluggish and easy prey for the 
     
     crow. After changing position of the snake in its bill several times, 
     
     the crow flew to a nearby field. Here, it dropped and picked up the 
     
     snake several times,and using the bill as a weapon it stabbed the 
     
     snake five times. More attacks from a blackbird caused the crow to 
     
     take its valuable prey and fly out of sight. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Mindy Rouse 
     
     Biology Dept. 
     
     University of P.E. I.