[mod.L. (Linnæus): see THUYA.] The more common English form of the name of trees or shrubs of the botanical genus now called THUYA, q.v., also of the wood of T. occidentalis, and of drugs derived from it.
Oil of thuja, an essential oil obtained by distilling the ends of the branches and the leaves of T. occidentalis with water.
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot. (1788), 299. Thuja, Arbor Vitæ.
1865. Visct. Milton & W. B. Cheadle, Northwest Passage by Land, 287. There were pines and thujas of every size.
1866. Treas. Bot., Thuja occidentalis is the American Arbor Vitæ.
1868. Rep. U.S. Comissioner Agric. (1869), 186. After ascending some distance the mountain sides…, the wood … consists particularly of a noble Thuja.
1884. Q. Victoria, More Leaves, 301. There are … a wonderful old laurel and thuja which have spread to an immense size.
1884. Mag. of Art, March, 179/2. The richly carved ceiling of thuja and cedar.
Hence names of chemical compounds obtained from the species Thuja occidentalis (all in Cent. Dict. spelt thuy-): Thujene = thujone; Thujenin or Thujigenin, Thujetic acid, Thujetin, Thujin, Thujone: see quots.
1868. Watts, Dict. Chem., V. 789. Thujetic acid, C28H22O13 … is prepared: 1. by boiling thujetin with baryta-water [etc.] … 2. … by boiling thujin for some hours with baryta-water in an atmosphere of hydrogen. Ibid., Thujetin, C28H28O16…. A compound obtained, together with crystallisable sugar, by heating thujin with dilute acids. Ibid., 790. Thujigenin, C28H24O11…. A compound occurring in … the green parts of Thuja occidentalis, and produced, together with sugar, when thujin is heated with hydrochloric acid. Ibid., Thujin, C20H22O12…. A crystallisable glucoside, occurring in the green parts of Thuja occidentalis.… Thujin forms shining lemon-yellow crystals, appearing under the microscope as four-sided tables. Ibid., 791. Thujone, a volatile hydrocarbon, obtained by the action of iodine on oil of thuja. Ibid. (1873), Fownes’ Chem., 643. When heated … with hydrochloric acid, [thujin] yields … thujenin.
1894. Muir & Morley, Watts’ Dict. Chem., IV. 714. Thujone, C10H18O,… occurs, together with the terpene C10H16 … in the essential oil of thuja.
