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What is l'arbre de vie?

By Chelsie Vandaveer

December 21, 2001

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In the winter of 1535-36, Jacques Cartier and his men were exploring the St. Lawrence River. Winter set in early. Cartier would later write that starting in mid-November, the ships were frozen in thick ice and snow was piled to four feet. Cartier's men were cold, hungry, and suffering from "the pestilence". Their joints were swollen, their gums bled and teeth fell out, weakness overwhelmed them. Of the 110 men, twenty-five died, forty were near death, and less than a dozen could stand.

American Arborvitae — Fan-shaped evergreen foliage. Glossy green leaves look like little fans and provide year-round color. Ideal trimmed height for this variety is 4-6 ft., where it forms a dense, wind-blocking barrier. Branches themselves remain pliable and easy to work with. Click here for $20 off at Henry Fields Seed and Nursery!

Cartier and his men were taken in by the Huron. They were fed, clothed, and given a thick tea made from the bark and needles of an evergreen. Within a week, most of the men had recovered. Cartier later claimed that all the doctors in Europe could not do in a year what this tree did in a week.

The French noted for history that the Huron had at least 18 fortified towns along the St. Lawrence River. They were great agriculturists and built a trading empire based on their corn, beans, tobacco, and later, furs. But by the early 1600's, Dutch traders had armed the Five Nations (Iroquois), bitter rivals of the Huron. No one knows whether the Five Nations simply wanted to destroy their enemies or they merely wished to take over the prosperous fur trade.

In 1649, the Iroquois invaded during mid-winter and the Huron towns and fields were laid to waste. As a people, the Huron almost vanished. History made few notes about the people who built towns, worked the land, and established a trading empire. Of all the great and tragic deeds of those days, it is the name of the evergreen we remember. Cartier and his men called it l'arbre de vie (arborvitae), the tree of life.

The Ohio Public Library Information Network has excellent photographs and information on the arborvitae, Thuja occidentalis. Click here to view the photographs and learn more

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