any of several ornamental or timber-producing evergreen trees belonging to the genus Thuja, of the cypress family, native to North America and eastern Asia, having a scaly bark and scalelike leaves on branchlets.
Some of their most favorable plants are narrowed-leafed evergreen, like arborvitae and fir.
People who crave quick evergreen screening seem to be turning less to the problem-prone Leyland cypress in favor of the arborvitae Green Giant, a better plant but suffering now from overuse.