Thuja is a genus of five species of evergreen coniferous trees and shrubs in the Cupressaceae family with two species native to North America and three native to eastern Asia. Common names include Arborvitaes, Thujas or Cedars.

Thuja occidentalis, commonly known as known as Northern White-cedar, Eastern White-cedar, Eastern White Arborvitae, Swamp Cedar or American Arborvitae, is a small evergreen, coniferous tree native to North America from eastern Canada and north-central and northeastern United States. It is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant and often confused with Juniperus virginiana (Eastern Red Cedar). The common name Arborvitae is Latin for Tree of Life, due to the supposed medicinal properties of the sap, bark, and twigs. The wood is commercially used for rustic fencing and posts, lumber, poles, shingles, and in the construction of log cabins. It is the preferred wood for the structural elements, such as ribs and planking, of birchbark canoes and the planking of wooden canoes. The essential oil within the plant has been used for cleansers, disinfectants, hair preparations, insecticides, liniment, room sprays, and soft soaps. Medicinally a tea has been made to relieve constipation and headache. It is also extensively used as an ornamental landscaping plant.