High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Thuja plicata, commonly called Western or pacific red cedar,giant or western arborvitae,giant cedar, or shinglewood, is a species of Thuja, an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae native to western North America. Though commonly called a cedar, it does not belong to the scientific family of trees that are classified as "true cedars". It is the Provincial tree of British Columbia, and has extensive applications for the indigenous First Nations of the Pacific Northwest.