A genus of evergreen trees, thickly branched, remarkable for the distichous arrangement of their branches, and having scalelike, closely imbricated, or compressed leaves.
Thuja (pronounced Thuya) is a genus of coniferous trees in the Cupressaceae (cypress family). There are five species in the genus, two native to North America and three from Eastern Asia. They are commonly known as arborvitae (from Latin for tree of life), due to the evergreen foliage; some are also sometimes known by the incorrect name "cedar" (they are not cedars).