Trees of Greenlake: Zebrina Multi-Cache
Moun10Bike: I have received no response from the cache owner, so I must regretfully archive this. If it turns up or is replaced in the future, email me and I will review it for unarchival.
Trees of Greenlake: Zebrina
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Size: 
(small)
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This cache is associated with Greenlake Park in Seattle.
The point of the Trees of Greenlake series of caches is to have fun while learning to identify some of the trees in this park. Knowing about trees can make your walks more enjoyable wherever you go.
This is the 5th in a series starting with Tremuloides. As this series has grown, we’ve found the need to expand the boundaries of the tree search in order to avoid cache saturation. We’ll still try to keep it within a reasonable walking distance of the lake.
Thuja plicata ‘Zebrina’ [Thoo-yuh plih-cah-tuh Zeh-bree-nah] commonly called Zebra Cedar. The name in single quotes indicates that this is a cultivated variety, Zebrina, of the species tree (Thuja plicata), The Western Red Cedar. The Western Red Cedar you may find in the wild. Somewhere along the line, a tree with the special markings of Zebrina was found and now it has been cloned to preserve these characteristics. You’ll see both in this cache hunt.
1) Goto waypoint 1 to see a pair of Western Red Cedars. This is the species tree found in the wild. Three items you can use to identify this tree are:
- This tree has tassel-like leaves made up of overlapping scales. The leaves are distinct in that the scales are flat and overall come out in flat sprays. Hold a leaf and turn it over. On the backside you’ll see faint white markings that roughly make the shape of a ‘V’. See photo. These white marks are a collection of stomata, closeable pores the tree uses to breathe.
- Locate some of the tree’s seed cones if you can. They’re about ½” tall and stand upright. These cones, with a little imagination, look like brown, dried rose bud flowers opening.
- This tree can be identified from its bark. It is a cinnamon brown on the trunk and new growth (branch tips). The bark on the trunk runs in vertical strips that often look like a cat has been scratching it, loose and fibrous.
2) Go to waypoint 2 to see three Zebra Cedars.
You will notice that the Zebra Cedar looks just like the Western Red Cedar except for two major things:
- The leaves have bright yellow bandings that sometime look like Zebra stripes but other times are random. Overall this makes the tree very bright and easy to identify from afar.
- For a given age, the Zebra Cedar is shorter, usually not much more than 30ft. In the wild, the Western Red Cedar can grow over 300ft tall.
3) There are at least 100 Zebra Cedars around Seattle. The cache is located near one of them. Good luck in your hunt. Oh, and a riddle:
Pride of Dunfermline,
world’s richest man.
Brood of this bloodline,
one of over a thousand.
John Henry was a steel driving man,
steel was this man’s trade.
Railways, building, bridges, dams
thru knowledge, his fortune made.
Child of his is who I am
tho’ old, a child I’ll still be.
Zebrina held in my left hand,
the cache, a rose so merry,
held dearer to me.
Extra info on the Western Red Cedar: The Western Red Cedar is a northwest native and was highly important to Native Americans. The list of its uses is long; from canoes to coffins, totem poles to common tools. But it also a strongly spiritual tree with many medicinal uses. It has been recorded from a Coast Salish myth that where a generous man dies and is buried, a Western Red Cedar will “grow and be useful to the people, the roots for baskets, the bark for clothing, the wood for shelter”. Modern studies have shown this cedar’s rot and bug resistant properties are due largely to what is called plicatic acid with possible medicinal uses as well.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)