Calocedrus
Calocedrus, the incense cedar, is a genus of coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae first described as a genus in 1873. Three species are native to eastern Asia and one to western North America.
Description
The genus is related to Thuja, and has similar overlapping scale-leaves. Calocedrus differs from Thuja in the scale leaves being in apparent whorls of four, and in the cones having just 2–3 pairs of moderately thin, erect scales, rather than 4–6 pairs of very thin scales in Thuja.Taxonomy
The generic name Calocedrus means "beautiful cedar".Cladogram showing the evolutionary relationships:
Image:Calocedrus decurrens 7976.jpg|thumb|right|C. decurrens foliage and male cones
Species
Extant species
Extinct species
Uses
Archery
Incense cedar was one of the favored varieties of wood used to make bows by Native Americans in California. Like juniper, and Pacific yew, the other two coveted bow woods among Pacific Natives, this wood has excellent flexibility and compression strength-weight ratio. When backed with sinew, it produces extremely flexible, fast, hard-hitting bows, which are rivaled only by horn-sinew composite bows for their ability to store and release elastic energy. The archer Saxton Pope observed that Ishi used this wood to produce short bows.Lumber
The wood of Calocedrus is soft, moderately decay-resistant, and with a strong spicy-resinous fragrance. That of C. decurrens is the primary material for wooden pencils, because it is soft and tends to sharpen easily without forming splinters. The two Asian species were in very high demand for coffin manufacture in China, due to the scent of the wood and its decay resistance. It is likely that past over-exploitation is responsible for their current rarity.Incense cedar was the preferred hearth board of the Native Peoples of Northern California for lighting fires by friction.