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Eastern Redcedar

Juniperus virginiana

Summary 6

Juniperus virginiana — its common names include red cedar, eastern redcedar, Virginian juniper, eastern juniper, red juniper, pencil cedar, and aromatic cedar — is a species of juniper native to eastern North America from southeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and east of the Great Plains. Further west it is replaced by the related Juniperus scopulorum (Rocky Mountain juniper) and to the southwest by Juniperus ashei

Juniperus virginiana is a dense slow-growing coniferous evergreen tree that may never become more than a bush on poor soil, but is ordinarily from 16–66 feet tall, with a short trunk 12–39 inches in diameter, rarely to 90 ft in height and 65 in in diameter. The leaves are of two types; sharp, spreading needle-like juvenile leaves ⁄16–3⁄8 in)long, and tightly adpressed scale-like adult leaves 1⁄16–3⁄16 in long; they are arranged in opposite decussate pairs or occasionally whorls of three. The juvenile leaves are found on young plants up to 3 years old, and as scattered shoots on adult trees, usually in shade. The seed cones are 1⁄8–1⁄4 in long, berry-like, dark purple-blue with a white wax cover giving an overall sky-blue color (though the wax often rubs off); they contain one to three (rarely up to four) seeds, and are mature in 6–8 months from pollination. The juniper berry is an important winter food for many birds, which disperse the wingless seeds.

Eastern juniper is a pioneer species, which means that it is one of the first trees to repopulate cleared, eroded, or otherwise damaged land. It is unusually long lived among pioneer species, with the potential to live over 900 years. It is commonly found in prairies or oak barrens, old pastures, or limestone hills, often along highways and near recent construction sites

The fragrant, finely grained, soft, brittle, very light, pinkish to brownish red heartwood is very durable, even in contact with soil. Because of its resistance to decay, the wood is often used for fence posts. Moths avoid the aromatic wood, and therefore it is in demand as lining for clothes chests and closets, which are often denominated "cedar closets" and "cedar chests".

Native American tribes have historically used poles of juniper wood to demarcate agreed tribal hunting territories. French traders named Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which denotes "red stick", from the reddish color of these poles. Some nations continue to use it ceremonially

The Cahokia Woodhenge series of timber circles that the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture in western Illinois erected were constructed of massive logs of eastern juniper. One iteration of such a circle, Woodhenge III, which is thought to have been constructed circa 1000 AD, had 48 posts in the circle of 410 feet in diameter and a 49th pole in the center.

Among many Native American cultures, the smoke of burning eastern juniper is believed to expel evil spirits prior to conducting a ceremony, such as a healing ceremony.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) cameralenswrangler, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by cameralenswrangler
  2. (c) Steven Severinghaus, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/horsepunchkid/24568345791/
  3. (c) Tom Potterfield, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/tgpotterfield/6812819238/
  4. (c) Douglas Goldman, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Douglas Goldman
  5. (c) augusto ravagli, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/iozio/5352048655/
  6. Adapted by Tom Pollard from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniperus_virginiana

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