Thuja occidentalis 'Elegantissima'

‘Green Industry Images’ Copyrighted Photograph; Permission Granted;

 

Nice plant, but it smells like a hybrid to me (there's a hint of pineapple). I suggest that it's probably Thuja occidentalis x T. plicata. Note that the outer cone scales have slightly recurved tips (the cone scales of T. occidentalis are smooth).

 

What's the connection between new comment about what must be a live specimen being examined in person and the original photo?

 

The crown shape in the photo also hints at a hybrid.

It's about the same cultivar. A relevant comment on this thread, which is about the cultivar in general, not the individual specimen in the photo ;-)

 

Plants under the name should be a yellow-tipped T. occidentalis; at one time 'Lutea' may have been sold under the name, at least part of the time. Nowadays it appears to be a synonym of 'Aureospicata'. I may have also seen another form offered as 'Elegantissima'. When a species is popular and has had a large number of variants introduced, plenty of mixing of names is liable to occur over time; some growers/sellers are quite loose about it. Others do not know enough about their plants to realize they are misapplying names, and may put thousands of specimens on the market under the wrong names, thereby generating a substantial component of wrongly named material in the landscape.

 

My apologies for being obtuse. I was at the Dawes Arboretum (Newark, Ohio) last week with a group of botanists. The Dawes has a truly astonishing collection of plants, including a very good, labelled conifer collection. It was agreed by all present that Thuja 'Elegantissima' (labelled at the Dawes, T. occidentalis 'Elegantissima') does not belong to T. occidentalis. This lovely cultivar is intermediate in all respects between T. occidentalis and T. plicata. Initially on seeing the trees, I guessed 'Green Giant', a reputed hybrid of T. plicata and T. standishii. However, the foliage of 'Elegantissima' is softer and thinner than that cultivar, and as previously stated, the tips of the cone scales are not recurved (as they are in 'Green Giant').

 

Picture looks like 'Green Giant', as far as can be seen from the distance photo was taken. 'Green Giant' was for a time being grown as T. occidentalis 'Giganteoides' by mistake. T. o. 'Aureospicata', of which T. o. 'Elegantissima' may be a synonym does not look like 'Green Giant' - and to me does have foliage and cone characters of T. occidentalis, albeit a coarse and vigorous version. A Vancouver planting of this was misidentified by G. Straley and listed in his Vancouver tree book as something like "T. plicata unknown hybrid". Apart from the size and vigor of the tree I do not see the resemblance to T. plicata, when the fine points are considered.